EMMC to Verapaz, Chiapas - A Crusade of Visions

From June 20-25, the volunteer Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusade team was blessed with the opportunity to visit the mountains of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Following is the translation of the blog written by Vero: full-time staff member at Refuge Ranch and a key organizer of the crusades.

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, may you receive a loving greeting from our team. You may be asking: "Why call this crusade a 'crusade of visions'?" In this particular crusade we were able to see visions fulfilled - visions that we have had and were able to see become reality during the week, as well as visions of things to come.

For some time now, we had had the vision to improve our equipment. Even though our doctors are willing to work under extreme conditions, we had wanted to provide better equipment for the well-being of both the doctors and the patients. God gave us the wonderful blessing of being able to do so! He provided new dental seats that are very comfortable for the patients, practical for the trips and, besides all that, pretty! The Lord also sent the blessing of a dry sterilizer for the dentists and surgery, two new Robotines (these are portable dental air compressors), and a gynecology exam table. We glorify the Lord for his provision for this ministry! These items were all provided through private designated donations.

Now we would like to share with you the "new look" for the Fishers of Men Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusades. We thank Brother Joel for donating the vehicle stickers for the van and truck and for donating the stamp work on our new t-shirts. The new vehicle labels have been helpful when we have to travel through military and federal police checkpoints, as they lend credibility to our caravan. We counted over 19 checkpoints on this crusade alone!


In order to arrive in Verapaz, Chiapas, we had to travel 15 hours the first day and 5 and a half hours the second day! We thank Brother Lazcares and his family for housing us overnight with such love both going and coming from the crusade. When we finally arrived at the church, we were so blessed to be received by the brothers and sisters there with much love. They had homemade tortillas ready and piping hot, as well as a delicious chicken soup. The members of the congregation were ready to serve alongside us, and there were plenty of people waiting to be served! Within just an hour and a half of our arrival, we were set up and ready to see patients!

The first day we attended to a lot of people, despite the heavy rain that was falling. People came around curious to see if it was really true that there were doctors and that the appointment and medication were totally free. They had the impression that such attention free of charge was basically too good to be true! But, they received a pleasant surprise to find out that is was for real!

The following days were very long work days. A free medical crusade in that region was unheard of and hundreds of people came looking for medical care. We worked from 9:30 in the morning until 10 or 11:00 at night!

There were so many people gathered around the registration table that they crowded out Dolores who was trying to give free haircuts!

We thank the Lord that on this crusade we were able to enjoy the return of Dr. Bill, a surgeon from Iowa and a member of the Fishers of Men Board of Directors. He performed 16 operations with the help of Dr. Paty! We were also blessed by the help of Kayla Wyntheim from Iowa and Brighton Ballmer from Ohio, as well as Joanna Marshall from Refuge Ranch. We also thank the Lord for bringing us a new nurse, Ivonne, who specializes in emergency room nursing and a new dentist, Delia.

One of the most impacting testimonies of the crusade was that of a vision had by one of the ladies in town, Alma. Alma suffers from terminal uterine cancer and one week before the team arrived in Verapaz she dreamed that some very tall doctors came to town and cured her. Her husband showed up at the crusade to see what was going on, but when he saw Dr. Bill, Mark Marshall and Brighton, all very tall men, especially compared to your average Mexican man, he went running home to tell his wife that her dream had come true and that doctors had come to their town from far away. She went to see the doctors and was shocked herself! When Alma told Dr. Ariel, one of our dentists, about her dream he called much of the team together. They joined together in prayer, calling out to God for Alma's healing. Alma gave her life to the Lord that day and trusted in Him as her Lord and Savior, as well as her husband. We do not know if the Lord has healed Alma physically, but we do know that He has healed her spiritually and that her soul (Her name "Alma" in Spanish means "soul"), the most important thing, belongs to Him.

The people could not believe what was happening. They would ask the local pastor: "What did you do to bring these doctors here? How much did you pay them?" The local people were surprised by the love and professionalism of the team. We would simply respond to the pastor: "Tell them that it wasn't you or us, that that is simply how important they are to God and that He does surprising things for those whom He loves. It doesn't matter if he has to bring somebody from another country."

We suffered quite a bit of opposition from the Jehova's Witnesses, which is quite rare, since any opposition we experience usually comes from the traditional Mexican church, but this time was different. They tried to destroy our reputation while we were there, but the local people responded: "You have never done something like this for us, so leave the evangelicals alone."

Despite all of this, people's hearts were hard! Their hardness did not seem to come from ties to idolatry, as on many occasions, they simply did not want to believe in God. However, 55 individuals received the Lord. The clown ministry had the wonderful result of ministering to 50 children the first day and over 100 children the second day, without counting their parents and grandparents.

The last day we were about ready to start back to our homes when we had the opportunity to visit the country of Guatemala, since we were only about an hour and a half from the border. While we were visiting in Guatemala, we met some Christian women who began to ask who we were and what we were doing. They told us that they hoped that we could one day visit their communities also. So, one more time, God have us the vision and desire to go to Central and South America with the EMMC's. (We have had previous trips scheduled to Nicaragua and Belize, but they were changed to Mexican crusades for different reasons.) For now we must pray, trust and wait on God's perfect timing!

We give ALL THE HONOR AND GLORY TO OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST for all that was accomplished and we trust in Him that He will give the spiritual growth needed in Verapaz, Chiapas. We thank all of the doctors, dentists, nurses and support personnel for their huge effort and work. Despite the fact that the days were long and tiring, you pushed forward with the same love and effort shown to the last patient as to the first. Verapaz and our entire team could see the love and mercy of Jesus in your faces. Thank you for giving yourselves fully to the work of the Lord!

Crusade Statistics
Attended to:
General Physician 327
Gynecology 84
Dental 171
Hair Cuts 83
Surgery 16
Specialist Appointments 55
Children's Ministry 157

Accepted Christ as Lord and Savior 53

Total attended to (without children) 736

Team Members

*Dr. Escamilla *Dr. Bill *Dra. Leslie *Esmirna *Víctor

*Dra. Elizabeth *Ivonne *Adrián *Vero *Kayla

*Dra. Gisela *Dra. Delia *Gaby *Mark *Brighton

*Dra. Paty *Dra. Caro *Martita *Joanna *Rosa

*Dr.Ariel *Dulce *Helen *Becky *Dolores

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Baptisms

A lack of blogging certainly does not mean a lack of activity! Actually, it usually means quite the opposite!

Since the last blog post we have:

• held a weeklong crusade to Chiapas
• bid farewell to the Marshall family as they departed on their month long trip to the U.S.
• enjoyed recent high school graduate, Brighton Ballmer's, three week visit to Refuge Ranch and his participation on the crusade to Chiapas
• were blessed by Dr. Bill Karkow (Fishers of Men Board of Directors member) and Krista Wyntheim, from Iowa, both on the crusade to Chiapas and then for a week at Refuge Ranch
• have held two one-day local crusades
• had another visit by the Mexican architect working on the main house project here at Refuge Ranch! (This is so exciting! Could 2012 be the year the Lord has for at least the first floor to be built?)
• enjoyed a daylong visit here at the Ranch by our friend Irma and the grandmother of our newest five children (her visits get easier each time:-)
• presented an orginal drama for Father's Day at our church with all 17 of our kids involved
• celebrated Lolis' 14th birthday and Miguel's 8th birthday

And that's just the "special" stuff, not including daily life and ministry loving 17 children, getting ready for the next crusade and leading staff into all that the Lord has prepared for Fishers of Men!

AND THEN THERE WAS TODAY!

I very rarely write anything at night! Those of you who know me (Julie) know that I am a morning person - I love the newness, the freshness, the hope and promise of each morning, the way my brain works better and, not to mention, sunrises behind the volcano that God has blessed us with, Popocatepetl! But, tonight is different! I fear that if I do not capture at least a part of today I will not be able to accurately express all that God brought together and all that He has begun!

Today was our church's yearly baptism outing to a nearby waterpark. The park is fed by natural springs, so there are both natural fed swimming pools and a beautiful springfed stream.

The location of the baptisms.

Over 40 people from our church waiting to be baptized.

Since the last time our church held baptisms (in a swimming pools set up in our church sanctuary!), both Martha and Lolis had expressed interest in being baptized at the next opportunity. So, our family had been planning on them participating in today's baptisms. (I can already tell that simple words are not going to do this topic justice, so may the Holy Spirit translate for you my feeble attempts at sharing His workings!)

As this past week progressed and we came ever closer to today's baptism celebration, Ruth, one of our five year old's, began to express her desire to be baptised! "Can Daddy baptize me on Sunday?" Two days later: "So, am I going to be baptized?" The next day: "Huh? Is Daddy gonna baptize me on Sunday? Huh?" The following day: "So, the day after tomorrow is Sunday, right? When I am going to be baptized, right?" We got the picture! So, Ruth was added to the list!

Then, day before yesterday, Leo began asking more questions about baptism. Yesterday I heard, through another sibling, that Fatima wanted to be baptized! So, last night, I was trying to put the younger kids to bed so that Victor and I could meet with those interested in being baptized and make sure they fully understood what they were going to be doing and try and "feel out" which kids were being sincerely drawn by the Holy Spirit. But, everytime I would go into a room to try and put those kids to bed, somebody in that room would start asking questions about baptism, which peeked everybody else's interest. So, we finally basically called a family meeting to talk about baptism, it's meaning and what our motivations should be in being baptized.

The end result? Today:

• Lolis
• Martha
• Fatima
• Leonardo
• Miguel
• Ruth

were baptized by Victor!

Martha

Lolis

Fatima

Leo

Miguel

Ruth

Ruth afterwards

Six of the children whom the Lord has blessed us with; whom the Lord has entrusted into our care were baptized!

Ruth, Leo, Fatima, Lolis, Martha and Miguel

These children join Angie, Diana, Martita and Josiah, who have already been baptized. Is there any greater joy? And even more so when I know all too well where they have each come from, what has led them each to this place and time in their lives, the joys and oh so many struggles along the way. For some, that way with us has been shorter (Fatima, Leo and Miguel have only been a part of our family for five months) and for others, like Martha who joined our family over seven years ago, the journey as been longer. While I have seen only parts of where each child has come from; while I have been there every step of the way once they joined the Zaragoza family; I have NO IDEA what the Lord has for each of them in the future, I know it is something incredible...because that is just the kind of God that we have!

So, today God brought together weeks, months, years of sowing His Word and His love in our children's hearts, but today He began the greatest adventure of their lives...the adventure of following Jesus Christ!

Please praise Him with us!

A Formal Dinner

A week ago Friday night turned into a very special night in our household! Earlier this month, the youth group at church announced a Formal Dinner in July for the high school age young people. While our three eldest daughters do not normally attend youth group at church, partially due to the distance we live from the church (over one hour one way), they began to talk about the possibility of their attending this special event. As soon as the younger kids, especially five year old Ruth, heard about the Formal Dinner (Cena de Gala) they immediately started asking why they didn’t get to attend a Formal Dinner. Angie, our eldest daughter who has a special gift with children, including her younger siblings, took it upon herself to start planning a Formal Dinner just for them! What makes this event so much more special is that Angie, Diana and Martita, due to certain circumstances, will not even be able to attend their own formal dinner in July. Despite her own disappointment, Angie continued forward with her plans to make a special evening for her little siblings.

Victor and I had the honor of helping her out a bit, as well as the rest of the older kids. So, on Friday at 5 p.m., Angie opened up “Angie’s Styling Salon” and began braiding hair, doing makeup and picking out pretty dresses, lacy socks and polishing up high heeled shoes. Diana joined in with her own barbershop, taking charge of all of the little men’s hair, faces, dress clothes and shoes. Martita, Lolis and Martha became interior decorators under Victor’s guidance, while Fidel exercised his lungs and cheeks blowing up a TON of balloons. Fatima and I made a special apple desert. She and I have made several deserts lately and she is quite the cook! (In fact, when I made cookies without her….I burnt them! So, the key to success is Fatima, not me!)

Ana and Miguel

Ruth

Fatima

Right before 6 o’clock, Victor, Angie and I got our own “Formal Dinner attire” on and we were ready to go!

The violinist and the waiter!

I took my position as the provider of the violin dinner music and stood in the corner of the staff quarters hallway where we had set up the “dining room” for the dinner. Angie lined up the kids in age order from youngest, David, to the oldest who participated in the dinner, Josiah, and walked them up to the basement of the main house from our house.

The kids, in age order from youngest to oldest, being led by Angie from our house to the basement of the main house for the Formal Dinner.

The transformation in the kids was incredible! They walked in in an orderly manner, quietly, listening to the violin music, waited to be seated, sat straight in their seats, folded their hands in their laps(!) and waited while the waiter, Victor J, served them each their plate of food lovingly prepared by Rosa (breaded chicken breast, cooked vegetables and pasta)! At our normal meals we serve the younger kids their plates of food before we pray in order to not have to take the time to serve them, cut up meat, etc. after praying. We have the hardest time keeping them from eating until we are all seated and done praying. (Quite regularly we end up blessing the food already in little David’s tummyJ) However, during the Formal Dinner two year old David didn’t even touch his food until we prayed! Fatima’s face shone so brightly we could have used her as a lamp! She said: “Mom, we could hear you playing the violin while we walked up here and we saw you standing there in the corner.” The kids conversed together so quietly and politely as they ate!

The two tables of "older" children and myself providing dinner music.

One of the highlights of the dinner for the kids was the ability to boss their dad around! Since he was the waiter, they found great delight in being able to say: “waiter” and have him bring them what they wanted or needed.

Papa, the waiter, dishing out dessert to be served.

We ended the evening with a rousing game of Bingo, playing until everybody had called Bingo! Finally, an informal raffle in which everybody won a small prize finished our time together.

The three youngest kids playing Bingo: David (2), Daniel (3) and Ana (4). Angie was helping them and she was soooo patient!

Ana and her raffle prize!

I was so proud of Angie for her great idea, her perseverance and her passion to bless her siblings this way.

Angie serving her little siblings - thank you, Jesus!

I was so proud of Victor for taking part in something so foreign to his own experience growing up in a gang, yet willing to love his kids this way; of the older kids by jumping in to help, even though there was no reward in it for them other than the satisfaction of seeing the happiness of others; of Martita for hanging around during the entire dinner and taking pictures, which goes against the grain of her personality, which prefers to be alone; of the younger kids who fully took advantage of and enjoyed this special time. Thank you, Jesus, for moments like these!

Fighting With a Shadow

We witnessed an hilarious scene earlier this week here at Refuge Ranch thanks to our youngest son, two year old David. I came out of school and he was standing on the sidewalk between the main house and our home, pointing at something on the ground and babbling away to Vero, one of our staff members. I sauntered up to observe and join in the "conversation." David was fervently pointing out a small shadow on the ground and blabbing away - obviously something in relation to the shadow. Now, mind you, it was about 1:00 p.m., so there were lots of shadows! This particular shadow was created by a tarp that is tied onto the porch roof next to our laundry area to help protect those working in that area from the sun and wind. Due to so much wind recently, the tarp has torn and one torn edge was creating a peculiar, triangular shadow on the ground, probably no more than 7 inches in diameter. Well, it was peculiar enough to totally grab David's attention, and even create some concern in him. (We will never know why!)

Our precious David!

Vero and I began to "converse" with David about the shadow. This means we would ask him questions and he would give us perfectly passionate, and totally intelligible, answers! At one point, he finished babbling, turned around and walked very purposefully towards the house. I turned to Vero and said, giggling: "He knows exactly where he's going and what he's doing." Within a few seconds, he came back out of the house with a large tupperware container in his hands. He promptly walked up to the shadow and plopped that tupperware container down over the shadow. He was trying to catch the shadow!

Vero and I both just stood there with our mouths draping open! David then lifted up the container and, seeing that the shadow was still there, dumped the container on it again. This happened several times, until he just decided to keep the container over the shadow. It was, after all, the most effective way to keep that nasty shadow trapped!

Wanting to test our theory, I moved the container a few inches to one side of the shadow. David immediately moved the container back over the shadow. We continued this little game for a few more minutes. David took a few steps back and pondered his predicament of the shadow that would not go away!

He then ran up to the shadow, gathering speed as he came, and kicked that shadow with all his might, stomping and kicking repeatedly on that funky little triangle! (What made this all more fun is that the shadow was caused by the tarp, which kept blowing in the wind and moving the shadow all around!) Seeing that this strategy did not work either, little David took off again...obviously on another mission clearly known to him, but hidden to all of our understanding. So, Vero and I waited for his return. Sure enough, within a few seconds he reappeared...this time with a rock in his hand! He walked right up to that shadow and threw the rock on it! We asked him: "Did you kill it?" He babbled something back at us, picked up the tupperware container and returned it to the house. So, I guess he had declared the shadow dead.

Wow! I was amazed at this whole little adventure and witnessing David's decisiveness in trying to get rid of this shadow, in his passion to rid the world of this great evil! What enthralled me was all of the thought and energy that David was putting into...a shadow...an "object" that does not even exist! Wait a few hours and it will be gone! Stand between the real object and the source of light and you make it disappear! But, to David, this shadow was serious business and a serious problem that needed to be resolved.

The Bible talks about two kinds of figurative shadows. The first kind of figurative shadow is when the Bible teaches us, repeatedly, that our lives and this world are like a shadow in two ways. First of all, our days are fleeting, like a shadow. Wait a few hours and the shadow disappears as the sun changes position. Our lives, from an eternal perspective, last just a few hours, if not minutes or seconds!

The Bible also tells us that what we see, hear and experience now is just a shadow of things to come! I can tell you that the shadow of the tarp did not at all look like the original piece of tarp causing the shadow! The tarp is a bright blue, the shadow was a dull gray. The torn edge of the trap had frayed corners, folds and waves in it. The shadow was totally flat. I could see how the small piece of tarp was attached to the entire tarp and even tied to the house. The shadow seemed independent, small and insignificant. That is what life on earth is like! Even the marvelous creation that we see, the mountain outside my office window, is a flat, gray copy of the marvels waiting for us in heaven! We may not understand or see now, but all that happens around us and to us is part of something greater and much more significant.

The second figurative meaning of a shadow in the Bible refers to our moving and existing under the shadow of God's mighty hand, or His wings. This implies our being protected from the heat and onslaught of daily life and problems. There is still light, the problem is still there, but God's hand, His wings, take the onslaught and leave us with just a shadow of the situation.

Part of what made the experience with David so hilarious was watching him fight with a shadow! How ridiculous can that be! But, how many times do we act like David - getting all bent out of shape, consumed and absorbed by this shadow of a life that we are living! So, today, when you are tempted to go bizerks...just remember...it's not worth fighting with a shadow!

"These are a shadow of the things that were to come;
the reality, however, is found in Christ."
Colossians 2:17