Further south of the border

Recently, I was invited to go with some men from the church to a town south of here called Navojoa. Navojoa is located about 8 hours south of the U.S.-Mexican border and minutes from the Gulf of California. The population is estimated at over 270,000 people in the greater Navojoa area. It is modern and clean, a huge change from Nogales.

The purpose of the trip was to visit with one of the men from our church, Juan Pablo, who had returned to his home town to start a church and minister to the poor there. As he begins his ministry there, he has been beset with several obstacles and he was a bit discouraged. We went to visit, encourage and strengthen him. I have been wanting to see more of Mexico and I was very excited to go. My traveling companions, from left to right, were Miguel, Mario, Juan Carlos and Ramon (the pastor). We crammed into Ramon's Isuzu Rodeo and prayed for no mechanical problems as we headed out.


The 7 1/2 hour drive started on Sunday after the Sunday service. The service ended about 5:30 p.m. In true Mexican fashion, we actually didn't get everyone in the car and on the road until about 9:30 p.m. We drove all night. I don't like driving all night, partly for safety reasons and partly because I want to see where I am driving especially if it is a new place for me. We took major highways and toll highways all the way there but still we made poor time. This was due in part to hitting an incredible amount of dense fog in and around a town called Guaymas. We creeped along at 20 mph for close to 45 minutes. The other reason was numerous stops for coffee and stretching of legs. Each time we stopped, I think we took longer and longer. As the sun rose, we were approaching Ciudad Obregón, a city about 45 minutes north of Navojoa. We arrived in Navojoa around 7:30 a.m. Our 7 1/2 hour drive actually took around 10 hours. We first stopped in to visit Carlos' family. They live in a small house in the urban part of Navojoa. They live right off of one of the main roads through the city and beside a river:


After visiting for a few minutes and freshening up, we went directly to the outskirts of the city where Juan Pablo lives with his wife and two children. Here is JP sitting with us outside his house:


We sat outside, under the shade of a small tree with chairs in a circle, drinking Fanta and Pepsi. We took time to relax and catch up on the latest news. As I looked around me, I realize how much the area reminds me of the Tidewater area of Virginia. I became a little homesick during the trip just because I could imagine myself driving to Virginia Beach on 460 East instead of being thousands of miles away from there. Frankly, I couldn't believe the abundance of water and green here. Having spent most of the last year in the high desert, the lush countryside was a real treat.


As we explored the area on foot, I noticed that many people use horses and carts to get around. They drove their carretitas (little carts) along the dirt roads as well as paved roads. Carretitas and motor vehicles amicably shared the road.


The folks here live a rural life. There were lots of horses, chickens and pigs everywhere. People often live in adobe houses. The feeling I got is what it must be like to live in Appalachia minus the Spanish language. The fields surrounding his house are filled with alfalfa and corn. There are mountains in the distance, partially obscured by humidity, reminding me of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Huge irrigation channels surround the neighborhood, providing an abundance of water for the crops.


One memorable visit was with a Christian lady (whose name I can't remember) who lives by herself now, her husband having died some years ago. She is 76 years old and has lived in the same house for over 40 years without plumbing or electircity. She told us many stories but one really struck me. She said they haven't had a Christian pastor in a long time, the area being overwhelmingly Mexican Catholic. (Catholicism in Mexico is very different than Catholicism in the U.S. and Europe but more on that another time). She said the last pastor would not visit someone to pray for them unless they paid for the prayer; the more serious the illness or problem, the more it would cost. I was disturbed by this and Mario, Carlos and I agreed with our hostess that God doesn't make you pay for his help. It is vitally important that people know that God is always available and wants to deliver us from our trouble. Here, some of the people now have the idea that God wants their money before He will help them. It is truly a shame. We left our new friend with a chorus of "Dios te bendiga"s (God bless you). Here she is along with a picture of her adobe brick house:


We had lunch out at an outdoor restaurant, situated beneath a huge tree. Festooned amongst the limbs of the tree were stuffed animals....real stuffed animals. Snakes, armadillos, possums and iguanas were among our friends as we ate. In this picture, you can see a stuffed raccoon on the branch to the right of the top center of the picture. It was a really interesting experience.



The day began to draw to a close and I realized that I hadn't slept in over 36 hours. When we got to Carlos' mom's house ready for bed, she had made us pork tamales. Lots of pork tamales. Although we had already eaten a late lunch, we obliged her and partook. They were delicious but I was so full that I was actually uncomfortable. The family gave up all of their beds for us and we all slept soundly until 6 a.m. the next morning.

There is still more to tell you about. I will try to do that in the next week or so. But first, because I just figured out how to add videos, here is a short of all of us crammed into the pastor's truck, heading into the city to sight-see and to look for livestock to take back with us to Nogales (more on this later). I was amused by how we must have looked, cramming in as many people as possible into the truck.