Living Among Them Ministries

Hello everone,

I wrote about this trip in the June report but I thought that it could be a possibility that some people that would look at our blog would not read the report so here is the longer version of my little treck into the mountains.

Our great friends, Dr. Ramiro and his family, live in San Cristobal de las Casas about 50 minutes from us. He asked me if he could use me and my 4x4 truck to help him take some supplies (medical, food and clothing) up into the mountains to a small community of about 150 people. The community is called Nuevo Simo Jovel and is about 4 hours northwest of our little town of Teopisca.

We left on a Saturday morning around 5a.m. and returned the same day at about 11p.m. It was a long day but a very rewarding and profitable one.

At about the 2 1/2 hour mark, the road went from pavement to rock to dirt pretty quickly...it is rainy season down here in our neck of the woods so there are many small ´water falls´along the sides of the roads...there was a whole lot of mud and much debris like large rocks and logs that we had to remove (I say we, but in reality Dr. Ramiro´s two boys did most of the work).

This first photo shows what it is like to be driving in what is called the "high jungle area"...there are basically three types of jungle in south Mexico and this is one of them...

About an hour from Nuevo Simo Jovel, we turned the corner and this is what we found Like I said, it is rainy season and this river was running pretty good and was above its normal level. We actually watched a few horses cross first and then decided that my truck should be able to make it...after about 30 minutes of pondering.

We paused for a few moments of prayer and then decided to cross....and as you can see....we made it.

But then the real fun began as we approached the community. As you can see from the pics below, it was pretty muddy and wet. Dr. Ramiro told me that there were two entrances to this particular community and he said that this one was probably the most difficult to pass through and that we could just drive a little farther and try that path.

Well as you all know...you can't lay that kind of "challenge" down to a guy with a truck (especially after just crossing a running river) so I politely told him that we would go this route. Well about 45 minutes later we finally had to put it in reverse and come back the same way we came since I got us all stuck for a while...oh well, it was fun trying.

Oh, and the other way was much easier!!!!

Here was our fist glimpse of our destination! Praise the Lord that He got us to Nuevo Simo Jovel.

Our first stop. We gave about 3 bags of clothes to this family. Dr. Ramiro has known them and been working with them for about 2 years now.

Dr. Ramiro's two sons...Josue and Jesus

The boys like my hat so I let them wear it sometimes.

Second stop. Dr. Ramiro was given a present in return...a bushel of bananas.

Third stop. The kids didn't want to come out and meet the gringo so they hid in the kitchen for a while. But eventually the ventured out and we had a great time.

Here I am with Dr. Ramiro and a local family. The daughter on the right is making tortillas by hand over an open flame. This is very very commom in the part of Mexico that we live.

The boys waiting for me to finish visiting so we could play some ball.

These next few pics show the new basketball court and jungle gym that Dr. Ramiro helped to get built here last year. He brought in a group from the states and they built this b-ball court and play area in two days I believe.

I looked over and saw the kids playing and thought that I would join them!

Couldn't resist playing a game of marbles...not going to tell you who lost big time...you can guess though!

This kid was killin me...kept making faces at me.

Just chillin!

We then met up with a bunch of families and gave away the rest of the goods.

This guys was sooo proud of his new purse...

Then it was time for lunch...did you know that you can find Coca-Cola anywhere in the world...

So here is the story on this little one. The last time Dr. Ramiro was here, he treated this little girl for a broken arm. It has all healed up and she was so very thankful for the help. He gave her a little doll and she was so in love with it.

Had to finally leave as we wanted to get across the roaring rapids before the rains came again.

So I turned the bend in the road and had to slow up a little. For the next 15 minutes we were stuck behind this huge herd of cattle. No were to put all of them so we just had to wait our turn. Man I was so glad when we came upon a little clearing and the man guided them to the side. I was thinking that we might have to spend the night up in the mountains in the truck as we were not going anywhere in a hurry.

All for now my friends.

Please continue to pray for the people of South Mexico as they are easily forgotten as we live out our own lives.

Hi everyone,

We have been asked by many people to post some more photos of Joshua…so here they are.

By the way I want to make a clarification about his name. In the last post, we told everyone that our son’s name is Joshua Judson Keeling DeLuca; and it is here in Mexico. About 95% of native born Mexicans have two first names and everyone has two last names. The first last name is taken from their father and the second last name is taken from their mother so the mother’s last name is the very last name. So here in Mexico Joshua basically has four names. BUT when we register him as an American citizen at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, he will only have the Keeling last name…Joshua Judson Keeling. So the Keeling name does live on. Hope this clears up some of the confusion that has been expressed concerning his last name…..Like they say, when in Rome do like the Romans.

Hey everybody, I really enjoy taking baths...