Goals for this trip:

• To hold a board meeting with CDC members
• Consult with Casa Isabel Director about new property for C.I.
• See board member Dra. Eva, as she recovers from being robbed and beaten
• Meet the new students
• Continue building relationships within the local community
• Visit with U.S visitors from Mission Oaxaca and Friends of Pimpollo

We flew into Huatulco to rent a car and drive the 3 hours to Juchitán. When we arrived, Kristin was there dropping off her parents from Chicago who had just spent a week with Kristin and the beautiful baby girl she has adopted.  It was great to meet them in person after all these years. CFS was responsible for suggesting Pimpollo orphanage as a place for Kristin to get involved in ministry years ago. Since then, Mexico has become her permanent home. Upon arrival in Juchitán, we learned of some recent drug gang violence.  One of the members had been injured, hospitalized, and then killed in his hospital bed by the rival gang. Hence, the hotel where we stay was literally full of federal police! Despite that, the local people assured us the city was tranquil now. At the onset of this visit we were a bit discouraged, and then became a bit anxious.  However, every meeting we were part of during the week turned this week into the best visit we have had yet! We have to give God praise for answering the prayers of many of you who have joined us in praying for the people of Mexico, and the ministry of Centro De Compartimiento.  Following are a few of the stories we heard, from the people we met:

• First, there has been a drastic increase in the students at both CDC houses as school started this week: six in Casa Angeles (older girls), with 4 girls on a waiting list, and 4 plus two coming to Casa Isabel.  One of the new girls told us a story that is not unusual in these parts: the first day on the job for her father, 11 years ago, he was so badly injured that he has never worked since. There was no opportunity for her to consider college until she heard of CDC.  In addition, there isn’t enough room in the 11 major universities for some 400,000 Mexican students who are turned away each year. Hence the need for private schools and non-profits to create new opportunities for students to study in more regional settings like Juchitán. 

• Chuy is a local 20 year old young man whom we have known for many years as he grew up in a nearby orphanage. We have known for at least 5 of those years that he was growing increasingly frustrated and withdrawn. Two weeks ago Chuy apparently reached the place where he felt hopeless. He tried to hang himself. But, some children found his purple body, called for help, and he was revived. After some persuasion from friends at home and in the U.S,  he is back at the orphanage, but now enrolled in a local institution of higher learning.  This story just breaks our hearts! Why did this happen? What does it say about the quality of our listening to the hearts of those around us? No one should have to kill themselves to get the attention they need. This story is another powerful example of the case for servant leadership, and why CFS and CDC were conceived as a response to that need.

• CDC President, Dr. Jorge Florentino Lopez Lopez recently started a radio station http://cdcradiofm.com/  above his medical practice.  He calls it Radio CDC!  It is on the air 14 hours each day, and can be heard in the U.S over internet. We were just thrilled to learn that our students are leading a live program each week based on the servant leadership values they are studying together during their house meetings. Not only are these girls learning the values that make for healthy and sustainable families and communities….they are passing those values on to others via the radio. One boy was listening, and told his sister about CDC. In another family, a young woman was listening to the radio. She told her sister about the opportunity. The two girls came with their families to our new student orientation along with the other families.

• Clay Dyer, a retired housing contractor from Salem Oregon was in the area to assess the potential for mission teams to come on behalf of Friends of Pimpollo and help Kristin build on the new Casa Isabel property.  We introduced him to Rene Arredando Cruz, the architect and contractor who built Casa Angeles for us. They had a great time measuring out the property lines, and existing building on the new property for its remodeling potential. (Clay also gave us his ‘good housekeeping’ stamp of approval on the C.A building) It was fun to see these two guys together….the passion for building stuff is still obviously apparent! We are so grateful for them both.  When Clay asked what Rene, as a Christian, and local member of the Juchitécan community looks for when supporting a ministry, he said there must be signs of fruit in the lives of those served. Then he held up three fingers and said that is takes a commitment by staff and students to: Study, Spiritual training and Service. I would add a fourth: excellence in all we do on behalf of God.  Not just for those who can participate in market capitalism, but for the poor as well, including CDC projects.

• Dra. Eva Gonzalez, another board member, was robbed and beaten so badly about three weeks ago that she may lose her right eye.  As Glenn and I visited with her and  her son Alejandro at her office, where she is trying to work part time, while awaiting another surgery this coming week, she seemed to display the inner strength that Juchitécan women are so well known for.  We brought down a documentary that we had found about their culture, called “Blossoms of Fire”. This term fits Eva well.

• Adela, wife of Dr. Jorge, was invited to join us as a new board member at this time. She will take on most of the duties Eva had taken on, for now. Adela, a school teacher and Nazarene Christian, has been growing spiritually during the past year. She was moved at our board meeting while reading Isaiah 58 out loud for our board reflection time….and you will be known as repairers of broken walls, and restorer of streets with dwellings (vs.12). She is a great partner with her husband in various community wide initiatives. Adela spoke so clearly about the mission, vision and values of CDC during our new student orientation.  And Dr. Jorge spoke about the long term vision of developing leaders who serve with compassion. Glenn and I told Dr. Jorge afterwards, that we sense this program may have now reached a critical mass of people who believe in and are committed to spreading the seeds of servant leadership through CDC.

Each time we visit Juchitán, we bring 10 or so copies of a good book translated in Spanish along with us to pass out to anyone who seems interested in the theory and practice of servant leadership.  This time, several people mentioned Rick Warren’s book: Purpose Driven Life (Vida Con Proposito), and how much it is impacting their lives. Books are fairly rare in this region, and very expensive.  This trip we brought copies of Jim Hunter’s The Servant (La Paradoja) along.   

Our partners there told us that they sometimes become fearful that they will ever be able to change the paradigm of leadership which dominates their culture. We too sometimes feel this way. It is then I am  reminded of Jesus, Mandela, and MLK, Nikolai Grundtvig and so many others, who started with a totally counter-cultural vision, and slowly watched the culture change.  Jim Wallis talks about hope as “believing in spite of the evidence, and watching the evidence change.”  This trip we needed, and were given a dose of our own medicine, praise the Lord!