During the last three years, I have been privileged to become heavily involved with the mission work of the Presbyterian Church in Chiapas State in southern Mexico.  I have made five trips to Chiapas including a 5½ week extended trip in July-August 2009 during which I was the mission coordinator for Hebron USA.  I anticipate that this work will continue to be an important part of my life.  It will certainly impact how I practice law for the foreseeable future.  I offer the following explanation so that my clients and potential clients will better understand what is underway in Chiapas, why I am involved and why it is so important to me.  While I am not a misionero, I am a man who has been deeply touched by the indigenous peoples of Southern Mexico. 

            First Presbyterian Church-Virginia Beach (“FPC”) has proudly sent mission teams to Chiapas in 2007, 2008 and 2009.  The teams have worked in Ocosingo where they have been involved in the continuing construction activity underway on Las Manos de Cristo Clínica Tzeltal (“Hands of Christ”), the health clinic for the indigenous peoples of Chiapas.  The teams have also worked in the village of Matzam assisting with the building of the new sanctuary for Templo Filipos.  The teams have worshipped with the Tzeltal-speaking Presbyterians in Ocosingo and Matzam and conducted afternoon Bible school for the children living in the vicinity of Alfa y Omega Instituto Biblico in Ocosingo and in Matzam.  I have participated in all of those trips.

            In addition, I have been given the opportunity to preach the sermon at worship services in Ocosingo, Matzam, Lacanja and Majosik.  With a group from Chicago, I helped build a new church from the dirt to dedication ceremony in one week in Ejido Campet.  During my extended stay in Chiapas in the late summer of 2009, I earned the nickname “Señor Concreto” for all of my work making concrete from scratch and pouring it bucket by bucket with Tzeltal brothers in Matzam and Ocosingo. 

            Pictured below is a young Tzeltal family in Matzam.  The infant girl is named Marrianna.¹  This picture was taken in January 2008 on the morning that the parents brought the child to Templo Filipos so that she could be prayed over in the hope that a miracle might save her life.  Marianna had whooping cough, a very preventable illness when a child is properly vaccinated.  Tzeltal villagers do not have easy access to such routine medical care.  The doctor in San Cristóbal told these parents that their child would probably die.  For the Tzeltal, hospitals are where people go to die.  The goal and hope for Las Manos is that basic health care will in the future be provided in the Tzeltal tongue and will be readily available for the Tzeltal and other indigenous peoples in an area of Mexico where they are mostly shut off from such care.  The hope is that these people will come to see a medical clinic as a place where people go not to die but for healing and comfort.  In the future, once the clinic is operational, the prayer of Hebron USA and its Mexican partners is that such preventable tragedies as the death of little Marianna will be a thing of the past.  This is the vision that FPC is helping to bring to fruition by its continued involvement in Chiapas.

            Jesús le dijo: Ama a tu projímo como a tí mismo –love your neighbor as yourself.  FPC is proud to partner with Hebron USA to show its love to its neighbors in Chiapas.  In Jesus there is neither brown nor white, gringo nor Tzeltal.  It is in that spirit that I have dedicated nearly ten weeks of my life since July 2007 to work in Chiapas.

^[1] Marianna died shortly after Colin Herbertson and Randy DuVall were in Matzam in January 2008.

            There are many stories such as Marianna’s in the United States.  Many have, justifiably, asked “why Mexico?”  Why go and why commit resources to such a far away place?  There are several answers.  First, neither FPC nor I sought out Chiapas for mission.  Rev. Rob Evans, interim pastor, invited missionaries from Chiapas to our church in 2006 and from that visit sprang the 2007 mission trip to Chiapas.  In this way, Chiapas was laid in our lap and, recognizing the need, FPC responded.  Second, the need is great everywhere but God calls us to respond somewhere.  The tendency is to think that we cannot make a difference because of the enormity of the problem but the truth is otherwise.  Third, when called by God to preach to Nineveh, Jonah ran away rather than respond to the call.  Ultimately, but only half-heartedly, Jonah did as he was called to do and the result was remarkable.  FPC did not run when called but instead went to “Nineveh” willingly and God will undoubtedly multiply the result beyond our wildest dreams.  Jonah was not called to send money to Nineveh but to go in the flesh to preach God’s word.  So FPC and I have been called to go in the flesh so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ might be preached to the Tzeltal peoples by our actions and not mere words alone.  ¿Por qué?  Because it is what we were called to do as Christians.  God will find others to send elsewhere.  Jesús le dijo: Sígueme.  Follow me.  FPC and I have done so.                                                                                      

            Hebron USA was founded in 2004.  It is an American mission organization headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina.  The Board of Directors is composed exclusively of Presbyterians, including me, from various backgrounds who serve to share the saving love of Jesus Christ with all peoples.  Hebron USA exists to provide volunteer, technical and financial support for Christian missionaries, cross-cultural mission opportunities, medical and service ministries, leadership development and church development through partnerships with other mission organizations in southern Mexico.

           Pablo Feliciano is a native born Tzeltal speaking man who was college-educated in the United States.  He is currently overseeing the construction of Las Manos.  In addition, Pablo serves rural Presbyterian churches through his work for the Tzeltal Synod of the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, runs mission programs for foreign Christians, serves in the Tzeltal Synod and is affiliated with the Alfa y Omega where lay people are trained to preach the Gospel and serve as pastors of small mission churches in Chiapas.  Pablo and his wife Jan live in Ocosingo and their considerable efforts are making tremendous differences in the lives of indigenous peoples in Chiapas and in the lives of American mission travelers.     

            Over one million people in Chiapas do not have routine access to basic health care.  Most are farmers living in outlying villages, miles from the nearest medical facilities.  Most speak a Maya dialect and not Spanish.  When they are able to access government sponsored health services, language differences and prejudice often prevent them from receiving appropriate and adequate health care.   Las Manos will provide a variety of medical and dental care services.  Phase I will include five medical exam rooms, four dental operating rooms, a minor surgery suite, a laboratory, a pharmacy and space to train “barefoot doctors” to serve in outlying areas.  The land has been acquired.  The construction work is well underway. 

For more information on the work in Ocosingo:

• www.hebronusa.org

• www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfRoSczhzik

Tax deductible contributions to the construction of Las Manos, the support of Pablo Feliciano Cruz and the ongoing work in Chiapas can be made to Hebron USA, 6080 Old Brickstore Road, Greensboro, NC 27455.  Hebron USA is tax exempt under §501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  Simply designate with your gift how you wish the funds to be expended.

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