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Daily Scripture
 
"I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I wil praise You among many people."

Psalm 35:18

TEPEHUANS LOOK OUT FOR MISSIONARIES' HOUSE

Tepehuan girl near village

September 23, 2005

Nothing seemed to go right for a would-be thief who recently tried to break into the home under construction for NTM missionaries Andrew and Marie Ferguson.

Andrew and his co-worker, Barry Wingo, traveled to the village last week and expressed their thanks for the way the villagers took care of the property.

They were also able to get some work done on the house, and talk with the village leaders about repairing and registering the airstrip. This would be an important step in making ministry among the Tepehuan people more practical; otherwise, getting to the village takes a grueling 12-hour trip in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

"It was a good time being with our Tepehuan friends," Andrew wrote. "The meeting with the village leaders was good."

The village leaders apologized for the break-in, but need not have.

The hapless burglar tried to use a post to break through the mud walls of the house, but chose a spot where an internal adobe wall joined the outer wall. This significantly slowed his progress.

Then he apparently hit the tin roof with the post, because the neighbor's dog started barking. That brought the neighbors out, and the neighbors brought guns.

"Marselo and Falctino … fired several shots," Andrew wrote. "The more times they recounted the story, the more shots seemed to have been fired."

This caused the would-be thief to "flee for his life," Andrew wrote.

Nothing was taken, and Marselo's older brother patched the wall.

"We did thank [their neighbors], and we did mention that we appreciate their efforts but we would prefer that if shots are to be fired on our behalf, preferably we would like no one to be killed. This idea may have seemed foreign to them, but we think they understood."