After the exciting moment in April of receiving permission to live in the village, all the team members returned the U.S. for various visits and responsibilities.  Our family made a huge loop, traveling through Texas, Oregon and even Washington D.C visiting churches, family, friends and the occasional national park .  The trip was so full of wonderful highlights; from baptisms to bison to babies, it would take a book to cover them all. 

One thing we want to share is an answer to the prayer request pertaining to our new ministry in the mountains of Mexico.  We were able to pick up our new “mountain truck” in Pennsylvania:  a 1999 Chevy Suburban, generously donated by friends here in Mexico.  (We found that a family of mice had moved in under its seat while it was waiting.  That problem proved “entertaining” to resolve, but all turned out well.)  This vehicle will be our family’s transportation into and out of the tribe because the village airstrip is still unregistered and unusable.

We returned to Mexico in mid August anticipating our move to Durango.  Some of you may recall that we had housing lined up, but that fell through during the summer.  Our partners Dan and Sarah Alkire took a trip down to Durango and within a week located two suitable houses in the precise neighborhood we needed them.  In early September we caravaned down with 5 vehicles and 4 trailers, excited and ready for the next phase the Lord had for us.  That week found all the members of the “Las Moras Team” (already unified in spirit and purpose) finally united in one place. 

We are:

Ron, Tasha, Benjamin, Emma, Joshua and Nathaniel Davis

Dan, Sarah and Josiah Alkire

Tom and Teresa Elkins

Rachel Chapman

Katie “Tater” Moore

            We quickly settled in with school beginning for the kids and meetings for the adults to plan the next trip into the tribe.  That trip was just completed last Sunday and was a huge success.  We traveled in with John and Teddy Ann Courier, a hydrologist and his wife.  John evaluated the local water supply and gave us recommendations on how to improve it for the community and also ensure water for our families.  We also met with the community to discuss the construction of our homes.

            In April we left a large sum of money with the community to cover the cost of the adobe bricks we had asked them to make.  When we returned last week, the leaders were eager to show us the accounting and their progress:  2000 large bricks!  Praise the Lord!  We arranged for the construction to continue until our next visit and discussed locations and local work teams to lay the foundations and walls.  It has been amazing to see the people so helpful and reliable.  They are making the difficulties of moving into a remote, tribal location much easier!

           Pray with us that in all these successes we won’t neglect the one responsible for them: the God of creation who desires to see these people reached.  Praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.  For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.  Psalm 117

            For our next trip in November we will take in materials to mark foundations, drawings of our homes, molds for the smaller bricks we need and some bags of concrete to begin the improvements of the water supply sources. 

            Continue to pray for our safety on these trips and that we continue to build relationships with the people.  Also, please pray that we won’t get discouraged.  In just one week we had some things stolen out of our Suburban, the Alkires had their truck stolen but recovered a half mile away and the kids’ teacher broke her arm in a fall!

            Thanks for sticking with us as we press on! You are a valuable part of our team!

Love in Christ,

Ron, Tasha, Benjamin, Emma, Joshua and Nathaniel Davis

Tom explains our request at the meeting

     “De acuerdo!” they exclaimed in a chaotic chorus of voices and raised hands.  “We agree!”
     I could scarcely believe my own ears as we sat in the crowded, smoke washed meeting room of about 150 or more villagers.  I felt my face stretch into a smile and a rush of excitement settle in my stomach as the full implication sunk in… we can move in!  We finally had official permission to start construction of our homes and begin to live among the Nahuatl Indians of Mexico!
     A new stage has begun in our lives… again!  What an exciting time to be a servant of the living God and watch His hand move in our lives. Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”  Many of these steps haven’t gone where, and especially, when I have wanted them to, but His plan is so much better than ours!  His perspective is so much greater than ours! “My ways are not your ways,” He said in Isaiah 55:11.  And that is a good thing!
    Well, here we are, anticipating this new stage of construction in the village and yet preparing to leave Mexico for 2 months of Home Assignment in Oregon and Michigan.  The rains will begin here this month and prevent us from doing any building out in the village, so we will try to spend this time with you!  So, we leave this morning on a trip that could take us over 7000 miles and through 3 countries (Mexico, U.S., and Canada)!  We will be spending most of June in southern Oregon, than off to Grand Rapids, Michigan where we will stay with Tasha’s family and also meet up with some of our teammates and spend some time getting to know their friends and supporters.  (I get tired just thinking about it!) But it is going to be a great time.  We are excited to hear how God has been working in your lives and eager to share how He has been working in ours!
     Well, if I don’t finish this soon, you won’t get it!  Please pray for us as we travel across the country: for safety, unity as a family and opportunities to share “a reason of the hope that is in (us).”
     Hope to see you soon!

Love in Christ,

Ron, Tasha, Benjamin, Emma, Joshua and Nathaniel Davis

So sorry about the dry spell!

They made it safely the first third of the way. The purpose of this trip is to pay for adobe bricks to build our houses and to meet with the head village to seek official permission to build and live in the village.

1.Please pray for our men. These trips are not easy on the body, there is much shaking and bumping as you crawl along the river-bed like road. Part of the trip is taken along the “Devil’s Spine”. As its name indicates, it is a relentless, tricky road with about 1200 switch-back curves in it.

2.Pray that the Lord would allow there to be NO opposition from the head village when they meet on Sunday May 26. The enemy does not want to allow these precious souls to come to the knowledge of the Savior. Pray that God’s will be done.

3.Pray for Sarah and me as we are continuing on with daily routines while the daddies are gone. Pray for the kids too. It is hard on them, but pray that we can be faithful to teach them about God and His purposes.

This is just a quick note on several important things.
  First, you may remember that last September a missionary pilot and airplane had been taken by the Mexican authorities. The pilot was shortly released and all charges dropped, but the plane was held… until yesterday!!! The process has finally run its course and the Lord saw fit that the plane be returned! Praise Him with us!
  Second, we are still waiting for the airstrip in our village to be opened up and things may be moving in that direction. Please keep praying that we can use it again soon, specifically for the end of this month. The reason for that is that the truck we normally use to drive in was involved in an accident and is not drivable. While Dan and I were staying with the Elkins in Durango we were hit by another car in an intersection and the rear end was knocked way out of line. So, thirdly, praise the Lord that none of us were seriously hurt. It could have been pretty bad.
  And finally, praise the Lord that Dan and I made it back from a successful trip into the village. We saw that 450 adobe bricks had been made for us and gladly paid for them (35 cents each)! That is only about 10 percent of what we need, but a start! We plan to go back at the end of this month, pay for more bricks and also visit the head village. Pray that the workers will have lots of bricks done and that we are received well in the head village.
Thanks again so much for your faithful prayers on our behalf!

Ron for the whole Nahuatl (Mexicanero) team!
(Ron, Tasha, Dan, Sarah, Tom, Teresa, Katie, Rachel, Benjamin, Emma, Joshua, Nathaniel and Josiah!)

Technology can be useful, clever, complicated, inconvenient and often frustrating.

But on occasion it can be quite amazing.  Well, we have added a pretty cool piece of technology to our team.  It is a tracking device called SPOT.  Our trips into the mountains often put us into unsafe communication voids (no cell coverage ) This SPOT gives us the ability to be tracked by our family and mission safety team by using GPS and satellite technology.  With the deteriorated security situation here in Mexico and the occasional deteriorated vehicle situation (break downs ), SPOT keeps us a button away from a call for help.  Praise the Lord that technology can be used for His glory as we spread the Word!

Dear Prayer Team,

We returned safely on Tuesday February 24th. The overland trip went well accept for one small mishap on the way out. We met a state police truck on a narrow 4WD road in the mountains. There was no room for them to pass so I began to back up the hill. The passenger side tires dropped a bit over the edge on that side and of course the truck was heavily loaded. It could have slipped over further and then we would have been in real trouble. They helped us get it back on the road following about 30 minutes of work. We had no mechanical problems.

The dental equipment and generator functioned well. We served 72 people during the week and did 225 procedures including 99 fillings, 69 extractions, and 28 root canals.

Late one night, a family brought us their pregnant 15 year-old on a stretcher. She was 6 months along and had begun to bleed. We of course knew very little about what to do except to pray and make sure she rested and kept off her feet. Following prayer, the family took her home. That night she lost the baby but seemed okay. Teresa and Sarah went over to visit her in the morning and were a great encouragement to the family.

Our meeting on the 22nd with “La Providencia” was canceled as they met both days before dealing with other issues. We will most likely meet with them the end of April. God is sovereign and His timing is perfect.

Thanks for standing with us so faithfully. Your prayers are making a difference. We will continue to keep you informed.

God bless,

Tom & Teresa

Sarah had some of her own teeth worked on and has been experiencing quite a bit of pain.  Pray that it gets better quickly and not take the fun out of her first visit to the village.

Paul, the dentist, has been working long hours.  Pray that he can keep up the pace and still enjoy the trip

A pregnant lady in the village just lost her baby.  Pray that the team could be a comfort to her.

Keep in mind the meeting on Sunday the 22nd when we will confirm the permission to build in the village.  Pray that the team can get safely down to the meeting and pray that the meeting goes well.

Thank you!

Teammates:
Our first barrier has been the need for partners. And not just anyone willing, but rather, missionaries whose gifts and abilities would fill in our “skill gaps,” complement our fledgling team and help see a strong, vibrant New Testament church planted. The goal has been to add two more couples or families to the team.

Answer!
In October Dan and Sarah Alkire and their son Josiah joined the team! They bring with them diversity, energy and a strong desire to serve the Lord. Over the last few months our families have grown close and we are all looking forward to living and working together in the remote village.

Elementary School:
Another barrier has been the question of how our kids will be schooled. They are all too young to be sent to the boarding school and Tasha and Sarah, though willing to home school them, would like to dedicate as much time as they can to language study.

Answer!
Last month the Lord answered that need in the person of Katie “Tater” Moore. She is a certified teacher, the daughter of missionaries, grew up in Latin America and is extremely excited about the opportunity of teaching missionary’s kids! She will live along with us in the tribe and be our 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade teacher! She is currently living in Missouri and is planning to come down next month to spend some time with the team as we make plans for living in the tribe.

Transportation:
In August a new, unexpected barrier sprang up between us and the tribe. The Mexican government, in an effort to stop drug smuggling, has restricted public use of all the small, remote airstrips throughout the region. As an undesired effect, the easy access that we have enjoyed getting to the tribe has ended. The trip by air is only about 50 minutes, but by road it is around 15 hours. Yes, I said, “hours.” So now we need 4-wheel drive vehicles to take our families in and out and to get supplies; a financial strain we weren’t expecting.

Answers!
Upon hearing of the dilemma, Sarah Alkire’s dad offered them a 4-wheel drive Ford diesel pick-up for a great deal! One of their supporting churches offered to cover the price, so now all they need to do is get up to Missouri, prep it a bit for driving in Mexico and bring it in!

As for our family, God hasn’t overlooked us. A fellow missionary family has a Suburban that is in good shape that they have offered to give to us for our ministry! They are still using it, but by the end of summer they will sign it over to us.

Permission to live in the village:
Historically, the Indian tribes of Mexico have been very resistant to outsiders and permission to live among them difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. One advantage we have is that our partners, Tom and Teresa Elkins, have been working among the tribe for over a decade and have established a good reputation with people.

Answer! (at least, more than halfway)
In January we presented our written proposal to the tribe. It was received very well and given a positive response. This Sunday we will follow up with a visit to the head village (different from the one where we will be living) to finalize the request. We have been assured that there will be no problems with this final step. One fellow in the village has even begun to make the adobe bricks we will need to build our homes!

Present:
This week the Elkins, Alkires and a dentist from Washington State will be in the tribe doing our 4th dental clinic. This is Sarah and Josiah’s first visit to the village; a very exciting time for them. Dan will also be taking in two metal molds for making adobe bricks. He will leave them with whoever he can hire to begin making the roughly 10,000 mud bricks that we will need for our houses. On Sunday the 22nd they will confirm with local leaders their willingness for us to begin building!

What a great testimony it is to watch how God is leading the way! We still have a future of unknowns to prepare for, but we can move forward with confidence that the Creator of the universe is going before us… and with us!

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Thank you for the important and encouraging part you play in our lives and ministry.

Love in Christ,

Ron, Tasha, Benjamin, Emma, Joshua and Nathaniel Davis

“Where He leads me I will follow, what He feeds me I will swallow,” was my thought as I laboriously swallowed the first bites.

“Lord, I know this is an honor. Please help me to honor those who have provided it,” I silently prayed, as the next bite convulsed down my throat. I finally finished the meal of tuna, tomatoes and homemade tortillas with relief, grateful that the Lord had helped me overcome my embarrassing squeamishness. The food was actually quite tasty, but for me, eating unfamiliar food in a dark, dirty room while watching cockroaches chase each other across the wall turns my throat into an uncooperative knot.  My partners, Dan and Tom, both missionary kids having grown up in third world countries, wolfed the food down with gusto. (Obviously, life’s challenges come in different forms for different people.)

We were spending the last evening in the home of “Tony”, a respected elder of the community. He had offered to feed us in a clear gesture of hospitality and generosity, which we gladly accepted. Our spirits were riding high as we left his house thinking of the success of this trip into the community.

Two days before we had presented to them a formal request to live and work among them, which they received and accepted. It was an event we had been anticipating since our first visit over a year ago and it was a huge relief to see it pass with such success. Now we only have a meeting with the head village next month before we earnestly begin preparing to move in.

“Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” John 6:27