Why Not? It is an Adventure and We're Retired!

Wes, Julie and Tressa at the Copper Canyon overlook

Eating lunch of Gorditas and Chili Rellenos

Picking up some trinkets made by the Tarahumara

This Tarahumara women was weaving baskets

She was delighted to show off her darling baby

Views of the Samachique Village

Typica

"Why not, It's an adventure, and we are retired!" Those are always Denny's words when I suggest we do something that we haven't done before. Last week, I was chatting on Facebook with my good friend, Julie Shoemaker. She and her husband, Wes have ministered to the Tarahumara people in Samachique, Chihuahua, Mexico for many years. We have supported them (minimally) and Denny has taken groups of young people down to help them at various times, but I have never been to their village.
Wes had bottomed out on one of the horrible roads he needs to travel to various villages and towns. He did not realize he had a crack in his oil pan and all of the oil leaked out of his engine. The engine seized up and he was stranded out in the middle of nowhere. The Wycliffe mechanic felt that Wes should bring the van back to the states if at all possible. Julie asked if we were up for an adventure. She needed someone with a truck like ours to take her and Tressa (their daughter) down to Samachique, hauling a car dolly to bring Wes and the van back to the states before their visas ran out. Of course, you know our answer, "Why not? It is an adventure, and we're retired!"
We left early Saturday, October 31 and drove for about 15 hours, through the Copper Canyon, to the village. On Sunday we went to the English gathering in the village and did a walking tour around the village. On Monday, Tressa had some medical and dental work attended to at the hospital in the village while Denny and Wes loaded the van and I visited with some people who shared their vision for expanding the birthing center to include training in midwifery. On Tuesday morning, we loaded up the truck, pulling the van and headed to Creel. We dropped the van in Creel and took a side trip to the lookout of the Copper Canyon. We bought gifts made by the Tarahumara people there, and ate Gorditas and Chili Rellenos. It was quite an experience. We headed back to pick up the van and began the long trip home through beautiful Chihuahua. It looks nothing like Sonora. There are farms and rather modern, more developed cities. We stopped in Gomez Farias and got motel rooms and ate dinner at a local restaurant that Wes and Julie were familiar with. They have made this trip many times over the nearly 20 years that they have been doing translation work with Wycliffe.
On Wednesday morning, we got up and headed home, twelve hours two days in a row.
My respect and admiration for the Shoemakers, who have willingly let go of the comfortable life to live in an area with few modern conveniences. They do not have running water in their home. They take a shower by heating water, hoisting it up in a bucket and standing under it! They walk through the long grass to an outhouse. There are some other ministries in this same village, including a large hospital with four doctors, a birthing center and a full time midwife. We met many missionaries from various organizations working with these people in unique endeavors. One was a man who is attempting to teach the village people to build furniture as a means of income.
Wes and Julie are friends and neighbors to the people of this village and they do many things for them besides working on literacy projects and Bible translation.
We were very impressed that they really need a high clearance, four wheel drive small truck. We have watched Julie and Wes get along with other people's cast off vehicles for all the years we have known them. We really want to help them get a decent vehicle that will facilitate the work that they do. I lay in my comfortable bed last night wondering how we were going to do that, but it is a goal of mine to get the word out. We have seen pictures of the village and read the Shoemaker's monthly update for years. There is nothing like visiting Samachique and seeing it for myself.