Mexico Mission Report – March 2017

Mexico Mission Report—March 2017

Mexico recognizes 62 separate, indigenous languages within its territory. Nayarít, a small state located in the central western region of Mexico, is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the western edge of the Sierra Madre Mountains to the east, containing hundreds of miles of tropical rainforest and about 6% pasturelands. A little more than 22% of the population is indigenous. Nayarit is home to four distinct groups: the Wixaritari (Huichol), the Naayerite (Cora), the Odam (Tepehuan), and the Mexicaneros.

As a young missionary, I (Cindy Cunningham) first visited the Cora church of Presidio de los Reyes in 1979. The church hosted a yearly Christmas conference. It was here that I met Roman Diaz, an early Huichol believer. The Cora pastor, Erasmo Gonzalez, became a believer in 1970 and today is 82 years old. He continues to study and teach, as well as collaborate with missionaries from New Tribes Missions on a more accurate translation of the Bible in the Cora language. One of the highlights during the 1980s for me, was a three-day mule trip into the Sierra Madre Mountains to visit a second church founded by Pastor Erasmo and to explore open doors for evangelism.

The church building was built in 1976 by our mission, Operation Grace World Missions, which at that time had five missionary families in Mexico. Sam Brisbin founded the church there, evangelized throughout the mountains, and provided Bible teaching. Of the five families, I alone continue to live in Mexico and have kept in contact through the years with Pastor Erasmo and his family.

In the early 1990s, I took my first husband and our family to meet Pastor Erasmo and, during that trip, we met a Mexican missionary, Arturo Horta, who evangelized and prepared Christian workers from the Cora, Huichol, and also Tepehuan indigenous groups. We collaborated with him by accepting young people from these groups into our home for intensive Bible courses. His daughters, Azucena and Flor Horta, both lived with us at different times, providing them opportunities to study and work.

Arturo passed away in 2002, and his son-in-law, Domingo de la Cruz, an indigenous Huichol pastor, took over his work. He had also received training from us through Operation Grace. Domingo passed away in 2015, and his widow, Azucena, along with their two children, have continued to hold services at the church founded by her father and husband.

In 2003, I moved to Oklahoma and left Operation Grace, but remarried and returned to Mexico in 2014 where I resumed closer contact with Azucena and Flor Horta, as well as Pastor Erasmo. All were praying and insistent that the work needed attention. I communicated the need to three different pastors who I thought might be interested in helping, and my brother, Gene, of Basic Training Bible Ministries, was enthusiastic and agreed to a trip to visit and encourage the believers in these churches with teaching from God’s Word. It was a real privilege to once again minister and pray for people who have been a part of my life and ministry over the last 38 years.

Driving up to the Cora village, we slowly stepped back in time as we saw men driving cattle along the road, and saddled mules and horses tied outside various homes.

Salvador and Andrea Nunez and Edwin and Ameryka Coronado, along with their young families, are eager to help in the work, while they simultaneously pursue their translation efforts and strive to evangelize the indigenous people. Please pray for these dedicated couples.

Our travel back in time was accelerated as we loaded up in a truck with our driver, Gabriel, Cindy’s friend Flor, and several others who piled into the    back to go high up into the Sierras to the Huichol tribe. Within three hours, we were climbing on a gravel road through the pines, eventually topping over 7,000 feet, before dropping down into a maze of mountains, cliffs, and canyons, to the little village of Guadalupe.