Culture shock or something else...

Good morning friends! I hope this post finds you well and you enjoy some perspective from the journey Nayeli and I are on in Mexico! Today we want to share a little about the culture we experienced while traveling last month, so hitch up your trailer, we are going for a drive! Before we talk about our most recent experiences I want to give a little background information on where we live. Jalicso is the state we live in and it is connected to one of the busiest ports in Mexico and some of the most modern and busy states in Mexico as well. We are connected to Colima, Aguasclientes, Michoacan, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Nayarit. This area of Mexico is one of the most populated, modern and influenced by Asian, American and European businesses. They are full of manufactures, offices and engineering facilities and not just that but the area has a ton of agriculture and tourism too. These states are rich in culture, tradition and have many indigenous groups still living here like they did long before anyone else was here. One more thing, these states are also the most unreached when it comes to Christianity, to be exact they are less than 2% reached, they are called the circle of silence. This is the most difficult place to do ministry in Mexico due to the deep roots in catholicism, indigenous groups, traditions and outside influences. That being said, we are working hard to build relationships that lead to Christ, new ministries, churches and projects that not only spread the Gospel but disciple those who choose to follow Him. We are working hard to unite other believers, churches and ministries to reach this area but it hasn't been easy and it's not just cultural differences. Speaking of that, we want to share a few interesting things that happened to us recently. We are seeing many different perspectives and it's hard to know what is truly going on. As I said we have been traveling this past month and one of the places we went to was Chiapas. This is the southernmost state of Mexico that borders Guatemala. From what we have read and understand this state has been reached very well for Christ and has many churches and Christian communities. They even send people from this state to start churches in other states of Mexico. We were there to have fun and enjoy a break from ministry but as many of you know I never can keep from chatting with anyone I can about life or Jesus, especially taxi drivers. As we traveled through Chiapas we took many taxis and buses and as usual, I tried to chat with them along the way, except none of them wanted to talk to me. I would start super simple and get one-word answers, I would try to make them laugh and get nothing, I would ask them questions about their state or favorite activities and get the same answer from all of them "I like to all, it's all very good". Not only that but even other people in Chiapas didn't seem to want to talk to us either, it was rare when someone would open up to us and chat for more than 5 or 10 minutes about something other than "things to do here". When we returned to Guadalajara, we took a taxi home from the airport and again we started chatting with the driver. It started simple and led to a deep long conversation about faith. How is it possible that someone in the circle of silence opens up about faith but the state that is supposed to be reached doesn't? We were perplexed. But, maybe there is more to it, maybe there is something to learn that can help us reach others. We find many people here in Jalisco who will talk to you about faith but won't come to your church, small group or even read the bible. They will agree with you and tell you everything you want to hear but won't live out the words. Interesting, no? We also have others who just show up out of nowhere hungry for The Word. An example of that is we just started a new small group in a small town in the hills about an hour south of the city. We showed up just to give a bag of food to an old friend of my mother-in-law who needed help. As we started chatting with her and her son we ended up on the topic of faith. Before we knew it we were in a full-blown conversation about half the stories of the bible and her son knew them all. It was almost like he was teaching us and not the other way around. How could a man who has never been to church know all of these things we thought? He had a Bible and didn't like the Catholic church after experiences with them in his town. That was all it took, a little experience and his initiative to read the bible. Crazy right? So, what does all this mean? Different cultures in different states and towns change things, yes but maybe it's deeper than that and we are just touching the surface. Christianity is not well recieved in Mexico and where it has been recieved there has been a lot confrontation and pursecution. I think that's what we see in Chiapas. People have learned to put up a guard where there has been persecution and where there hasn't people put up a guard because of the reputation of religion but yet still open up. We are seeing two different perspectives here. As we learn and walk through all of this we hope to talk about more and maybe see some answers. So to conclude we invite you to come along with us on this journey as God reveals things to us every month!