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Chapter 3
THE VISION GOES FORWARD AGAIN
“Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.” (Gen 41:14)
Joseph was freed from prison and again it appears as if God will finally fulfill Joseph’s vision. But the time was not right. There was much work that Joseph’s hands must do before God’s timing was perfect.
The doctor agreed that Pastor Waldo’s heart was perfectly normal, and he could climb the mountains again, thanks to God. September 8, 2005, after recuperating from the heart problem and the healing by God, he walked in the mountains again.
There are still more distant villages in the mountains that have not heard the gospel before the end will come.
“Finally I am going to go to the mountains next week. I am not going very far. I will walk only some 4 hours. If you are going to help us, I believe that a group will be more constant in the visits there. And I also will go more after this until we can sustain one or two people full time there in the mountains to live permanently among them. That is our desire. I believe that the Lord made the link between you and us. We want to go. We have the calling. The doors have opened to us, but we don’t have the resources. Also we lacked material that was 100% Bible to teach them directly, that would edify their lives more rapidly. And now the Lord has made the perfect link. You both have a part, and we have another part and in this way, together we will fulfill the plans of God to bring the knowledge of the Lord to all these ethnic people and others as well. Waldo.” (August 27, 2005)
“Yesterday I was in Jala as I told you. I felt very happy for all that is happening. I went thinking much on the words that you wrote me when you told me that we are your feet in the mountains. This blessed me much, so much that I felt much physical strength and preached with more freedom. We arrived at two new villages with the Gospel. One mountain is more than two kilometers high. That road is very strenuous, for the Indian villages are in the highest part. Now I noticed that I tired less, and I climbed it in less time. I felt this blessing very strongly. Doña Tere, the woman that was previously a witch, sends you greetings. She is very changed. They told me that all that she had from her past life, she burned and renounced those gods and rituals. Yesterday I ministered to her in the Name of Jesus, and the Lord began to fill her with His presence. She already speaks better Spanish. She is learning it very rapidly. She is a very powerful testimony for all the villages there in the mountains. She walked 8 hours to be in the meeting yesterday. Her desire was to arrive, for she has much hunger for God, and to walk that distance is not important. She wants more of Him. All the Indians descend when we sound the shofar (ram’s horn). The sound of the horn resounds through the mountains. When we go climbing. We blow it in strategic points. They know that it is the call of God to congregate, and they descend from their houses to the meetings. Waldo.” (September 8, 2005)
“In two hours I also leave for an Indian village to visit a family from the Sierras that came to live there. Never have I gone to that village. I don’t know how it is, or how long it takes to go. Don Lupe and I are going. The village is called Buruato and is near Santa María del Oro. The people from the mountains travel every Sunday now to the meetings. They walk around 8 hours every week to arrive in Jala. Waldo.” (September 14, 2005)
“This past Sunday a good group descended from the mountains to a meeting in Jala. They came asking us to please go to their village because on the following day don Librado (the shaman of that region) is going to go to visit them in the village together with other cantors to perform some rituals. They are uncomfortable for this visit. I ask you to please help me to pray for don Librado. He is the strongest shaman in these places. He threatens very much the people who have received the gospel. However, he cannot do anything to them through witchcraft, so nothing happens among them, because now God lives in their lives. Every time that we climb to visit them, he loses himself in the mountains one week before we go and does not come down until a week after we leave. He always says that he is going to confront us, but he leaves fleeing, every time that we go. He has visited us on an astral trip to Tepic but as it unfolds, there is a very great barrier between him and us that he cannot pass over. This is what the people say. Waldo.” (September 20, 2005)
“The group (from the church) that now walks in the mountains will visit all the missions. It will be very tiring, for they are very far, one from another. The names of those that go are, don Lupe, Tony, don Cuco, José, Yolanda, and Simona. Apart from that, more people accompany them in each village that they visit, because always a group joins them. Tony, José, Yolanda, and Simona are Indians. We need them also for translation. Waldo.” (February 27, 2006)
“Late tomorrow we leave to share with a new mission that we opened a little while ago. The town is called San Clemente. It is some 10 minutes from Ixtlán, by highway to Guadalajara. It is a little secluded from Tepic. The people there have much hunger for God. On Thursday I am going to be in Ruiz again and on Saturday en San José de Mojarras, a town near Buruato. Waldo.” (February 28, 2006)
“On Wednesday we are going to go for the the first time to another Indian village about which they spoke to me. The governor of that village told us could we go to his village to speak to them of the gospel, for he has heard that the gospel transforms the people. They live in a place where you pass the edge of a very large dam. Up to the edge of the dam, it takes two and a half hours walking. The road is not paved, and from there I don’t know how much time it is exactly in a boat. It appears that it is a half hour. Before arriving at the reservoir is a village called Colorado de la Mora. There is a Christian church of Indians there and the pastor from there (Pastor Lorenzo) wants us to give him spiritual covering, for they feel alone, and they need counsel and direction. I will speak with him, and I will present them with your studies for their edification. It appears that he knew the Lord and went to his village to share the Word, and in that way his church was born. I am going to see what it is that the Lord shows us, and to where He directs us. Don Lupe accompanies me. We had thought to go this past week, but we postponed this trip for this next Wednesday. Waldo.” (March 27, 2006)
“Yesterday we left with all intentions of arriving at Colorado de la Mora. There on the map are located only the principal towns, but there are many more little villages. We could see them far off. The village of Colorado de la Mora is located next to a river, and likewise the beach of Golondrinas, another Indian village. We traveled to Francisco I Madero and from there to Calera de Cofrados. The road is in a very bad state to Calera de Cofrados. On arriving there we questioned about how was the the road to Colorado de la Mora, for on the map is not marked very well, giving us to understand that it is very bad. The people there recommended that we not go in the Van, because it was a road only for a pickup truck, and that the Van was not going to be able to enter. The mountains are too high, and there are many very large rocks in the road. They told us that it was a very dangerous road and only for standard pickup trucks of four-wheel drive. We chatted with various people, and all recommended the same thing. Because of that, we decided to follow their recommendation and arrive at the village by boat going through the dam of Aguamilpa. We returned to Francisco I Madero, and from there we took the highway to the Aguamilpa dam, but they charged us 1000 pesos to take us to Colorado de la Mora y and the beach of Golondrinas. The cost is roundtrip. We did not have it, and we did not go. Don Lupe and don Cuco suggested that we go on foot from Caleras de Cofrado to Colorado de la Mora, and from there we take a boat to go to Playa de Golondrinas. However, as I saw the mountains that there are to walk and the distance on the map, easily it would take 12 hours walking. We are going to think about what we are going to do. While we go on the road in the highest parts of the mountains, we see in the far distance the little houses of the Indians, and it moves us much. We want to return some day, especially to those places, and to take the gospel to them. The Indians are very sensitive, and they receive it very well. I know that the Lord loves them. It is very difficult for Christian people to take the time and effort to go to carry the gospel of the Lord to these poor people, a gospel
that changes and transforms them. Pray for us in this, for we feel a very great burden for all these people. Waldo.” (March 31, 2006)
“We went to the village of Colorado de la Mora. Yes, now we could arrive. We went through a very large river. In that town there is an Indian Christian church. The pastor (Pastor Lorenzo) from there has known the Lord for some years and returned to his people to share with them what he had received. For almost a year he has been seeking us, so that we would give him help. I forgot to take him your studies, but in the next visit I will give them to him. He asked me for them. We collected 700 pesos to take with us to that village, and we traveled exactly 45 minutes. The landscape is very beautiful with many types of birds. I saw the hunger that all of them have for God. We could not arrive at another village where the Huichol governor has asked us to go to visit them and speak to them of the gospel. I charged the pastor of Colorado de la Mora that he visit those people. I left him money to pay the cost of the boat. They already went today, Friday. Also they will be attending to that same village once the people come to the Lord. Waldo.” (August 11, 2006)
“We already have some money to buy a burro for don Lupe, because there are many very distant villages where still the Word of God has not yet arrived. We have to go to take them this message. Don Lupe already is available to go to live (in the mountains with the Indians) as soon as I tell him to go. Locating he and his wife there, will advance the gospel very much, for we are going to open a Bible school in the mountains to equip the Indians to send them to the villages to preach the gospel. I ask that you please help us to pray for this project. To those that will remain as pastors of the missions in the mountains, we will bring them down to Tepic every 4 months to train them, and then send them out, so that they in turn will teach others. Your lessons help us in all of this, for they are pure Bible. Waldo.” (April 24, 2006)
“Today Sandra spoke to me saying that the Lord spoke to her in the morning that she will accompany us. I was praying for women to go, for they are the majority of people there, and we need to minister to them even more. Sandra has a very strong anointing and a very clear sensitivity to the Lord. In this way, she will help us very much. Now I go out to contract for more burros, because we are going to visit almost all the missions, and this is very tiring. Esther, the wife of don Lupe, also will accompany us on this trip. Also two Indian believers (a man and his wife) from the mission of Jala. Waldo.” (May 11, 2006)
“There is a very large mixed town (Indians and Mexicans) that from last year is expecting us. We are going to try to go to carry the Word of God. There are about 100 families in that town. That is what some people have told me. They have heard of the wonders that the Lord has done with the Indians, and they want us to pray for them also, because they want to receive the Lord. That town is somewhat far but we are going to try to go. It is called San Antonio. Waldo.” (May 14, 2006)
“There was much dust in the majority of the roads for still the rainy season does not begin. We slept on the ground, camping. (This is without any physical protection.) The food that we brought is always insufficient, because we always share it, and on the last days, we eat what they eat. Although they are very considerate. They prepare for us with extra work time to get money to buy beans or something that we can eat. On this occasion we did not eat any strange food, with the exception of an armadillo and some other animals that they caught in some villages to give us to eat. The lack of water on the road is common. When we went to one village, the heat was enormous and the sun very strong. The road was of loose ground and small rocks and the mountain too high. The water was finished halfway up the road, and it was somewhat difficult to stand the thirst, but the Lord helped us and gave us strength to arrive. Our reward was two families, that, as soon as we spoke to them of the Lord, they wanted to receive Him at that moment. On praying for them the Lord ministered very strongly, and we saw signs besides that confirmed the preaching of His word. Waldo.” (May 24, 2006)
“On Tuesday we went to a mission in a town that is called El Mirador. It is very difficult to arrive there, for the height of the mountains and for the difficulty of the road. But, thanks to God we could arrive. I did not know that town, for when we have had meetings, they come down to El Majahual. I had much desire to be with them. I saw the hunger that they have for God. The majority do not know how to read or write. In this way, your lessons, spoken in their dialect, are going to help them. Already we began the recordings. When we came, they already came down from the mountains and were there. One couple came from a distant village, because they wanted to receive the Lord. They walked 4 hours so that we would tell them how. On the following day, very early at 5:00 am, we went to La Ciénega, because we wanted to return on the same day. On the road, we arrived at the highest point of the mountains. The mountains are the Sierra Madre Occidental. The Lord helped us for we went on past the Indians. We walked 5 hours climbing. It was very difficult but we achieved it. Then we walked an hour more among the pines to be able to arrive a this mission. We found only three families for in the rest of the village, their boss did not permit them to miss work. We spent a very good time with Manuel and Jesusita. Jesusita is Manuel’s wife and the daughter of don Librado (the shaman). They love the Lord very much, and even though don Librado threatens them a lot, they continue with the Lord without fear of him. We returned to La Ciénega at 3:00 p.m., and we arrived at El Majahual a little before 10 at night, very tired but very blessed. On the following day, we walked 4 hours to carry the Lord to two families. The road was very difficult for its height, but we arrived. Then we walked almost three hours more to reach 4 more families for the Lord. On Friday we walked also almost 4 hours. We arrived at the peak of a mountain only so that two families would accept the Lord. They received Him with much joy and much excitement. On the following day we traveled to El Ciruelo for our return trip. But before that, we went to visit Valentina. I was surprised by the consecration that she has for the Lord. She only has a small portion of a New Testament book, and although she has read it many times, she does not tire of reading it, for it is all that we left her on that occasion. She sends you greetings. Now she says to the people of the village that she does not practice witchcraft anymore but now worships the Lord. She is very good to testify of her faith. Also we brought 4 more families to the Lord in El Ciruelo. Waldo.” (May 24, 2006)
“We are happy with these roads that are opening, because this facilitates us more to be able to arrive at other villages. In the next month, they will finish a very large dam that they are constructing. The dam is called El Cajón. It is enormous, and it is because of this that they are opening roads and remodeling others. This helps us much, because, in this way, we will be able to arrive at more Indian communities. Waldo.” (August 21, 2006)
Dealing With the Struggles and the Conflicts Between Cultures
Joseph, a Jew, lived in another culture in Egypt. As with any culture, there are struggles and conflicts when two cultures meet. The Christian, whose home is in heaven, has a similar struggle in any culture. These struggles can assume many forms.
“One time (the Indians) told me to eat worms. It was a special food. Only the governor and I ate it. They were worms of maggots. That was the first time that I went with them. Therefore, I had to eat them so that they would accept us. I did not want to, for they were alive, but I had to do it. Last year a couple of Indians spent some days with us in our house. My wife likes to prepare meals always with vegetables or with steamed vegetables. They are not accustomed to these foods, so they did not eat them. I told them that I had to eat what they gave me, and I told them about the worms. I told them the horror that I felt, and that I did not want to eat them because I was not used to that. However, I had to do it because I loved them, and so that they would accept the gospel. It was very difficult for me, but I had to do it. With that, they began to eat the vegetables that my wife prepared. Waldo.” September 22, 2005)
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“Yesterday I went to Buruato. I saw something strange. In a little while I am going to begin to read the writings that you sent me to see if there is this fiesta in them. The village is divided. They are preparing for a fiesta that is called the Festival of the Pumpkin. They celebrate it in this month of October. Don Librado, the chief of the shamans, came from Nogal to visit them and order them to do this fiesta. The majority of those that are Christian are not going to participate, but some are going to do it, even though they say that they are not going to smoke peyote (the hallucinogenic drug that is common in Huichol Indian culture). They are preparing the corn for participating in it. Don Librado frightens those that are recent converts, and because of that, they are going to celebrate. However, the rest of the group does not want to, for they feel that the invocations that he does in his prayers are not good. We had an excellent Christian meeting yesterday. The Lord sprinkled (miracles) and confirmed the faith of all those that believed. Those that were recently converted said that they had already given their word to participate in the festival, but that they were going only to be present without doing what the shaman told them to do. I don’t know how don Librado does it, to come among them for Nogal is almost three days of walking, and he is more than 90 years old (in reality, he is 93 years old). It bothered him much when he knew that we were visiting them, and that now his daughters and all his grandsons are Christians. We have him surrounded, for there lacks only one son of his that has not converted to the Lord of all his 18 sons. The son that still lacks being converted says that he is going to be don Librado’s substitute in witchcraft, and he is going to inherit all his powers. Those that were to inherit, in each of his son’s families, have renounced these traditions, and now they praise God. Waldo.” (October 13, 2005)
“The Indian brothers send you both greetings and gratitude. I found sick all those that are going to participate (in the Festival of the Pumpkin). For those that were not going to participate, they are perfectly well, filled with joy. The shaman was going to go, but now as he knew that we were going to go to the village, he decided to postpone his visit. The fiesta will celebrate without him. Waldo.” (October 19, 2005)
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“I ask that you, please, help me to pray for a U. S. visa. They authorize only one U. S. visa, for every 20 people that apply for it. Always it has been this way, and the $100 that is paid ahead of time, they do not return it. It is in this way that only the Lord can operate there to find grace before the people in the (American) consulate. Waldo.” (October 15, 2005)
“The consulate asked me for a telephone number to confirm the letter (of invitation), but the number that they gave me from there, they never answer the phone. Today they spoke to me from the consulate that they (the pastor of the U. S. church) did not answer the telephone. I don’t know what they wanted me to do. They asked me for one more reference from the USA, but I did not know what to respond. They told me that I do not qualify for the tourist visa, and that they are going to authorize a religious visa. I did not want it, but I felt that it was of God. The person that attended to me, insisted very much, and I accepted it. Only I had to pay $100 more. Waldo.” (October 19, 2005)
“I am very happy with that visa for I read very well all that you tell me in your letter. An uncle of mine told me, also, that it is very difficult to obtain one, and that there are many documents that they require. I don’t know, but that the Lord has plans for all of this, and we want to see them realized in our life. The only thing that worries me is the cost per year, for it is much for me, but already the Lord will provide it. Waldo.” (October 26, 2005)
“The person that authorized me for this visa is the most difficult in the consulate. She is well-known for not authorizing visas for the majority of the people. When I saw her, I told the Lord that I wanted her to attend to me, and I began to pray. On the previous day, she had attended to a young man from our congregation. She did not listen to him. She only saw him, did not check his papers, and told him that he did not qualify. He wanted to tell her why he was going to the U.S., but she did not want to listen and ordered that he pass to the next person. Waldo.” (October 28, 2005)
What the letters do not tell you, that Waldo explained to my class personally, is that the woman in the consulate gave him much difficulty over the visa. It appeared that she was not going to authorize the visa. When she went to call the church in the United States to confirm the documents of his petition, Waldo prayed that God would show him something of her life so that he could minister to her. When she returned from the failed phone call, God revealed to Waldo some situations in her life. Waldo spoke to her about these situations and prayed for her. She was so surprised that she gave him the religious visa.
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“A little while ago we were in a town where many walk around with guns. We had meetings in the central part of that town. On passing the people to the front to receive the Lord, and to pray for their needs, they were falling to the floor even without my touching them. Only by my passing to the side of the people, did this happen for they fell touched by the Lord. A man of that town, armed with a pistol said, “if you knock my woman down, I am going to kill you.” In that moment his woman fell to the floor, and he walked toward us. Some 5 meters before arriving to where I was, he fell and got up. He continued to fall and get up, to fall and get up. He fell for the third time and could not get up. There he was a little more than an hour. We finished the meeting, put away the instruments, and he continued on the floor. When we were ready to go, he got up marked. He explained to us crying, what he was going to do. He surrendered his life to the Lord and wanted to be baptized. At one in the morning we baptized him. We did not know that he was the town bully. From that time, I don’t go to towns like that, for it is dangerous, even though, in all ways, clearly we are open to where the Lord sends us, without neglecting the work in the places already established. I am of the following position. Please tell me with confidence if I am wrong, and at that moment I will pray to the Lord to correct it. I am not guided by signs, neither do I seek them. The people do not have to fall to be touched by the Lord. The signs are not Biblical doctrine, neither are they a guarantee that the person is good before God. What it is, is a sign…of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life. Waldo.” (October 28, 2005)
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“Now we have 6 Indians with us. There is not place at home sufficient to sleep them, so they are staying in the rooms of the church. They only come here to the house to eat. One of them is the one that lends me his burro, so that I don’t tire myself so much when I visit them.. I brought them here in the Van, and it gave me much laughter because they have fear of cars. It is the first time that they came down to the city, and everything makes them laugh. The people in the street look at them strangely, because when they arrive at a park, they begin to run. Also they don’t dare cross the streets without me or someone they trust to take them across. I told them that Jack is going to go and climb with us to their villages. They say that they don’t know any north Americans, because they have never seen one in all their life. Jack will be the first American that climbs to these regions. Waldo.” (March 22, 2006)
“Today in the afternoon I brought some Indians with me again, and I laughed a lot. I took them to a commercial center and the automatic doors made them afraid. Also they looked all over for the person that spoke on a bullhorn announcing the sales. I spent a very good time with them. I took them to visit, and to sell some of the honey to help us with the expenses of feeding them. They want to be preachers, but among their own people. They will be with us one month. Already they have been here a week, and I am taking advantage of this time to give them good discipleship. They do not know how to read very well, but they understand your studies very well. Waldo.” (March 24, 2006)
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“Tony talked to me about a part of the Huichol tribe that has very rooted beliefs. I thought that it was another ethnic group in the state of Zacatecas but, no, it is here in Nayarit. In this tribe of Huichols, the men and women only use loin cloths and paint their faces. Two times a year they offer a child in sacrifice to their gods. They do not accept visits from people of mixed blood. They have killed racially mixed people when they have visited. We carry this burden in our hearts for these people, and instantly we prayed for them. When the Lord shows us to go to share with them the Word of God, we will go. I don’t know why the Lord has commissioned us with this task of these ethnic people, but we do it with gratitude and with much love. Only Indian people, and those of the ethnic Huichol, are accepted by them. In this way, those Indians that are already Christians are those indicated to go and carry the gospel to them. Waldo.” (September 25, 2006)
“Tony says that departing from La Ciénega to arrive a those villages will take us exactly 24 hours on foot without stopping. Yes, they are very isolated villages. Even civilization does not yet arrive with them. I don’t know what they live on. It would be more or less a week of walking for me to go, but only Indians can enter those places. Don Lupe is preparing and encouraging Tony so that when God calls, he will go to take them the gospel. It will be something very interesting when that time arrives. Waldo.” (September 28, 2006)
