Mission: Mexico 2024

The Oaxacan Sierra: surveying a mission field

LOVE FOR OAXACA PEOPLE

By Louis-Olivier Petelle

We were blessed last year to buy a condo in Huatulco, on the Oaxacan coast. God put on my heart at that time that this place should be used for His glory and to facilitate the logistics of GO-ing to the mountains and bringing Jesus’s love to the small, isolated communities of the Sierra which seemed to be a potential mission field for Climbing For Christ.

We met a few Christians there and the Lord brought us to a church in Santa Maria Huatulco in the foothills of the mountains. This is where we met Pastor Willy, a Mexican from Pluma Hidalgo who served as a missionary abroad for several years as part of Operation Mobilization on the Logos Hope ship.

Willy and his wife, Narahi, are always serving the community and bringing God’s love to the lost. They are also heavily involved with the local food bank as well as serving migrants and refugees.

We were back at the end of October 2023 for just under a month. This time we had with us almost 500 pairs of readings glasses, donated by the Lion’s Club. After coordinating with Willy, he worked the logistics with a couple local pastors from nearby communities and we were part of a medical caravan (a one-day event) as well as another instance in another village where my wife Melanie used her God-given gift and performed basic eye exams and we distributed reading glasses.

In total about 250 glasses were distributed on three separate occasions and God was glorified.

The eyeglasses delivery idea came from Melanie, who was part of a medical mission to India with an NGO in 2012. Doctors performed cataract surgery, something that is a need in the mountains of Mexico, too.

What became clear during this time down there is that, although there are countless opportunities to serve in Huatulco and the surrounding areas, the isolated mountain communities remain somewhat left out and unreached. We met with Sister Ruth, who is the pastor of a church in Pluma Hidalgo and works with Willy and other pastors to support home churches in mountain communities.

We discussed the possibility of an exploratory trip to some remote hamlets that can only be reached on foot. The result of this is a survey trip for Mission: Mexico 2024.

Louis-Olivier Petelle is a member of Climbing For Christ CANADA’s Board of Directors.

MISSION: MEXICO 2024: Climbing For Christ’s very first mission was to Mexico in April 2005. We served in the mountains of northern Mexico in 2005-2007. This survey trip will be the first to southern Mexico. It is scheduled in October (dates to be determined). It will be a nine-or 10-day trip that will include trekking a three-to-five-day circuit through small indigenous communities in the mountains of Oaxacan. Email info@ClimbingForChrist.org for a mission application. For C4C members only (CLICK HERE to join).