Pastor Damien's Ministry

Prayer Request

I was to leave in a few minutes for Lachiguiri with Pastor Damien but just now his wife called telling me that he is very sick with a high fever and extreme aching. It may be Dengue. We have had an outbreak of Dengue along the coast but here in Huatulco, the government sprays for mosquitoes. Last week Pastor Damien was hired by some Americans as a guide to trek deep in the mountains where there was no protection. Please pray for him today. I am still recuperating from my recent bout with Dengue fever. There is nothing one can take, only lots of water and rest.

A couple of hours later today Israel called me from Lachiguiri. I had sent him on up to Lachiguiri by bus yesterday. He said that he was sick on the whole trip vomiting. I am now thinking that both men ate something bad on Sunday. As bad as that can be it is better than Dengue. Israel had been here in Huatulco this last week so we could record several chapters from the Book of Luke in Zapotec. He puts a lot of feeling into his reading. We only were able to average one chapter a day because as we went along we found that in reading out loud the whole meaning had changed in areas. When I get up to Lachiguiri hopefully later this week we will have each of the pastors listen to it to be sure we are conveying what the Bible teaches.

Yesterday I had an email from a friend who works with the government here in Oaxaca and he asked for prayer for his State. I talked with him later in the afternoon and they are believing that God will restore peace soon in the city. Oaxaca City is over seven hours from here but even on the outskirts of the city it has been calm. For you who may not have heard, in May 70,000 teachers went on strike as they have every year since I've been here for higher wages but this year it got sticky and other political issues came up so the teachers union, along with a political group called APPO had taken over the downtown area of Oaxaca City. The situation has gotten nasty.

Later last night another friend who lives in Oaxaca City called me and said that there is still hot spots of dissenters around and that some professional thieves are taking advantage of the chaos by stealing cars etc and trying to make it look like it is a part of the teachers union strike. This friend who is a pastor in Oaxaca City said he has been working with a camera crew with one of the AP news agencies. He also bought a lot of drinking water and snacks to help the Federal police who had come to restore their city. It will take awhile for everything to calm down. The teachers were to return to their classes yesterday but still haven't gone back to their schools. That includes Lachiguiri and our whole mountain region.

Pray for peace,

Sheri