Trips Blog

How can we serve our at-risk communities in Christ’s name while bringing people together and promoting better health and opening new economic opportunities? Can our churches be involved in those things in our communities without generating reliance on outside resources that create dependency? Many of us ask ourselves those questions. I believe that what a group from The Outreach Foundation has been experiencing in what is known as the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Mexico may be a source of wisdom.

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Journeying through the states of Yucatán, Tabasco and Campeche over the last week has taken my view of Mexico as having a very musical culture to a whole different level. The three congregations that I have worshipped with displayed the combination of joy and reverence that accompanies so much of how Presbyterians respond to God’s grace here.

Missionary Todd Luke shared with me that when the first Presbyterian church was started in the Calakmul region of Campeche pastors were available one Sunday a month at the most. However, in addition to Bibles and the Westminster Catechism, people were given hymnals and guidance on how to use them.

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by Juan Sarmiento

Raised in a Presbyterian home in the Mexican state of Tabasco, Loida became an influential elder in the congregation that we set out to plant in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley. The feel of our new church was definitely different from the one she grew up in. We had people from eleven Latin American countries, the largest constituency being children and youth born of immigrant parents. Loida, however, was a great inspiration to us all by generously giving of her time, talents and treasure in service to Christ. Since we last saw each other fifteen years ago she has returned to her paradisiacal home town called “Paraiso” and employs her beautiful voice in the church choir.

Through the years, Mexico has been a blessing to me in many ways. Being the country with the highest number of Spanish speakers in the world, much of the media and literature that I grew up with came from there.

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