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Hello everyone, It has been an eventful past couple of weeks in Creel. On Tuesday August 12th, I met the group from Montana and made the trip to El Tejaban to spend the night there before making the 8-mile hike into Guacaivo the next day. There were nine of us on this trip into the canyon. The river was very high because of all the rain we have had the past three months. We could not get the pack mules across the river so we all had to use the little cable car to get all the food, construction supplies, backpacks and my Jesus film equipment across and load it onto the burros waiting for us on the other side.
The team from left to right: Joshua, Ed, Me (Ryan), Mark, Angie, Miguel, Alex and Irene
The pack mules carrying our supplies down.
Mark and I crossing the river on the cable car. Irene and Angie crossing the river. The purpose of this trip was to get the albergue ready for the children in September. The group did some concrete work, set toilets and built bunk beds. I was in charge of getting the water system working. This involved the installation of over 300 meters of pipe to get down to the albergue, getting the water to the kitchen and bathrooms. I also installed showers in the bathrooms for the children to bathe. The pics below show the cistern which is located high above the village. Ed and Angie are unrolling the pipe which will carry the water down. The showers you see below are a real luxury, there is nothing like them around for many miles. Mark, Miguel and Joshua are seen with the bunk beds they have been building.
Children from the village enjoying a swim in the pila.
Ed and Angie unrolling the water pipe.
The showers are installed and working great. This water system at Guacaivo is no doubt one of a kind for this area of the canyons.
Mark, Miguel and Joshua with a completed bunk bed.
Each night we served dinner and showed Christian videos to the all the kids and adults. Afterwards we would have a time to share thoughts and pray for those who had needs. It is amazing to see how God is changing the people each time we go to Guacaivo. They are really starting to open up and trust us more and more. Another trip is scheduled for October. There will be a large group going down on this trip to finish up a few things we didn't have a chance to get completed and also to do VBS with all the kids. Classes will have started by then so there should be about 50 children to work with.
More News... * For our safety I have left out and changed the spelling of certain names. * We were in the canyon till the 21st. During this time a horrible event happened here in town. You may have read several different stories on the Internet or seen reports on the news, but this is what went down. About three to four weeks ago two men were killed between Sn Wanita and Bacono by members of XX XXXXX - a large drug cartel out of XXXXX, one of the two killed was the top drug lord of this area. Last Saturday evening fourteen people were killed by this same group. They want control of this area. Three vehicle loads of men armed with AK-47s were sent down to kill two men on their list involved in drug trafficking around this area. The police here in town were warned four hours in advance that they were coming to kill two men and that they wanted no interference or they would be killed also. The two men were found at a horse race then were chased to town where they ran to a building where some family members of the Presidente were gathered. The three vehicles pulled up in front of the building, the men fired hundreds of rounds of shells into the crowd killing fourteen and wounding twelve more. When the two men on their list were dead the three vehicles fled the scene. Shelly and the kids heard all the gunfire and thought it was firecrackers. She saw when all three came through the main street in town at an extremely high rate of speed. Two of the vehicles were found abandoned, one was found in the big town two hours from here where the one of the assassins was shot and severely wounded. The town here has been very quiet, nobody has been out much and businesses have been closed. The military is here patrolling the streets and also Federal Special OPs are guarding the roads out of town because they have been told that they would be coming back to kill others. All the Federalies have been staying at the hotel where we are getting the cabin ready for us to move in. We have had the chance to pray for them and one came to our morning Bible study there on Monday. If you want to find out more about this major drug cartel go to UTube and do a search for XX XXXXX. They are using the videos to communicate and threaten people. I caution you, some of these videos are very violent and disturbing.
We invite you to take an adventure with a purpose... Onor u'ami micuirsa (God Bless You, in Tarahumara) Blessings Ryan, Shelly, Monica and Melena Maness
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