You’ll Never Guess Who Got to the Cora Tribe Before We Did!
Hola amigos y familia!
Wow! It’s been an incredible 2 weeks!
We started off strong in Mazatlan at Calvary Chapel Maranatha VBS! The kiddos warmed my heart. While in Mazatlan, the power went out because of a strong lightning storm and we woke up in our own sweat and the church partially flooded. It’s toasty in Mazatlan! It looked like a lazy river outside with trashbags, pink backpacks, and debris floating down the streets. It was quite a few feet of water! We started off the morning sweeping up the muck and trash in the driveway patio outdoor area. Then we ran out of water! Character-building is a blessing in short-term mission trips. ;)
The highlight of these past few weeks has been the Cora Tribe. Hours up this mountain, in a small town in San Gregorio, Mexico, resides the people of the Cora tribe and Coca Cola?! The people’s skirts and blouses are hand crafted, colorful pieces of artwork. I noticed they are a serious people culturally and they live a simple life.
We trekked up the mountain and what caught my eye was the Coca Cola truck. It reminded me of the book, Radical, where David Platt noticed the same thing in a different part of the world.
He writes: "A soft-drink company in Atlanta has done a better job getting brown sugar water to these people than the church of Jesus Christ has done in getting the gospel to them."
Convicting. Coca Cola may have gotten there first, but we were finally there and ready to share the gospel. This work started about 4 years ago and there are so many people who still have never heard about Jesus there, let alone the concept of there even being a God.
We went out in small teams to different homes of the tribe to share the gospel and invite them to events throughout the few days we were there. The first house we went to was a woman who had side and back pain, so we prayed over her. She came to the medical brigade! We then met a woman named Angelina and she gave her life to Christ! Her siblings were everywhere hanging out with us the next few days! Another woman named Marta gave her life to Christ at the next house! It was so cool that we had someone who spoke the Cora language in our group to translate Spanish to Cora so that these people could understand the gospel better through their heart language!
Each day from 2-6, we did a ton of games with the kids, face painting, balloon animals, a Bible story message and coloring. Spinning the kids around and running around playing games with them wiped me out! It was such a joy to see the kiddos smiling faces. They were listening and probably absorbing bits of the gospel. I pray for their protection and true salvation. Lord, please help them to pursue You.
We also had a medical brigade during that time! Everyone who came in heard the gospel and most had no concept of God and had never heard the Name of Jesus. Deicy and James, our strong Spanish speaker evangelists shared the gospel non-stop. The Cora people were repenting and praying to have a relationship with their Creator left and right. Over 60 people gave their lives to Christ during the medical brigade! Sunday, at the church service we put on, 4 more people raised their hand to receive Christ!
It’s a joy witnessing people come to Christ. We are currently praying for people in this community to be raised up to be spiritual leaders as pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. so that the gospel may be preached to more people there and more tribes even further in the mountains and so there can be discipleship as well. Church planting is so important! We can’t just leave them empty handed. We keep going back. Since a lot of them don’t speak Spanish well, we would like to provide audio bibles in their tribal language the next visit. They’re $25 each! More updates on this in months to come!
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.””
Matthew 28:19-20
We were 8 peas in a pod in our tent. We all had never been more crammed in a tent before; it was hilarious. We slept on the concrete on top of thick blankets and we laid down shoulder to shoulder. Grateful for flat ground, for each-other and plenty of laughs! We also tried laying in a way where every other person would lay the opposite direction. It was a good challenge for sure and we would do it again in a heartbeat because it was such a privilege going that deep into the mountains to preach the gospel to the Cora tribe. Praise the Lord!
We ended the 6-week Calvary School of Missions with a retreat. *Sigh* My mind and body sunk into the bed… I hadn’t had a bed in weeks. The cool ocean air was life-giving. I grew accustomed to the climate and cultures in Mazatlan and San Gregorio, but wow it was a luxury being back in Baja. I don’t ever want to take for granted the blessings God gives to me; we are so blessed with clean water, showers, couches, beds, clean sheets, clean clothes, fans, AC, favorite foods, all of the luxuries! I never will say, “I hate folding laundry” again! Clean laundry to fold?! Praise God! I am thankful for all of these things, but if I only have Jesus, I have it all! He is the true luxury we have to offer this world.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOVE, PRAYERS AND SUPPORT! God has been speaking and confirming tremendously on next steps of faith in missions for myself. I’m looking forward to sharing that in my next newsletter so stay tuned!
PRAYER WARRIORS
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For the people we’ve shared the gospel with these past 6 weeks!
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For those who have given their lives to Jesus. For them to grow in a deep relationship with Him, to be in the Word of God and prayer every day. For them to be witnesses of Jesus to those around them.
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For those who we shared with that didn’t give their lives to Christ. For them to come to Jesus.
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Next steps! For God to give me continued wisdom and discernment on next steps where and when to visit for a vision tour to pray further about where God would potentially send me long-term. I am considering certain locations and a trip in September.
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Healing! For healing upon those who have been sick, injured, or hindered in any physical way on this trip. I’m in this bunch now, I think we all are at this point.
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FOR ME TO EVANGELIZE MY LITTLE HEART OUT IN ENGLISH ONCE I GET BACK TO CALIFORNIA. That I would have a burden for the lost, opportunities and open doors to share the gospel and boldness to witness! I can’t wait for English again!
Thank you so much for tagging along by reading my newsletter! I’m so grateful to include you as a part of my journey reaching the ends of the earth with the gospel!
All my love,
Alli Standish
Flying into Mazatlan!
VBS, church work, and fellowship at the sweetest churches in Mazatlan and connecting churches!
This was the flooding from the storm in Mazatlan after it subsided a little. It was way worse hours before!
Quick ice cream stop after fellowshipping with the best host family!
Above is our fellowship home group. They were the sweetest! Angie <3
There’s Angelina from the Cora tribe!
A woman and two kids who weren’t interested in hearing. There were few and far between on these. Still pray for them.
The Coca Cola truck driving hours up a mountain for a delivery… how far will we go to share Jesus? So timely, only weeks after reading the book Radical by David Platt!
Here is some history of how 4 years ago this family became the people of peace to help further minority in this community. Our long-term missionaries in this area keep pouring into their lives and community about 4 to 5 times a year. Imagine a church service only 5 times a year?! Pray they grow spiritual leaders to plant a church!
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