Norris Family News

Medical Follow-Up in the Colonias

This week there were two opportunities for different combinations of staff to go on medical followup errands. These are very fun because there is already a relationship between IFM and the family, the story and the need is at least roughly known, and we have the satisfaction of offering physical help as well as heartfelt prayer. We get to sit with people in their homes. I find this very fruitful, even though the surroundings are sometimes grim. I appreciate the chance to see the reality. These are the contexts in which these bodies actually live, and it can shed light on what is or is not possible for them. Everyone is always extremely gracious, althought sometimes there is thinly veiled depression just beneath. Once again, it is impressive to see how clean and neat the residents are when the opportunity for bathing and laundering is severely hindered. Little girls generally have impeccably artful hair. The smell of meals drifting through the makeshift walls is often quite tantalizing. The neighborhoods, however, are liberally strewn with rubbish. The scrawny, unhealthy looking dogs on every street are very uninspiring. When your resources are limited, you have to pick and choose where to sink all your energy!

Sometimes we find that the physical concerns are not at all what we expected. It's hard to say if the information changed hands a few times or if a substandard translator (such as I) was the only one available. We were pleased to find that the "unemployed" father with the purported tumor on his leg actually had a sprained ankle a year ago, and really only has pain after his 11 hour shifts at the restaurant! Other situations were just as reported; a lovely, hardworking and resourceful lady with awful dental disease (also pregnant, with 4-5 of her own children and 4 of her deceased sister's!), two lovely girls aged 9 and 11 with developmental/physical problems who operate at about the level of a 5-6 month old. The good news about these girls is that they appear to be very well cared for, and they just beam when they have visitors. There is an inordinate number of children with developmental issues. It is impossible to sort out how much of it is prenatal issues/during delivery/toxin exposures/nutritional/genetic. It is remarkable.

We cannot completely remove very many physical problems, but we do what we can on the spot, and I understand that in the past God has moved people to tackle some very big needs at times through IFM. We try to be discerning about what to tackle, what we can actually follow through on. There is plenty of material to move the viewer to depression, but when you sit to pray with a severely handicapped little girl who is surrounded by photos of herself dressed in white and lace at intervals over the years, with a cool fan blowing on her and a pretty scarf as a canopy over the single bed in the single room, you have to think, "If this family trusts God and has hope for the future, I shouldn't rush to think otherwise!"

--Erika

Scouting

Today was a wonderful 11 hour day at the “office.” For so many years I have been sitting in front of a computer, it was a lovely contrast to be doing something completely different, completely relational, completely adventurous, and completely Kingdom business. Not that we haven't done (and written about) many things that would fit that discription in the very recent past, but today I had a “job” to do and so I felt more business-like and less spiritual when the day started out. But in retrospect, it was another great privilege of being involved in tiny aspects of the huge and mighty works that God is doing.

I took Daniel with me today. We prayed together as we left and then drove to the house of IFM-Mexico's director, Jose Luiz Torres, whom we were mostly shadowing. I had never been to his house but was able to navigate with his hand-drawn map through some really twisty and non-labeled streets. After some review of our plans around the kitchen table, we set out to go “scouting” as IFM calls it. Our job was to connect upcoming outreach teams with various ministries and opportunities.

Our first task was to explore a new colonia on the extreme outskirts of Juarez. A colonia, or neighborhood, starts out very humble with palette and cardboard homes and eventually grows into something more substantial as families replace their humble materials with more durable materials. It is an amazing evolution. There are colonias in all stages of this process all over the city. This colonia was in a pretty early stage with lots of cardboard. Each colonia has a name such as “Granjas del Desierto” (Farmers of the Desert) that Erika and I mentioned earlier. We do not know this new colonia's name yet.

Jose Luiz pleasantly surprised me as we were pulled over for a moment. He said, “We must ask the Lord for His leading to find the right place. If He has a place for this team He will take us there.” So we prayed together for this in turn, me in English and him in Spanish. Then we drove for a minute or two and came across a little church. We went in and talked with a few ladies who went and got the pastor. We talked with him for a bit and then he went to get another pastor. It turned out that the first pastor is from downtown Juarez and that this church is a mission. The other pastor, a younger and gregarious guy, leads the church in the colonia. So we talked for quite a while and they both seemed pretty excited about the whole idea. We saw eye to eye on the evangelistic nature of the outreach and generally had a really encouraging talk. Both Jose Luiz and I felt that this was His immediate answer to our prayer. Also, it became clear after we left that the timing was His, because after we left everyone else closed up, got in cars and drove away!

My Spanish is mostly dead (remember A Princess Bride?), but I am finding that I can understand more and more as I listen to it. Jose Luiz did most of the talking today and translated for me when I had something to say. I found that I could understand about 10% of what the pastors in the colonia said, which was pretty good! But I did not fare so well with others.

We visited four other places, two of them twice to get the right person. In the last place we met pastor Martin. What a guy Pastor Martin is! He was a pleasure to meet. However, he speaks incredibly fast and so I only understood 0.001% of what he said. Jose Luiz translated general concepts after outpourings of talk from Pastor Martin. But I didn’t need to understand anything except his demeanor and smile and spontaneous, fervent prayer for my family, which was a wonderful reflection of our Lord Jesus.

One final note. I find one of the most difficult things about going into the outdoor market in Juarez for street evangelism (described in an earlier post), is the food. I want to eat everything! Well today we ate at a roadside taco stand. It's not as bad as it might sound. Everything is thoroughly cooked and oh so yummy! We had chicken mole burritos and Manzana Lift, which is a Coca Cola apple soda only found in Mexico. Bryan Albert would be drooling!

--Thaine

Where we live

Unexpected Beauty
Before we moved here we had a pretty bleak impression of the place. We had seen pictures and had heard stories for years before. Erika had been here once in 1992 and we had been here once as a family in February, but we didn’t explore much since we were so focused on our outreach. Having lived in Boulder, Colorado and San Luis Obispo, California and Whidbey Island, Washington we were pretty spoiled for natural beauty. So it wasn’t the surroundings that drew us here, especially since our only thoughts of the place were of blowing dirt, bleak moonscapes devoid of green, searing heat, etc. When we had made the decision to come I told a friend, “There is nothing lovely about the place, but the Spirit of God is so prevalent in what is going on there, that there is no place we would rather be.”

Our trip here was quite an ordeal, getting us here just as the first rays of the sun were peeking over the horizon. As soon as we stepped out of the car we were greeted with a symphony of bird songs. Across the road there is a bamboo patch that is filled with birds that have myriad, complex songs and calls. It was music to my ears! I had never expected such a treat. Since then, I have come to see that no place God has created is without beauty. Granted the beauty here is very different from what we have known, but it is beautiful none the less. It seems daily that my eyes are opened to see another aspect of beauty, from the wildflowers and the lush cultivated fields and pecan orchards, to the beauty of the Mexican people and their colorful culture.

God has blessed IFM with several dwellings on the campus grounds. The Hutchins family, who moved here about three weeks before we did, lives in a stuccoed straw bale house with tiles floors and a very Southwest look and feel. God has blessed us with a “single wide” manufactured home with three bedrooms, two baths, and air conditioning. It sounds small, and it is smaller than our house in Colorado, but it really is quite spacious; having all the major spaces a family like ours would need. Combined with a HUGE “back yard” and fun facilities at the House of Cornelius which is about 200 yards away, we have the perfect place! Our front porch looks out over a lush alfalfa field with a mature pecan orchard beyond. In the evenings we often walk amongst the pecan trees or along the various irrigation canals. In the distance there are high, rugged, Southern-Utah-like mountains. The kids enjoy the many lizards and large toads. In the evenings we see jackrabbits, skunks, raccoons, and lots of birds. We have yet to see the burrowing owls, but have been told they are here.

The fields around us are farmed by “Farmer Dan” as everyone calls him. He’s a very congenial fellow originally from Michigan. He drives heavy machinery during the day and farms in his spare time as a way to “relax.” It’s pretty back-breaking work for relaxation! The fields and orchards are flood irrigated. Since we live in the ancient Rio Grande flood plain, the land is flat and well suited to flooding. Every few weeks we are surrounded by beautiful reflecting ponds.

The House of Cornelius
Over 30 years ago God called Buddy and Georgia Baca to leave the banking industry and start a children’s home. What began as a couple of trailers and an adobe chapel grew into a facility with boys and girls dorms, a dining hall, offices, and a small municipal water system.Over 350 children have called this place home and the Bacas “mom and dad.” Buddy went to be with Jesus in the early 80’s and Georgia carried on raising children. Shortly after that God brought IFM into the picture. At first IFM ministry teams would stay at the house during their Mexico outreaches and over the years God brought Georgia’s vision and IFM’s vision together. Eventually God called Georgia to give the facility to IFM and for her to join in the work that He is doing in Mexico and the surrounding area. Now all her children are grown and the HOC has a constant stream of grown children and grandchildren staying and visiting. Today there are 3 staff families, several single people, and “Bacaville” living on the HOC campus. It’s wonderful to get along and have so much in common with the neighbors!

Our house is about 200 yards from the main campus which provides for lots of regular exercise walking back and forth. The main attraction on the campus is “Muzzy Hall” which is a dining hall and meeting hall. There is a foosball table, a piano, and nice couches for sitting a visiting. During outreaches we are there much of our days sharing meals and fellowship with the teams. Between outreaches we share a community meal once a week, have staff meetings, and a community chapel service.

--Thaine

I'm a doctor, not a mechanic!

Today the team (we have a group of 30 or so come about every other week) wanted to do a medical clinic in a very poor area outside Juarez, MX, so I went to help with that. The big bus of people and supplies was to come later, but the “advance team,” three college guys and Andy Wolcott (fix-it guy extraordinaire and long-time staff) went first to set up. As I plunked down in the front seat of the Suburban, Andy passes me his cell phone, and says “We have some phone errands to do.” I think he knew it was going to take some time, and didn’t want to drive and be on the phone. Andy explains that we need to call various auto part stores to find an oil filter for the bus. The type we have is “Nehoff 6243” (or something like that), which is OK but not optimal, and we need to ask the guy on the phone what it will “cross over” to, hopefully a Johnson. I don’t understand this in the least. I offer it to the guys in the back, they decline to get involved. I am tempted to say, “I am a doctor, not a mechanic!” ala Star Trek. But, after rehearsing my part I make the first call. They couldn’t get it to “cross over” to anything, so I tried the second number. It became necessary to clarify that this Nehoff 6243 oil filter is for a coach bus with an Allison transmission, and yes, in fact, it was a “spin on” variety. The second guy didn’t have any insight either, so we move toward a third option. The college-aged boys in the back are very encouraging, and tell me I’m doing fine. Next, we have to call Andy’s wife Kathy and get the number for Stuart Stevenson. This I do, and I even understand what I’m saying. I call the new number and ask for Stuart Stevenson. At this point the boys in the back begin to convulse because Stuart Stevenson is a CHAIN of autoparts stores and not an individual. Having regained my dignity, I speak to the “parts guy.” I am somewhat comfortable with what I am saying now. I prattle on about the Nehoff 6243 and the Allison transmission and the hope for a Johnson crossover, in order to make my request clear. However, this guy can’t cross over the Nehoff 6243 unless I have a serial number from the engine. We consider calling Colorado for this bit of info, but ultimately we call a local bus charter service. The ladies answering the phone hasten to correct me that they don’t sell retail, they are a charter service. Yes, I know, I explain, I’m with Grace Coachlines (the profitable arm of International Family Missions….the income helps support the ministry) and we’ve done this before, as our bus guys are getting to know their bus guys. With thick accents they express their sheer disbelief and put me on hold for a long time so I can have the same discussion with the next lady. The stressful thing is that we are nearly to the border with Mexico, at which point the phone will switch to Mexican phone service which costs considerably more. Andy is very peaceful and patient with his clueless helper, coaching right to the end. Finally I get the parts guy. Andy takes over the phone and speaks a language I’ve never heard before, the automotive language. The two men get along wonderfully, but eventually we lose cell coverage and the issue is never resolved.

These are small problems. We go on to attempt to help at least 85 people at a make-shift clinic held in a tiny church. Granjas del Desierto (farmers of the desert, but I don’t see anything growing but desert scrub) is a very poor colonia with no running water, no septic system, I’m not sure about electricity in some of the homes. These guys are actually worried about having enough food. Parasites appear to be a reality (I hadn’t yet seen in MX), lots of  kids have diarrhea because the water (I believe distributed by water trucks for a tiny fee) is not always “good.” People with diabetes have no treatment and they can’t change their diet anyway. We do the best we can with the time and resources we have. I have a lot to learn because I’m used to ordering what the patient needs with the click of a mouse. We can go back soon with more medicines for those needs we couldn’t tend to today, and try to find the little old ladies who were supposed to be at the clinic but didn’t come because of a long walk, or the heat or something. We are starting to know where some of these live, I will see if Thaine can find a picture of Concha. We drove her home yesterday after the activities at the church. That was fun. We are usually real sticklers about seatbelts, but we told some of our kids to climb in the “way back” of the van and completely stuffed the van with people who were neighbors of Concha or from the team, going to escort other people home. There were people two deep on both bench seats, and I bet the van was skimming the bumpy dirt road with an inch to spare. The good news here is that everybody enjoyed visiting in homes. You really get to know someone if you sit in front of their house and chat. The “farmers of the desert” are very gracious in their poverty, and they really appreciate a friendly visit and a chance to pray. We did take medicine, apples and beans etc., but many more tears were shed during prayer than at any other time.

-- Erika