Marion man learns in Mexico
By ROWENA PLETT
Reporter / photographer
Rick Branson of Marion recently spent two weeks in Mexico on a mission trip during interterm at Tabor College. He is a senior majoring in youth ministry.
Although Branson had registered to take a class during interterm, he was led to change his mind.
"I felt that I should go," he said.
He was glad he went because he learned a lot, he said, and got to see firsthand how the Mexican people live.
The group left Wichita at 6:15 a.m. Jan. 7, stopped at Dallas, and arrived at Mexico City at 12:30 p.m.
"This was my first flight, and it was exciting," Branson said. "Others were sleeping but I was looking out the window at the clouds."
The group was invited to Mexico by John Pritchett and his wife, formerly of Hillsboro, who went to Mexico five years ago and established a church in Mexico City.
The couple recently moved to Pachuca, a city of three million people. The group spent the first week there, helping the Pritchetts lay the groundwork for a new church.
Every day, they took prayer walks around one or two neighborhoods, then went to local marketplaces, where they played loud Christian Spanish music. Children were attracted and were entertained by creation of balloon animals and face painting.
After a crowd had gathered, the group acted out five dramas or skits in pantomime, each illustrating a Biblical truth. Between skits, Pritchett spoke to the group about the gospel. This was followed by more music and more balloons. Brochures were passed out which included Pritchett's phone number.
"We didn't come up against any opposition," Branson noted. "We were well received."
He said the response was surprising. Some individuals came up and said they were Christians and wanted a church group with which to associate. Others also expressed interest, providing a nucleus around which to begin a congregation.
Branson said the first meetings will be held in homes until the group is large enough to collect money to erect a church building.
He stayed with a Mexican host family who, he said, were hospitable but knew very little English, so it was difficult to communicate. He spent time with the family's little girl, who taught him Spanish words for various things and he taught her English words.
"I did learn quite a bit," he said.
The second week was spent in Mexico City, with a population of 30 million. Branson was astonished at the masses of people living together in one place. Mexico City sits in a bowl in the mountains of central Mexico, and the city has spread up the sides of the surrounding hills.
"One of the things which really inspired me was getting to know the people in this church," Branson said.
The congregation of approximately 60 people are in the process of completing their church building. The windows and doors were not installed, Branson said, but the people were happy to sit huddled in their coats to worship in the cool of the evening. Comfort was not a concern.
"Although their own church was not finished," Branson said, "they already were planning three other churches in other areas."
A church plant takes just one couple with a desire, he learned. One member of the church has moved into the hills on the outskirts of Mexico City to start a church there.
The mission group visited the area, a poverty-stricken place with no concrete, no grass, and dust four inches deep in the streets. The fledgling church meets inside some low stone walls. Area residents get their water supply from a large tank filled with trucked-in water.
In Mexico City proper, residents pump water to tanks on top of their houses to provide "running" water. Branson said the pressure sometimes was poor. There are flushable toilets, but bath tissue has to be placed in waste baskets alongside.
In spite of the crude conditions, Branson was made aware of the strong sense of community.
"You could buy everything you wanted in your neighborhood," he said.
Marketplaces, home businesses, and vendors sell all manner of goods including food, bottled water, and gas for stoves and hot water heaters.
Branson said his host mother was an extremely good cook.
"I thought this trip would give me a chance to lose a few pounds, but I actually gained weight," he commented, rubbing his stomach.
He loved the Mexican food such as enchiladas, fasoli, and tamales. He said the sauces or moles, as they are called, were especially delicious. One sauce contained 32 ingredients, the "Mamma" told him.
His group toured several historic places such as the Basilica of Juan Diego. One Sunday, they traveled to a hot springs in the mountains, where they conducted a worship service, swam, and had a picnic.
Before they left Jan. 21 to fly back to the States, the group climbed a mountain. Comfortable in sweats and T-shirts, they experienced quite a change when they got back to Wichita and walked into the cold air.
Branson said he made a lot of friends in Mexico. If possible, he desires to go back next January with his wife Khrista and help with church construction.
