Seven of us traveled from Cleveland, Ohio, to Oaxaca, Mexico, for the week of September 19 to September 26, 2009. Joined by missionaries, dentists, pastors and translators, we became one team, united in the effort to share the love of Christ and provide dental care. Our three days in the mountains outside of Oaxaca provided numerous lessons in contrast.
We were warned of the potential for violence in a village of territorial folks. Outsiders are typically not welcome. What we found were sweet, shy smiles on the faces of all of the little children and humble acquiescence to our care on the part of the adults.
The meager resources of the villagers were obvious – no plumbing, dirt floors, simple clothing. The hospitality they shared was abundant. An old woman brought us a huge pile of tortillas upon our arrival. We were fed hot meals three times a day, as much as we could eat and a little more – rice, beans, eggs, and tortillas right off of the wood burning stove.
We were there to teach about oral hygiene and the gift of salvation through Jesus. Many were the lessons, and we were the students. We learned of God’s creation through the beauty of the setting, we learned to trust one another and to work hard together, we learned by observing the tenderness of the families, and we learned a lot of Spanish - ‘Abre la boca.’
We had two sixteen-year-olds on our team, and a few closer to sixty. We had a young American pastor and older Mexican pastors. We had four different Mexican dentists – one a pastor, two engaged to be married, one a prisoner. We had three American dental professionals, one a solo missionary, one excellent at cleaning and reconstruction, and one more familiar with extractions and surgery. We had missions rookies and missions veterans. Despite our diversity of gifts and backgrounds, we operated as a unified team.
We went to meet the dentistry needs of people in a remote place. Yet, in the end, dentistry did not matter at all. Our real goal was to open the hearts of the people, to build their trust in the missionaries who would love to get to know them. We earnestly pray that they may eventually meet the One who loves them and can supply all their needs, Jesus Christ.
Trip report by Elizabeth Heisey
