The light of hope
Missionary Pete Hypki is deeply impressed with the truth that the light of hope makes all the difference on the hardest, darkest journeys of life.
The journey Pete was pondering goes down the path to the cemetery near the village where he and his wife, Liesl, live and minister to the Nahuatl people. Recent events in the village have been a vivid reminder of why God has called them to serve there, learning the culture and language in the hopes of sharing the gospel with the people who Pete and Liesl have grown to love so much.
The missionaries first heard the news on a Saturday. A boy had been crushed in a nearby village when a jack collapsed under a truck. Within minutes, the boy was gone.
Magia negra, the villagers commented repeatedly. They felt there was no doubt—it had to be black magic.
Two days later, a procession descended the mountain road into the village with the coffin of the boy carried in the truck that crushed him. A crowd gathered and a line formed as people laid flowers picked from their gardens upon the coffin.
Some of the men wrapped the coffin in strong lasso ropes and lowered it into the grave.
As they did this the father, his eyes swollen from tears, beers and sleeplessness, turned his back on the grave. Then his family and the whole crowd did the same.
Pete knew this ritual was coming. Traditionally the Nuhuatl people believe that you must turn your back to the grave so that the deceased person will not take your soul.
“To me, it’s the saddest part,” he adds. “The imagery is stark.”
But at the same time, it reminds Pete vividly of why they are there. It’s all about sharing the story of hope in Christ with the Nahuatl people.
Pete recalls that another Father turned His back on His Son. And that Christ conquered death, purchased life and brought hope and redemption to His children. Hope that has been a foreign concept in the graveyard in the little Nahuatl village.
A hope that Pete and Liesl desperately desire to share with the Nahuatl people.
In visiting later with the boy’s father and helping him get together what he needed for the death certificate of his son, Pete expressed his deep sympathy for his loss.
The father shrugged and replied, “It’s a path we all must walk.”
And looking down the path of the village cemetery, Pete thought quietly, “Yes, that’s true. But for those who know Christ, it is a path we walk with hope.”
And that hope which is anchored in Christ, says Pete, makes all the difference.
Please pray for Pete and Liesl and their co-workers, Katie Moore and Rachel Chapman, as they prepare to soon share the gospel clearly with the Nahuatl people. Pray that God’s Spirit will prepare the hearts of those in the village to receive the Good News of Christ’s redemptive work for them. Pray that God will draw their hearts to His truth so that very soon, the Nahuatl people can walk the hard, dark path to the cemetery with new hope, peace and joy in Christ.