The prospect of rainy season
The rains are coming. And missionary Katie Moore says it’s been a race to finish the big stucco project before the rainy season arrives.
Katie shares that some neighborhood ladies have been helping her and her co-worker, Rachel Chapman, stucco their house. And they are learning a lot. In fact, Katie has learned a little more about stucco than she really wanted to know.
Of course, the best way to learn new things is to ask questions. “Naturally,” Katie says, “we tried to learn a little while we worked. I kept asking my friend, Andrea, ‘What are we doing now?’”
“At one point,” Katie continues, “Andrea responded ‘Tiwihtehti kwita.’” Katie says the translation is “We’re hitting dung.”
That’s when Katie learned the truth about the ingredients being stirred together for the best stucco. Stucco, she says, “is a delicate mix of water, good dirt and donkey droppings.”
The stucco project lasted two weeks. After the mudding phase, they covered the house with a layer of cement to protect it from the rains.
Katie and Rachel’s house is now finished. The neighborhood ladies are suggesting paint colors. A strong favorite is mint green, but Katie is holding out for time to think about it with, “We’ll see.”
Katie shares that their Nahuatl friends can be fearful as they look toward the coming rainy season. But it’s not fear about the rain or storms. Their fear is about rainbows.
Katie shares, “That’s right. Rainbows. In their language the word for ‘rainbow’ is kuwah, the same word they use for snake. They tell their kids that if they point directly at a rainbow, it will somehow get them like a snake. As rainy season approaches and rainbows grace the skies more frequently, I wonder what they think of us, taking pictures of the colors in the sky.”
A rainbow seen as something threatening that stirs up great fear? Katie sees the irony.
What she views as a sign of promise, the Nahuatl see as a terrifying threat. And where she sees the promise of hope and God’s faithfulness, they see only something to be feared.
Katie knows that seeing truth can make all the difference. She longs for the day when the power of God’s truth and joy will overcome the dread and fear that are so much a part of Nahuatl life.
“Please pray for the Nahuatl and for our team here” Katie requests, “as we work to reveal and share the love of God that casts out fear.”
Pray for Katie Moore and her co-worker, Rachel Chapman. Pray that God will protect them, bless their ministry, and give them many opportunities to live and speak the truth of the Gospel. Pray that God will use His Word to speak to Nahuatl hearts and draw them to Christ and that His truth will set them free.