2025 Oaxaca
- Outreach Trips (Part 2)

About the Outreach Trips

This blog will highlight some of the Medical Missions we participated in while studying Spanish at Roca Blanca (See Blog: Oaxaca Part 1 ).

THE MEDICAL MISSION - - Regularly, a group of nursing students from an American University will come to Roca Blanca. They will assist with the Roca Blanca Clinic, helping meet the needs of the local population. They will also conduct some Medical Missions to meet the needs of the indigenous tribes located in the mountains along the coast of Oaxaca. A Medical Mission will also have some dentists go along, as well as a prayer team that prays with each of the villagers, making sure that they understand the gospel message. There are others who will had out eye glasses to those who need them. For our part, the students from the Spanish School put on a program for the local children that included bible skits, sing along songs, and active games.

Medical Mission: Yutatuyaa

The village of Yutatuyaa was a 4 hour drive from Roca Blanca. Here is the church where we set up the stations inside the room. People from the village line up to wait their turn to be seen. The pastor of this church was so very thankful that we all came.

Here is the inside of the church. Yes, this is a church (with walls). As folks come in, the move to the right, where they give some information to identify who they are and what their need is. One the right side is the eye glass station. The dentist is in the back left, and the doctors are on the left side. Up front (not in the pic) on the left is the prayer team corner were they pray for folks on their way out.

For our part, the Spanish School Students put on the kid's program across the courtyard from the church. Here is Dave, the Director of the Spanish School, giving the gospel message to the kids using an object lesson. He definitely had the kid's attention.  

Here is Rebecca demonstrating the craft that the kids will be making: Lion Puppets. She is even showing us how to do the roar.    :)    The Lion Puppets will be used by the kids at the end of the skit we will do showing the story of "Daniel in the Lion's Den." At the end of the story, when the bad guys are thrown to the lions, the kids will use their Lion Puppets to help "Eat" the bad guys. What a awesome memory-maker for these kids.

After the program is over, it was time for Balloon Animals. Here is Mark (with a shoutout to Aaron and Nick) doing the "foundational work" of filling up balloons; so that other more creative types, could actually make the characters.  

Prior to the program beginning, Mark was very useful in entertaining the kids with his many "tricks".   

Once the balloon animals were done, we all went to play soccer(futbol) with the kids, down the road, at the pavilion. It is interesting to note that each little town has a pavilion like this, as they are built by the government. These Community Pavilions become a "town center" of sorts, where everyone will gather for the community meetings.  

Here are some of our Spanish School Students showing the village kids how to pose for the camera. Wow, that is "low key" a lot of "main character energy".  Shoutout to: Kaiya, Laurelyn, Isaiah, & Trevor.  

Medical Mission: Colotepec

This village was located about 20 minutes south of Puerto Escondido. This time, we had to set up in the Community Pavilion for all of the stations: Medical, Dental, Eye, Prayer. For our part, the Spanish School Students decided to do the same program as described above, because it worked out so well. Here is a family that came for the medical services, and stayed for the kid's program. (Shoutout to Lynnea for taking these amazing HD photos.)  

Here we are doing some fun dance-along songs.

Here are some kids dancing along.

There is one song we did, that you would know: The Chicken Dance. Everyone loves that song, and the motions that go with it. The Chicken Dance transcends all languages. Here is Rebecca doing the "interweave" part of the song.

Here is Mark doing the "interweave" part of the song.

Here is a look at the skit we did on Daniel in the Lions Den. This is the part where Daniel is praying to God to close the lions mouth while he is in the den. Shoutout to Irma (back center). She is one of our Spanish Teachers, and she does a great job as Narrator. Not known for being loud, she really gives it her all, to make herself heard by the crowd.

Here is one of the fun kid's songs: "Sapo, Sapo" (frog, frog).

Here is another of the fun kid's songs: "En Mi Barco" (in my boat)

Tutoring In Huatulco

Huatulco is a town about two hours south of Puerto Escondido. Here we visited them to help them learn English (ESL). We spent the day with them, as they moved through several classes. What was fun about this, is that they were learning the same words in English, that we were learning in Spanish.

Here is Rebecca helping a student.

Shoutout to Raymond. He organized this visit.

Native Pottery Factory

On our way back to Roca Blanca, we stopped here at a place where they make the potter by hand. They use local clay that they harvest and then use for their pottery pieces. They use a mold for making the identical item, like a plate or cup, to make a complete set. This is useful when they are doing dinner ware for a local hotel/restaurant. Here the owner is showing us how they use a brick oven to cook the pottery.

Here, he is showing us how to make a flower petal by hand. The petals are used for decoration on a piece of pottery.

Here is Mark in the pottery store. Although he looks surprised by the camera, he did buy that mug he is holding. It is nice to be able to support local vendors.

Coffee Plantation

This is the village of Pluma Hidalgo, located high in the mountains. Near this village is a Coffee Plantation that we came to experience & to buy some coffee.

Here is a close up look at the Coffee Cherry growing on the plant. These plants are grown on the steepest terrain imaginable.

Here is the owner of the plantation answering a lot of questions. Here is Rebecca asking a lot of questions.   :)     There is a lot to learn.

They use a hand crank machine to take the shells off of the Cherry to reveal the coffee "bean" inside. Here is a video showing you the process. Shoutout to Irma who did an amazing job translating for us.

Once the bean is separated, then they have to dry them. The do this by laying them out on this large cement pad, and then turning them with a rake, by hand. Here is a video showing the procedure. Mark gives it a try.

So, because their is not enough room for busses or even vans to turn around at the plantation, we had to find an alternative to get there. The plan was for all of us to meet in that village (see the top pic) and then ride in these TukTuks (or MotoTaxi), which are three wheeled contraptions that seat two to three people. Here we are going back down the mountain. What a parade.

This trip was a three day, two night adventure. Here is our accommodations: "The Hobbit Hole"

On the way back, we stopped to see this amazing view. Here you can get a sense of how steep these mountains are. In fact, if you look closely (through all the clouds), you can see the ocean out in the distance. Our route here actually goes along the shoreline, and then turns and come up the mountain to this point.

2025 Oaxaca
- Outreach Trips

THANKS FOR TAKING THIS JOURNEY WITH US!
- - To see the Blog for Oaxaca Part 1, CLICK HERE