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with Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
Special Guests Keith and Julie and Tayde Hererra
(M) John and I are down at the medical clinic and Keith’s here. I want Keith to tell his title here. He brought his family down to be a missionary to Mexico in February? Did you arrive in February?
(Keith) Yeah. I think we arrived at the end of January or first part of February.
(M) So tell us a little about you, your clinic and then about Tayde.
(Keith) Ok. I had worked in the medical field for sometime as a sales rep, and so I was in the operating room a lot. I did not think of this really as a possibility for us, but God made it a possibility and that’s where He called us. He called us down here. And according to my visa, I’m the International Director of Services. That’s not too far from being true because it is my responsibility to coordinate all the teams that come down and…
(M) What kind of teams come down, Keith?
(Keith) Currently we have doctors from the US and Mexico that come here to do ophthalmology type surgeries, cataracts, trigyums. A trygium is a skin growth that starts at the side of the eye and starts to cover the pupil. One that’s a mature trygium would cover the pupil and you would not be able to see. We also do, whenever we have anesthesia and a couple other spectacular pediatric optometrists that will come and do cross-eyed kids. Also we do cornea replacements. There is no cadaver bank in Mexico, so they have no corneas. So all the corneas come from the United States and those are donated and you cannot get a cornea done anywhere in this part of Mexico. So this is a donation only clinic. If they would like to make a donation, the people that come here, that’s great and be a part the ministry. But if they don’t have any money, then everything is free for them. So we’ve just made it up to them, you know. If the Lord lays something on their heart to give, then give it. If they don’t, then we rely on the Lord to make up the difference there. The state of Chiapas is one of the poorest states in Mexico. It has the highest infant mortality rate. Because of the nutrition here is very poor; no folic acid for ladies. It’s sunny here year round and they don’t wear eye protection at all. So there’s a lot of cataracts and eye problems. So there’s a number of things that we do here at the clinic and we have these campaigns several times a year, and see about a thousand patients a month here at the clinic. We also have a dentist here five days a week, and a general practitioner that also specializes in ophthalmology. And we have all the machines down here to diagnose glaucoma. And we have a pharmacy here to take care of the people. We load all that up and the nurses and the doctors up and go out to… We only provide that here at the clinic, but we go many weekends a year out to places that have no physicians. And I think that’s the most rewarding. It’s just a wonderful service for them. And during the campaigns and during those field trips we go out away from the clinic. We have Mexican pastors that go with us and some of the people here… Everybody here that works at the clinic is a Christian. I would put it this way, that the clinic is meeting the temporary, medical needs of the people and at the same time giving them an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ. Anyway, that’s kind of what we do here.
(M) So tell us about Tayde.
(Keith) About April we finally got settled in and were able to go to Chapa de Corso. It’s about two hours from where we’re at, just right around the capitol. And there were two teachers, one for the kids and one for Julie and I. And our teacher was Tayde Hererra. So we met her in April and she was baptized tonight, the second of December, and gave her life to the Lord, I guess about a month ago. The Lord has had everything to do with it from the start to the finish, and we’ve just been there to be able to… mainly Julie… be led of Him to try to answer any questions that she had. But it was entirely Him. You know, it was a very difficult transition during the first few months when we were in Chapa de Corso. And she saw our whole family go through that. And at times I said, “Gosh, how is this gonna display the glory of the Lord or you know, the triumph of the Lord?” But she saw us rely on the Lord, and I don’t know what she saw. But He’s the one that brought it through. And so the victory is His. And the glory is to Him. And we’re just so excited for her.
(M) She means a lot to your family, doesn’t she?
(Keith) She really does. I believe the Lord has given her grace to connect with our family in a way that has not been available to everyone that we know here. And she worked with us for about five weeks there in Chapa de Corso and then came to the clinic during the week to teach us Spanish and then she got involved in the clinic in a big way, and just has pitched in. And we’ve seen her life change. The Lord has changed her life incredibly during this transition. It’s been wonderful.
(M) Well, thank you. I saw Tayde pitching ball with your son, Samuel, in the kitchen. In the kitchen she’s been helping too. She’s kind of family, isn’t she?
(Keith) She really is. I mean she eats breakfast, lunch and dinner with us, or at least breakfast and dinner. And she has washed many dishes at our home and worked at the clinic and taught Samuel all the words for every video game and baseball thing and all these things… not to mention our kids have had a wonderful foundation in Spanish now. So the Lord has provided through her incredibly for us.
(M) Right…
(Keith) She’s been a blessing here.
(M) Right. Well, we’ve recorded Tayde’s baptism. We heard her testimony in the car yesterday.
(J) You know the thing I am always amazed at is that the pre-being saved, that it’s not like the Lord only start dealing with you at that point. It’s not like you are only being dealt with and formed and fashioned post-salvation. Tayde had a real heart for the underdog and the humanitarian outreach. And the neat thing is that that was her pre-Christian kind of heart. And God has taken that pre-Christian heart and turned it around and now she’s working for a Christian mission that really does have an outreach and facilitates a humanitarian outreach, but also brings the spiritual aspect too. But I think it’s really neat. You know, usually you think that once you hit that salvation mark, that that’s when you start getting formed and fashioned. But I have found that you’re formed and fashioned from the beginning of time, and so it’s just one continuum. So it’s just another seeing of that in her life, and I just think that’s really neat.
(M) Yes. Yesterday she said… She was telling us about her whole like and she said, “I have been aware of God or wanted God my whole life.” So she moved into it. I’m sure with difficulty, but very very smoothly really in the end. So I think she will be a great witness for the Lord. She understood fully the baptism and you’ll hear that when we go into it.
(J) Ok. Well, let’s listen to that now.
(M) Ok. I want to explain to Tayde about baptism. She’s going to be baptized. She understands it’s her funeral. She understands it’s giving her life to the Lord and letting her old life die. We’ve gone over that, and she understands it. I wanted to tell her and I’ll let Julie translate that Jesus has come to be the mediator between us and God, to reconcile us to God. And I looked up the word mediator in Vines today and it says, “one who mediates with the view to producing peace.” Vines points out that a mediator has to be one that pleases the one you’re…pleases God, but identifies with man. A perfect mediator is one who pleases God, but identifies with man. Keith, do you want to introduce the…
(Keith) Yeah. This is 1st Timothy 2, chapter 5: “For there is only one God and only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
(M) In the first century, Tayde, we have found out that because there’s one mediator, when you went in to be water baptized, it was an event between you and Jesus. So we’re going to stand with you in there in the pool, and we’re going to help you go under the water and get you back up. But it’s going to be that Jesus is going to baptize you with the Spirit. And you’ll belong to Him from this moment. It’s a public event. Ok. …Then you take pictures while we’re in…
(J) Ok.
(M) Can you hold that and take some pictures?
(J) I can, I can do both.. You’re just going in your jeans?
(Julie) I don’t have anything else.
(J) Is it freezing?
(Julie) It’s right up there with the Jordan.
(J) Ok!
(M) Hallelujah! (Clapping)
(Tayde is speaking in Spanish in the background)
(Julie) She feels like she has died.
(Julie) She says she has died…that that was her death. Yeah. And for that reason today it is decided.
(J) Hallelujah!
(Keith) Praise God!
(M) Hallelujah!!
(Julie) Well said!…
