It is silent inside the adobe block room, except for occasional murmurs in an unintelligible language. Pedro, a 70-year-old Tarahumara man, his face weathered from years of herding goats in the canyon, taps gingerly on a stack of wooden Jenga blocks. The tower of blocks begins to wobble and sway, crashing to the table amidst fits of giggles and laughter. Pedro grins in delight. But today’s gathering is not just about games- Pedro is learning to read and write for the first time through a Sierra Send literacy class.

In Mexico’s remote Copper Canyon, Tarahumara men and women have limited opportunities to gather together in healthy ways. Many community events involve “tesguino”- a fermented corn drink consumed during ritual ceremonies. During Holy Week, it is not uncommon for the Tarahumara to drink for days to appease and “strengthen” God so that their families, animals and crops won’t be cursed. Casualties of these gatherings may include children who are abused or neglected and adults with machete wounds and burns. Sierra Send’s village literacy classes offer a safe and welcoming environment for students of all ages to learn together and hear the Gospel message.

After the class enjoys cookies and cups of hot coffee, a local Tarahumara pastor opens the learning session with prayer in the native language. He then flips on the switch to a small video projector which flashes the image of a letter “P” on a bedsheet stretched at the front of the classroom.

The students watch closely, carefully tracing the loops of the letter P on their own clipboards. In the background, strains of lively guitar music play Tarahumara Christian songs on a battery-powered Mp3 player. By the end of the 14-month course, these literacy students will have completed a series of 60 video lessons that not only teaches them to read and write in the Tarahumara language, but also shares the Gospel story from Creation through the life of Christ. Each student also receives an Mp3 player with 900 recordings of the Bible in Tarahumara as well as Christian songs and testimonies to encourage them as they grow in their faith.

The Tarahumara people face tremendous social and tribal opposition to hearing about God, but attending Sierra Send’s literacy classes often avoids this push-back. By the end of a year, each group of students will have built a sense of community as they learn to read and write. These new-found friendships often continue beyond the length of the course, leading to the formation of a new church.

The enthusiastic participation we’re seeing in Pedro’s village of Choguita has proved to be very contagious. The Tarahumara people are eager to learn to write and read God’s story for themselves, in their own language. Literacy empowers the Tarahumara people to lead and grow their own churches more effectively, while equipping them through discipleship to reach out to villages that have not yet heard the Gospel.

Over the past 5 years, teams of Tarahumara believers supported by Sierra Send have hiked the remote trails of the canyon, sharing Mp3 players with more than 21,000 families. Thank you to those of you who have given toward this effort! The distribution of these units has resulted in a burst of opportunities to do follow-up church planting and many requests for new literacy programs. These opportunities have grown much more quickly than has our ability to respond! We had hoped to start the literacy program in 10 villages by the end of 2024, but we are already in 25 communities, and we expect to launch several more within the next few months.

An unexpected but exciting opportunity to share literacy materials in 2024 has been in a regional prison which holds a large number of Tarahumara men. The prison wardens heard about Sierra Send’s literacy course and have begun using it as a part of their program to prepare men to re-enter society, carrying home with them a new faith in Christ to share. Additionally, the teacher of a village Tarahumara school has been using the literacy program in his classroom and expects that other teachers will want to implement it too.

We know that it takes a team, each member doing its small part to “build up” the body of Christ in villages where Tarahumara families have never heard the name of Jesus. We are so grateful to those of you have faithfully prayed and given sacrificially given to support this work!

        Would you consider giving to support the continuation of the literacy project in 2024? We would greatly appreciate your partnership with us in meeting the expenses for video projectors and class materials. Each new village literacy program costs us $420 to equip and launch, and then $90 per month for the 14 months it takes to work through the 60 hour-long video lessons. To give securely online, follow this link. Thank you!

A generous donor has offered to match all gifts made in 2024 up to a total of $5,000. This means that any gift you give will be doubled and have twice the impact!

Pray With Us!

Please pray:

1) For new literacy classes starting this month by Tarahumara believers in the villages of Macharichi and Remochochi. That the people’s hearts would be soft and receptive to the Gospel message in these remote places.

2) For provision of funding to continue supporting the many new village literacy classes in 2024. 

3) For Mexican missionaries Gad and Mari Cabrera (supported by Sierra Send) as they manage the growing literacy program. Pray for God’s protection and strength over their lives as they continue to support Sierra Send’s outreach teams on the ground. 

4) For a team of 12 seasoned hikers from the Tarahumara church in the village of Rekomachi who are planning a trip in September. The team will distribute 500 Mp3 players to every family in an extremely rugged canyon area spotted from the mission hospital plane. Pray for protection and blessing over this team. If you would like to help us cover the $5,000 cost of the 500 Mp3 players, you can click here: Sierra Send | Kindful

Thank you for partnering with us in the work God is doing among the Tarahumara! Your prayers and generosity play a vital role in sharing the light of the Gospel in these dark, unreached communities. 

In His grace, 
Sierra Send