The kitchen, storage area, and bathroom beginning to take shape at Buenos Aires after the arson of the previous buildings
You will recall that in the last blog entry dated December 24, 2018 I brought you the sad news that the building that housed the children’s feeding ministry program in the village of Buenos Aires was burned to the ground and completely destroyed. It looks like it was done deliberately by an arsonist, but no one has come forward, and no motive was ever discovered. Perhaps it was simply children with matches, a bottle of gasoline, and too much time on their hands, who knows. But whatever the reason, coming just before Christmas as it did and destroying what Cristina and Javier had worked so hard for, was a discouraging blow.
Nevertheless, as I recorded in my December entry, both Cristina and Javier were convinced that God would create beauty from the ashes, and glory from the very dust of this apparent tragedy. [Go back to the December entry to refresh your memory if you have forgotten].
True to Himself as he always is, God has been on the move since that last blog, and as is stated in Genesis 50:20 “You planned something bad for me, but God produced something good from it, in order to save the lives of many people.”
And indeed He has done something good!
On the site where a small dilapidated building stood in December is rising a beautiful kitchen and storage facility for the children’s ministry. The Lord has brought in funds to begin to move towards completing phase I of a two-part (and faith-stretching) vision which Javier and Cristina have put forward for the work in the village of Buenos Aires – initially, and immediately, the construction of a kitchen and storage facility for the children’s work. Secondly, erecting a large “galera” (an open-walled, roofed structure) on the front of the lot in order to not only house the children’s feeding program, but also to provide a meeting place for the Church which has been planted in Buenos Aires almost directly as a result of the arson in December. Because of the fire the village has come firmly behind the work and many new people have given their hearts to the Lord and are now meeting as a congregation under the trees until further facilities can be built.
Trinidad at work pouring cement the hard way in the construction at Buenos Aires
To put this into perspective for us in Canada and the United States where this type of structure is foreign, I will amplify a little on what Javier and Cristina have in their hearts:
The first structure (which has already been begun) is a kitchen and storage area which will include a bathroom. This is kind of the basic, bare-bones that are needed just to get the ministry on its feet again. It is a very culturally-appropriate, Mexican-looking cement block building to replace the cobbled-together wooden facilities which were burned down. However, it will be too small to provide a place for the children to actually meet, or in which any other activities can take place directly.
Because of this they envision a second, larger “galera”, an open-walled roofed structure – typically the center of all activity in any Mexican community. This structure will be able to serve in three distinct capacities:
1) it will be a wonderful structure for the children’s feeding ministry. The biggest problem in the Huastecan region of Mexico for most of the year is the intense heat, along with torrential rains during the rainy season. An adequately large “galera” will provide a shaded and covered location out of the sun and rain, and will be useful for the ministry year-round. Without a facility such as this the feeding program really can’t go on unless the children simply sit under the 130⁰ Fahrenheit sun in the summer, or are drenched by rain during the rainy season – neither of which is really possible.
2) because the ministry in Buenos Aires is very quickly growing into a Church, the “galera” will rapidly become the focal point where all church functions can take place in the village.
3) as I have already mentioned, the focal point of any Mexican village is its galera. By building it large enough now, it will soon become the heart of the village and can be used as a multifunctional tool for both social and spiritual outreach to the community. Such a structure will in this way provide for long-term ministry, and will give Javier and Cristina a reason to be heard and taken seriously by the community within which they minister.
Buenos Aires children’s church being lead by Alicia
Javier reports that there are many new adults, besides children, who now meet for services in Buenos Aires. This is true not only when the feeding and teaching program takes place on Saturday mornings specifically for the children, but also when they hold church services apart from that as well. Javier has stated that the village is hungry for the Gospel.
But, despite a good beginning, more funds are still necessary to complete this vision – especially to move into the second, more costly phase.
Besides his on-going work at Solidaridad where Javier directly pastors a church, both he and Cristina as well as Armando, Alicia, and others are very busy planting churches and mission outreaches throughout the Huastecan region.
Presently there are five brand new church-plants under Javier’s care: Buenos Aires, San Mateo (where the door to ministry was opened to them through dispensing Samaritan’s Purse shoe boxes to the children), La Loma, Tampaya, and Xolol Municipio San Antonio.
Lest our western minds find it difficult to capture what it really means to do a grass-root church-plant in a small Mexican village, I will tell you that the Church in several of these communities is presently meeting on the street, and in at least one of the villages on the train embankment beside the train tracks. Services there pause while heavy freight trains screech by within feet of the congregation.
Besides the above-mentioned new church-plants are the outreaches in San Antonio Huichimal and other communities where a mission church has already been established for some years.
Distributing Samaritan’s Purse shoe boxes to children in an outreach into the Pame village of Milpas Viejas
But beyond this relatively local ministry Javier is also engaged in an ongoing thrust into the sparsely-reached Pame tribal region to the west of Cd. Valles where he and his team ministers every second week – traversing for hours down almost impossibly bad roads in order to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the mountain villages of Tanlacut, Agua Nueva, Milpas Viejas, and Chaccuala. The Lord willing, and as He provides finances to do so, Javier hopes to push onwards as well – deeper into the mountains – as far as the Pame villages of Tanlú, Los Positos, and even into the regional seat of Santa Maria Acapulco, all within the Zona Pame of the Huasteca.
Not only does this all take an incredible commitment and the need for personnel to assist Javier in the ministry, but it also requires funds for practical things like gasoline for the truck and mechanical repairs to keep vehicles on the road. There is a tremendous need for ongoing finances to enable this ministry to continue so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be advanced into these hard-to-access, and basically unreached tribal areas.
There is also a second pressing need for finances to assist in this new missions thrust into the mountains. Last year one of the new Believers donated a lot and building in the little village of Agua Nueva to the work. The only stipulation in the donation was that they would first need to remove the tin roofing and wooden rafters from the building so that they would be able to utilize them for an animal shelter for their cattle. Instead of doing the double work of removing the present roof and replacing it, Javier asked rather for the option of purchasing the existing roof from them and giving them cash in the value of the material that they were going to remove. They agreed to this arrangement, and came up with the very reasonable amount of $38,000 pesos (approximately $2,000 US, or $2,700 Canadian dollars at today’s exchange rate). This needs to be paid soon in order to honor Javier’s commitment to them. As it is almost impossible for the local indigenous Pame Christians to come up with this amount on their own because of their poverty, I believe that we need to help them do so.
Javier using the distribution of Samaritan’s Purse shoe boxes and materials as teaching tools in the village of Milpas Viejas
The vision for this donated property is that it becomes a central hub for the missionary work taking place in the Pame region, and that it will be a facility where church services and Bible training can take place. Besides this, it will also be a place where national and foreign missionaries can stay when they are ministering in this mountainous area. Also, since it is centrally located within the Pame region it will provide a place where the local villagers can ride on horseback or walk to the church services. It will also be a significant place within the Pame region where extended training can take place in a culturally appropriate way for the tribal group themselves, utilizing Project LAMBS and other Bible School materials specially adapted for this specific people group.
The commitment and excitement of the local Pame Christians for the use and development of the property is very high, and despite their poverty they have been able to raise the funds to have the power and water turned on so that the building can be used and the local Body of Believers can gather there.
Casa del Obrero, the farm-based training center where Armando and Alicia live and minister continues to advance in its vision. The beginning of spring brought the planting of vegetable crops, and they are presently in the middle of a bountiful harvest on the farm. The plan for this year is to increase the planting beds and shaded areas so that more will be able to be produced, increasing the yield from that which provides for one or two families to sufficient to feed many more, or even enough so that it can be sold.
Recently one of the members of the Board of Directors of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar (OUpC), the Mexican nonprofit which covers the work of the farm, donated eight ewe sheep to the farm on an exchange loan where he will receive half of the lambs produced, and the farm will keep the rest. In this way the farm will be able to increase their sheep herd. This same brother also donated two piglets to the farm – one for Armando and Alicia to own, and the other for the farm. This is a “home grown” blessing, and a way that the animal herds can be increased on the farm.
Probably the biggest news in regards to the Casa del Obrero farm is that the long awaited legal avenue for the nonprofit to obtain a completely clear title on the property has finally become a reality. The local governing body had stymied this final process for many years, but the paperwork is now approved and a clear title will be received from the federal government as soon as it is processed in Mexico City. This is a HUGE answer to many prayers over the years. With this clear title to the property the farm will finally be able to be registered officially under the name of Obreros Unidos para Cosechar, the nonprofit which covers the work of the farm and Bible schools.
A teaching time for children being led by Alicia beside the train tracks at the new mission outreach in the village of San Mateo
This will also present a logical time for an internal transition to take place within the administrative structure of the Training Center. Javier’s desire is to be able to step down from the direct administration of the farm by handing over most of the management and the running of the work to Armando, thereby freeing himself for other ministry. Javier reports that he is blessed to see how Armando and his wife Alicia have grown in their vision and leadership ability over the past years, and he feels that they are ready to take over much more of the direct leadership of the Center.
There are a number of health-related issues which need your prayers as well. First of all, please hold Cristina up in your prayers. She has not been doing well physically over the past months. She has struggled with poorly controlled diabetes for a number of years and appears to be suffering from the long term increasingly intense sequelae of the disease. At times she finds it physically difficult to go on, but her commitment to God and her unstoppable determination keeps her going non-stop. Please hold her up in your prayers. She is a very, very vital part of the ministry, and without her at his side Javier would find it extremely difficult to do what he does.
Secondly, please hold Marina up in your prayers. You will remember that Marina has been mentioned in a number of my blogs over the years:
http://www.vitwministries.com/wordpress/2018/04/mexico-ministry-trip-and-god-is-faithful/
http://www.vitwministries.com/wordpress/2010/08/the-face-of-poverty/
http://www.vitwministries.com/wordpress/2012/01/671/
http://www.vitwministries.com/wordpress/2010/08/manzanas-maravillosas-dona-marina/
Beautiful vegetable production on the farm
Specifically, Marina, an aging and now very frail great-grandmother is fully responsible for the care of four young children aged nine (twin girls), eleven, and twelve. Marina’s health is failing quickly bringing into question the future of the children. Very recently Javier had to make it possible for Marina to have a large growth removed from her mouth. Unfortunately her own adult children were unwilling, or unable to do so, and Javier needed to take charge of the emergency.
Marina’s failing health, of course, brings into question what will happen to the children in the case of her death as it is very evident that their extended family members will not do so. Javier feels that perhaps this brings back to focus something that God has placed onto his heart for many years already – namely, that perhaps the farm should become a place where orphaned and abandoned children could be raised in a godly and Christian environment and where they could be given a healthy, loving, and stable Christian home while also learning how to work and become self-sufficient from the land. Perhaps the four young great-grandchildren of this dear woman will be the first orphaned children on the farm.
Of course, if this is to take place, as it conceivably could very soon, then there will be an almost immediate need to develop appropriate housing on the farm to accommodate the children. There will also be a need for loving caregivers to assist in this work. Further, there will be the need for increasing the production of the farm in order to feed the children and the constant need for finances to care for them. Humanly speaking all of this appears to be only an unrealistic pipedream, but if God is in it then it can be done. Please pray with Javier and Cristina and the others in leadership as they seek to understand the Father’s will in this. Also, that Armando and Alicia will continue to mature in leadership as they will most probably be the ones directly in charge of this ministry if it does begin.
This year’s first production from the farm
Finally in closing, I want to encourage you to keep your eyes focused on what God is doing in the world around us, and specifically what he is doing in the Middle East, Israel, and very explicitly in Jerusalem. There is a convergence of events taking place on the national and international levels unparalleled in any other time in history. I believe that we stand on the very brink of the return of our King who will reign from Zion, his holy mountain. And of whom the Lord has decreed: “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession”.
“Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth”.
I sincerely believe that we stand at a point closer to our Lord’s return than at any other time in history. Although this may seem like a very obvious statement to any Christian, I believe that it is more urgent today than ever before and therefore demands a response and an awakening from any lethargy or spiritual drowsiness into which we may have stumbled.
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all”.
Your brother and sister in Christ,
Steven and Theresa
