40 Day Fast: Faith Ministry

Thank you for logging on for today’s post in the 40 Day Fast.  Blogging with me today is Prairie, be sure to visit her blog as well today.  Tune in later today for Part 2.

As a new blogger, when I saw the opportunity to participate in this 40 Day Fast, I was both excited to share with readers one of the moments in my life that has truly shaped who I am now in Christ, and to introduce you to a ministry that is doing wonderful things in Mexico, a mere 20 minutes across the border from McAllen Texas.

 
In May of 2000 I went on my first mission trip that was not within driving distance from my home.  The group of 15 people went to the border town of Reynosa Mexico to build an addition on a house.  As a first timer, I was thinking to myself, as I am pretty sure most people do when they go on this type of trip, that I was going to go and help people and show the love of Christ.  Well, what I found was a living example of Matthew 4:30-32,  

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.”

In Mexico, there has been a shortage of jobs for years, so families move toward the US border with the dream of finding work in the growing number of factories being built by major US companies.  The problem is that there are thousands of people coming for hundreds of jobs.  The average worker earns an average of $85.00 per 60 hour work week.  For more information about the mequiladora, Read This for an interesting article covering both sides of the issue.

 

This lack of available work has precipitated a growing homeless population.  There are these huge colonias where people have squatters rights, and they build shelter out of any material they can find, wood palletts, scrap wood, cardboard with families living in dwellings smaller than our typical toolshed.  It is not uncommon to find people running around without clothes.  They have running water, but you cannot cook or drink with it.  Most people do not drive and travel via bicycle.

 

Faith Ministries began in 1994 in McAllen Texas and they work as a chaperone service organizing as many as 100 work trips per year from churches all over the United States.  The church groups build 12’ x 24’ “additions” to the existing structure with concrete and cinder block, as well as 2 windows and 2 doors.  To receive one of these house, the family is required to provide multiple hours of “sweat equity” working on other houses.  While most families are not members of the church, they do attend worship regularly.  It was interesting to me that there were very few men on the worksite, it was mostly women.  At the end of the week there was a  very moving dedicaton ceremony.  The families are very proud of the houses and consider them a gift from God.

 

 

The work is very labor intensive and you are working side by side and building a relationship during working hours.  My favorite part of the day was Lunch.  Lunch was a big pot luck with food provided by the church, and our group would bring food as well.  We would have a chance to eat, mingle, play with kids until 12:30 when we would gather in the Chapel for worship. We would have a message from Deantin and would sing Spanish worship songs like Unidos Unidos and Soliamente in Cristo which they taught you on Monday, and you knew by heart on Friday.

 

In addition to a church, Faith Ministry also has a clinic in each of the 4 colonias it serves.  They provide free medical diagnosis, treatment and preventative medicine to thousands of people in the colonias.  In 2006, a new 6000 square foot clinic was built in Reynosa with a full time Doctor and 2 nurses.  Since most residents of the colonia have no health insurance, most of the time they are turned away from the hospital, which is over 30 minutes away.  We met a woman with severe heart problems and she was telling us about how she was experiencing a heart attack the hospital got her to stable condition and put her on a bus to go back to the colonia. A new clinic is being built in the Miguel Aleman colonia as well.

 

 

 

Education in Mexico is not free.  Through Faith Ministry, you can sponsor a child for a year of school for between $425 and $650 which includes books, uniforms, tuition and lunch.  As with most sponsorships, you receive correspondence and report cards from your sponsored child.

 

Thanks again for reading this and I hope that you would consider looking into Faith Ministry for prayers, support, or maybe a life changing mission experience like I had.  Thanks also for your support of the 40 Day Fast.  When we get together in God’s name we can do great things. 

 

This is a prayer that Pastor John encouraged our church to pray this week so I share it with you:

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy

Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work too, may be holy

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy

Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy

Amen.

Images in this post used courtesy Faith Ministry.

 

 

 

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