| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
A letter from Bill Soldwisch on the
U.S.-Mexico border |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
April 2004
Easter sunrise and the Dios Es Amor congregation
Easter Sunrise service is a tradition in the Mexican Presbyterian
Church. At dawn the whole church gathers, the women often dressed
all in white, and the worship service is usually led and the preaching
done by the women of the church—after all, it was the women
to whom the risen Jesus first showed himself and called them to
witness to his life. Most of the Presbyterian churches in Tijuana
had a 6:00 a.m. service this year, however the “Dios Es
Amor” mission in La Planicie was meeting at 5:00 a.m. They
wanted to be in worship as the sun rose. I was invited to provide
music with my daughter’s guitar, and amazingly was able
to rise at 4:15, leave by 4:30, and arrive at church just before
5:00. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Easter breakfast at Dios Es Amor Mission, April 2004. |
|
I have worked with this congregation
since it began six years ago, and I have seen it through growth,
celebration, and crisis, new converts making powerful testimonies
and the sadness of families moving away, and yes, even the sadness
of families leaving in anger and upset. The church has had its ups
and downs. I was interim pastor for eight month when they suddenly
lost their lay pastor four years ago. Never more than a dozen adults
were gathered since that time. But Pastor David Gutierrez and his
wife Carmita have brought the right balance of love and strength,
of calmness and energy, and above all, deep faith and commitment
to their Lord, and things have been happening. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
I had been away for a good while,
so it was a wonderful surprise to see more than 25 adults arrive
with their children for the pre-dawn worship. After the culto
we visited, set up the tables and prepared the food for breakfast.
I had to say goodbye after breakfast, going on to the Nueva Vida
Church in El Pipila, while the Dios Es Amor congregation went
on to the Amistad Park for a day of fellowship, games and more
worship in the open air.
Mission team evangelism
The primary of focus of our bi-national ministry, Pueblos Hermanos,
is to aid the Mexican Northwest Border Presbytery in growing churches
that are self-supporting, self-governing, and self-reproducing.
Church growth is slow for Presbyterians all over northern Mexico
(though there are parts of southern Mexico where the Presbyterian
church is growing faster than the Pentecostal churches, which
is amazing for Latin America). It’s such a joy to see God
moving in people’s lives and building up a community of
faith. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
The Nueva Vida congregation, three miles over
the hill in El Pípila, is showing growth also. New people
are coming to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as a result
of evangelism campaigns and home Bible studies. The people of the
congregation are taking more and more responsibility to make the
church work—just before Holy Week the men of the congregation
dug the sewer connection ditch across 40 feet of concrete (not the
result of poor planning—the city decided not to put sewers
down the street the church had their original line going). |
|
Men of Nueva Vida mission in the El Pipila neighborhood of Tijuana
connecting to the new sewer system, April 2004. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
On the Saturday before Palm Sunday,
we received a mission team from the River of Life Chinese Community
Church of Diamond Bar, California (Los Angeles area), which has
been working and helping to support the Nueva Vida congregation
since the roof was started on the first church building ten years.
We went door to door inviting people to come to a church show—music,
stories, dramas and mimes, and good news from God. I had the good
fortune (oops, Presbyterians in Mexico never talk about good fortune—it’s
God’s providence—and when you stop to think about it,
maybe we Presbyterians in the North should consider this perspective,
like our fathers and mothers in the faith did) to run into a family
that was just moving in to a home a block from the church facility—they
had recently begun studying the Bible and were looking for a church
close to their new home! They’ve attended two Sundays, now.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
One of six houses that La Jolla youth are building along with some
fun with the neighbor kids. |
|
The team from River of Life Church did lots of
praying with us (I spent the night with them, as they had no men
with them this year, so I got in on their team devotional time as
well as the prayer time with the congregation), shared testimonies
(which I translated), taught us an easy song in Chinese (well, easy
for everyone but me), and put on two beautiful mimes showing the
power of God to make our lives real. |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
House building
Holy week (I think a lot of folk in the United States call it
Easter week) was a marked change of pace, as we worked with the
118 folk who came from La Jolla Presbyterian Church to build six
houses and two school rooms and put on children’s and youth
outreach ministries in eastern Tijuana. Efrain Romero, our mission
team coordinator, had been purchasing the building materials as
well as coordinating the pouring of the slabs (as well as actually
being the mason making it happen with the last two). This was
an exciting and hectic time; the plan was for the families to
finish the roofing paper on their houses, which they did (except
for the first house, which was totally finished by the LJPC folk—that
team was really fast and had good builders on it).
The week after Easter a team from First Presbyterian Church of
Carson City, Nevada, worked with the “Dios Es Amor”
congregation in La Planicie, sleeping in the church facilities,
eating with them, praying, talking, worshiping with them, and
working on some construction, including finishing one of the school
buildings that hadn’t been finished the week before. This
was another real change of pace—besides being a normal-sized
group (around 10) it was a group of adults primarily, which has
a whole different dynamic than a primarily youth mission team,
but more on that in another letter.
God’s grace and peace be with you all.
Bill Soldwisch
The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
138
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
