Mexico City

October 5, 2009

Dear Amazing Friends in Christ,

 

It's really not fair that you miss out on so many of the magic moments of mission...moments that come and go but remind us of why we do what we do.  Let me tell you about Bonifacio or Boni as everyone calls him.  He was one of thirteen graduates of the local high school last July, the first in his family to do so.  He has dreams of college...nursing or medicine to help his community...but high school was a stretch as his dad has been sick, not working for a year.   The family is just barely getting by.  When we caught up with Boni in September he was working as a bell hop in a San Cristobal Hotel.  Cheerful and enthusiastic as ever,

  Bonifacio at his HS graduation    with his dreams on the back burner, he is providing for his family right now and needed to talk to us.  Now this is a kid with a lot on his plate and we imagined a number of things that he might want to talk about.   In fact, his personal problems were not on his mind when we met.  “I'm really worried about the children and youth in my church.”  You see, Boni had taken those ministries on several years ago.   But now, hours from his church and community, he knew that no one was quite ready to take his place.   He explained to me that a couple of the girls from his group were keeping things going but that they needed training and materials.  Also he was worried that the Christmas celebration for the children would have to be cancelled this year.  I learned that Boni organized the youth of his church to earn money each fall to provide a Christmas party for the younger children.  Last year they spent 500 pesos on the party ($45 US) and each child had a gift to open. 

 

We've known Bonifacio since he was a baby and have worked over the years to strengthen his church in Pueblo Nuevo, Chiapas.  That one of the kids from the church would be called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to take on significant ministry responsibility is not something that you can program or plan; its God coming through again.  So we will find a way to support Boni...a workshop for the new workers, some materials and a little help with the Christmas party.  Boni has a deal with his boss that if he works seven days, he can save up his one day off a week until he has enough days banked to go home to his family and his church.  He's planning to go home at the end of October for the first time since July.

 

We wish that we could say that Boni is in college and that there is a great Christian Ed. team in Pueblo Nuevo and that everything is smooth and easy.   It's not, not in Chiapas and not in the USA; not for us and not for any of you.  But we are here, an extension of your outreach ministry, trying to be faithful in Mexico just as you are and counting on God “coming through”.  And we are grateful--to God, to Boni, a kid who has become a colleague in ministry, and grateful to each of you.  Because of your commitment to mission, to IM, to the World Mission Offering and to us, we are here in Mexico.  You are our biggest supporters!  We don't know how you came to be so important to our lives and ministry and you may not know either.  Each month when we receive the report of your generosity towards our support we stop and thank God for “coming through” and pray that God will repay each of you.  So know that you are deeply appreciated and we count it a privilege to be your missionaries in Mexico.       

                                   --Chuck & Ramona