Dear Friends:
In our Easter morning service, I was reminded of the importance of carrying others. In Mark 2, we read about how Jesus was teaching at a large gathering, and there were some people who had a friend who was a paralytic. They felt sure that Jesus could heal him if only they could get Jesus’ attention. But, how to do it? There was a huge crowd around Jesus, and there was no way they were going to carry their paralytic friend through that crowd. So, they managed to climb up on the roof in the place where he was teaching, they carried him up there, took off some of the roofing, attached his litter to some rope, and lowered him from the ceiling in front of Jesus! Imagine the stir this must have caused! And imagine the dedication and effort this took! Could you imagine helping out a friend like that?
Mark 2:1-12 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." 6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" — He said to the paralytic, 11 "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
The power of this passage is huge. The paralytic was a man who could not transport himself to Jesus, but his friends did. It you think about it, their actions required faith, dedication, stamina, strength, thoughtfulness, and perseverance, as well as love and loyalty towards their friend. We think of the power of the resurrection of Jesus, the God-man who suffered and died as a human, but overcame death as God, and we realize the importance of what He did for us because of love. And for those who have faith, who are willing to allow Him to lead and direct their lives, we find that sin can be erased, and infirmity can be healed.
Importantly, in this story, it all came to pass because others carried the paralytic man. How long, do you suppose, had they been trying to find ways to help their friend? Do you have friends or family members who need Jesus to transform their lives? We all do. And we may pray for years without seeing any results. But, just as the paralytics friends persisted, we need to persist.
James 5:16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. NLT
The Bible is filled with stories of people persisting in prayer on behalf of loved ones and in God’s timing, the prayers bore fruit! Do not give up! Keep persisting in prayer! What is the issue of your friend or loved one? Is there addiction? Is there a mental condition? Pride? A physical disability? If Jesus cares for us enough to suffer and die to provide us a path back to God, and since He proved it by rising from death, we can have confidence. Do not despair, do not give up hope! Continue to bring that person before Jesus, and ask for that transforming power that can both save and heal!
Pat has set up an alarm on her phone. It goes off at 4 p.m. every day. It is a reminder to her to take a few minutes to pray for those on her prayer list. Maybe an idea like this will help you. We all have friends and loved ones who need us to carry them in prayer before Jesus. Let’s redouble our efforts and look forward in faith to the miracles He can produce!
This last month, we prepared one of the girls’ favorite dishes, Discada. The origen of this name is kind of funny and cool. In farming, farmers use disc harrows to break up the dirt clods on plowed ground. Eventually, these discs wear out. They are made of strong steel. They can have the center welded closed and they become a stir-fry pan (called a “disco”)! Then, you can find a heating source-we usually use a propane burner—and you throw a stir-fry of meats into it—bacon, hamburger, hot dogs, then add jalapeños, onion, sweet peppers, some clamato, maybe some shrimp, get it all stir-fried together, and you have discada! Eat it in tortillas! Delicious!
We are trying to help Andrea make the best decision for herself as far as starting college in the fall, as she will be graduating from high school in June/July. She is a very capable young lady, and we think she can find a good career path as she prepares. Please pray for her to hear from the Lord on this.
Also, this last month, we visited a refugee center in Palomas and found a man named Pedro, from Guatemala. He had jumped over the fence, took a hard landing and broke both of his ankles. He spent hours in pain before someone finally helped him. When we saw him, he had been there a couple of weeks and had no money for the surgery needed to restore use of his legs. The refugee center is trying to help him raise the needed funds to have this done. Pat prayed for him. The day we were there, between 40 and 60 refugees were at the center, and these are the people who often end up becoming human-trafficking victims, victims of assault from others, and they would be literally starving to death but for the help of organizations like Tierra de Oro led by Rosalio Sosa, a Pastor from El Paso, which can at least provide them with food and shelter and some protection from all of these things. He told us that their ministry runs 27 different shelters along the border, and some of their donations come from the United Nations.
We currently have Briza and Cielo in college in Waco, TX, and they are doing well! Maria is going to college in Casas Grandes, and she seems to be doing well, also. Yesi got married last month, and we are hopeful her new status will be a blessing for her. Many of our other older girls are still trying to find their way. Please keep Briza, Cielo, Vicky, Lulu, Maria, and Paola in your prayers.
Unfortunately, the transmission went out on one of our vans, so we are looking for the funds to fix that, if you are able to help. We have gotten a lot of miles on the vans, and it won’t be long before we will need to replace one of them!
May you see much fruit in your prayers and activities this month!
Jim & Pat
It’s a blessing to greet all of you once again. Our hearts are full as we get started with all preparations for the new academic year.
Applications have been distributed and our prayers are going out for the students and families that will become part of the 2021- 2022 Generation!
Now that we are meeting in person once again, our volunteers have been a huge help! We need all the help we can get and I would like to honor and thank Raymundo, Daniel, Perla, and Caro for their amazing support during our last event. They spoke to all the students with the ultimate goal of encouraging them once again, and providing wisdom that may be used at the right moment in each of their lives.
Christian, Alexis and Caro have started a new initiative for all the high school students! These amazing volunteers have taken upon themselves to create lessons to provide a better understanding and awareness about important topics like discrimination. They have also worked on lessons that are more practical but just as important, like learning how to save money to achieve their dreams. We are incredibly grateful with these volunteers as they embark in this new area of the Alas de Amor program. We hope that these lessons will provide students with skills that will be useful as they transition from high school to college. Their work will only become more and more impactful as the number of students graduating from high school increases.
IF YOU WERE A VOLUNTEER BEFORE ALL THIS CRAZINESS, OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO VOLUNTEER NOW, PLEASE LET ME, OR JIM OR PAT KNOW, and we will appreciate the help! We are delighted to announce that 11 students will be graduating from high school this year! Six of them are already registered to take the entrance exams for a university. We will keep in contact with the other students to motivate them and help them plan for their future. We have to work with them and pray as all of them have different backgrounds, limitations and responsibilities that prohibit some of them from going to a university right away.
We will soon begin to reach out to all of our sponsors to determine if they would like to continue supporting a student. We understand that circumstances may change for each of you and for that reason we will still greatly appreciate your prayers for this organization and your help by spreading the word about Alas de Amor. We are incredibly grateful for all of our past and current sponsors as they have maintained this organization going. We cannot say thank you enough!
May God bless you, your families and friends!
Berenice