Dear Friends:
I recently watched a really good movie on Netflix, if you are looking for something to watch. It is called Same kind of different as me. At the most basic level, it is the story of a couple whose marriage is on the rocks, they are wealthy and seem to have it all, but no happiness. They look in all the wrong places. They make a decision to try to put their marriage back together. She has a dream of a wild homeless man, and she begins searching for him. She drags her husband to the “poor” part of town. She sees the man God showed her in the dream next to a food ministry for the homeless. She is convinced the God has led her, and so she leads her unwilling husband to work in the soup kitchen. She keeps encouraging her husband to try to become friends with these people who are SO DIFFERENT. God is teaching them to love people who are completely different from them—people who don’t understand the world in the same way they do. People who have been beaten down and beaten up by life. People who have terrible attitudes and terrible self-esteem. People who have no hope. The gap between this couple and the people they begin serving appears to be impossibly wide.
On a window in the soup kitchen is a Scripture, one we are all familiar with: 1 Cor 13:4-8 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails.
Friends and family try to discourage them—you are too different—they are too different—they deserve to be in a bad place, they created their own problem. But this couple keeps showing love and trying to become friends of the unlovable, the unfriendly, the foreign. As they do, their lives begin to revive. They begin to feel joy they have never felt. And, they are making a difference, reviving those who are spiritually and emotionally dead.
There is a lesson for all of us to learn—it begins with acceptance and trying to understand. It begins with doing what the Lord did—loving others, many of whom are living a life so different from ours! Can we relate? Think of those Jesus went to. He went to those who were considered the lowest in society, the sinners and tax collectors. He befriended, he spoke words that helped people escape bondage, he healed. And, he did not say to us that we cannot do what he did, but rather he encouraged us:
John 14:11-15 The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do. If you love me, show it by doing what I've told you. (from THE MESSAGE)
There is one line in the movie I really liked. The homeless man asks the rich man who is serving him food, “do you know what you are doing for me when you serve me like this?”
“I guess I am giving you something to eat, helping you with some food,” answers the rich man.
“No,” says the homeless man, “hunger comes and goes, it is always the same. What you are doing is seeing me, you are saying I have some value. I matter.”
Whether we are working in Palomas, or whether we are doing things in our hometown, this is what is important, this is what God is doing. He wants people to have faith, hope and love. He wants people to touch other people lives in a way that brings a positive impact. He wants to pull them out of all of the garbage in their lives and place them on higher ground—a place where they too can become ministers of His Word and His Life. A place where their lives matter! A place where our lives matter!
This is what we are doing in Palomas, and, hopefully in our everyday lives. God has not called us to be uninvolved, He has not called us to come out from the world, He has not called us to laziness or self-interest. He has called us to be ministers of His love, helping those we may not relate to, helping those who are down in the garbage heap of humanity, helping those who are widows, orphans, impoverished, sick, hurting. He wants us to be friends and show His Love. He wants us to give our time, our talent, and our resources. He wants us to show how there is true freedom in obeying Him! In doing that, we and they are encouraged as we see people delivered from all of the things that rob, steal and destroy in their lives.
We had a great group of volunteers come to Palomas last month, helping, smiling, encouraging—we would love to have more! We have needs repairing the 20 year old building that always has problems. We have needs preparing for the Saturday ministry. You don’t have to speak Spanish to be a blessing! We invite you to come and get a first-hand view of what God is doing in Palomas. We meet the second weekend of each month! This month, we will be going on Friday, Sept. 10 and returning Sunday, Sept. 12. Please call Pat at 505.670.5659 or me at 505.690.8302 if you would like to go!
May the Lord bless you and keep you, may He make His face to shine upon you, may He fill you with His Spirit, and may He grant you peace!
We are so happy to be writing to you once again, Alas de Amor family! We all hope you are staying safe. August was a wonderful month for our Alas program, filled with blessings for both our students and our volunteers.
Firstly, we would like to thank all our volunteers who made the effort to aid our in-person efforts in Palomas. We had a much larger number of volunteers than usual, and we were able to get a lot of work done, including some belated spring cleaning in Casa! Taking advantage of this opportunity, we also organized our resources and supplies for the rest of the school year. In addition to this, our volunteers also helped us translate letters, take measurements of students, give away supplies, make food and help students write their first sponsor letters. We wanted to express once again our most sincere gratitude to those who were able to give their weekend to help us. We would also like to take the time to once again extend an invitation to join us in our Alas de Amor weekends. Please don’t hesitate in contacting Pat Noble or Berenice Herrera if you are interested in joining us.
August is one of our biggest and busiest months in the entire school year. We started by consolidating and bundling school supplies for each student. We pack a brand-new backpack filled with the supplies needed for all their courses for each student, something which is no small task but thankfully we had the volunteers to get it done quickly.
Starting on Saturday morning and concluding at 5:30pm, we meet with each of our churches that participate in the Alas program, 8 in total, and welcomed all old and new students of the Alas program. We talked to our new students about the rules of Alas and we encouraged them to work hard so that they can take advantage of this God-given blessing. As some of you may know, we ask that our students do well in school and to be active in their church.
Once the talk was finished, we gave each student their backpack filled with supplies and then proceeded to measure their shoe size. Our students seemed quite excited and ready to return to classes. The state of Chihuahua has decided that students will return to in-person classes this semester. We know all our students are quite ready to see all their classmates and friends. We ask for your prayers so that all our students can remain safe as we transition back to school.
On Sunday, we talked to all our college students about their upcoming semester. Though many seem a bit anxious about this new challenge they are tackling, we assured them that God had complete control of their lives and they need only to surrender their worries to Him. We want to say once again just how proud we are of all the Alas students that make it far enough to study in college. This is no small feat by any means, and it brings us tremendous joy to say that you, our sponsors, are making this a reality.
Some last bits of news: We were able, thanks to you, to find enough sponsors for all our grade-school students. Thank you, to each of you, for giving our students a chance to build a future. We also want to mention that we are still raising funds for our college students. As you all may well know, college tuition and living expenses can be quite large, so we hope to continue to raise money so that we can better provide for their individual needs.
Finally, we’ve just started a new initiative to engage our Alas students with reading. We’ve began an incentive-driven reading competition, such that we will be giving away small prizes to the most active readers. We think this is a wonderful challenge that will drive our students to better reading habits.
We conclude this month’s letter with the following: Alas family, we simply cannot thank you enough for everything that you do. Whether you are keeping us in your prayer, a new donor, an old donor or perhaps a volunteer that helps us in our monthly visits to Palomas, you are the lifeblood of this program. Without you, nothing that we do would be possible. We hope that you know that the love you give to each of our Alas students is something that they feel, and we can see in their smiles when they receive their school supplies or their new uniforms. Your donations give students the much-needed help that deserve but cannot get any other way. You are all in our prayers, and we thank you for the sacrifice you make. Like always, we also ask for your prayers for each of our Alas families, our volunteers, and our leaders.
Berenice