Dear Friends:
Another calendar year is here! In March, we will celebrate completion of 27 years of ministry in Puerto Palomas! It has evolved greatly over the years. Initially, in 1999, we established a shelter for young children and a ministry to help the poorest people in Palomas. From the very beginning, we sought to involve local churches so that we could work together in ministry. In about 2011, we began a scholarship program for a few students in Palomas. Then, in 2012, the government shut down our orphanage and required that we meet a long list of requirements before we could re-open. During that time, we began soliciting a public high school for Palomas, since all they had was a private high school that a lot of kids could not afford to attend. We also learned that the government really was looking for orphanages like ours to take teenagers, who had little chance of adoption.
So, we transformed into an orphanage for young girls. Through much opposition from the private high school and local politicians, we were ablt to get the promise of a public high school and together with the Mayor, we were able to build it. In 2013, we received our first 12 orphan girls at Casa, and by 2014, the public high school was opened. Over the years we had 25 girls go through the orphanage. During all of that time, our scholarship program continued to grow.
When Covid hit, the first thing that happened was that we received no new girls. We also lost most of our volunteers who had been helping to run the program. Students were schooled online through cell phones, and if they did not have one, there was no help. It was a very difficult time. At that point, we were on our 6th housemother for the orphanage. It has always been very hard to find committed local leadership for the orphanage that is also qualified to deal with so many needs of the girls. By 2024, our most recent housemother, Ana, was worn out and not interested in taking any new girls into the orphanage, and we were unable to find anyone else to commit. Ana died this last October, the same month our last girl at the orphanage turned 18, and so, at least for now, the orphanage is no longer operating.
At the same time, our Alas program has grown greatly. We now scholarship about 170 students, 12 of whom are in college! These students come from Puerto Palomas and the surrounding small communities of Colonia Modelo, Guadalupe Victoria, and Entronque. At the same time, we have become more actively involved with local churches, offering resources to them to help build their youth programs, and we are expanding into adult ministry. In March, 2 of our volunteers, Angel and Ceci, will teach in a married couples evening in which we will also put on a dinner for them! We now have young people who grew up and became educated through the help of this program who are now ministering to the next generation! One of those young people is Raymundo Minjarez, who is gradually assuming my position as President of Casa de Amor. We have over 140 sponsors for all of these young people, which likely includes you! You sponsors are making a huge difference in the lives of these young people, as they grow up getting both a spiritual and an educational background to help them be successful in this world, as they grow up to have families of their own and the ability to support them, and as they become equipped to be Christian leaders in their community.
We are especially happy to be sponsoring 12 college students. These students will make a huge difference in their community and in their churches. They will make a huge difference in their own families, most of them being the very first person ever in their family to seek higher education. They are achievers, and God will equip them for the work of His ministry. It is comparatively expensive to support college students in Mexico, as we generally have to help them with room and board, tuition, and books, and we are so thankful to those sponsors who are able to give the larger donations that help them.
Our volunteers these days are primarily Spanish speakers, as they minister by teaching adults, college students, high school, middle school, and elementary school students each month in our program. They also check up on the kids as needed, and we provide food for some especially impoverished families where youngsters are being raised by a grandmother. Most of our volunteer missionaries come from churches other than the Light at Mission Viejo, though it is the primary sponsoring church for this mission.
This program originated with the idea of accomplishing 2 primary goals: To help build the churches in Palomas by equipping the youth spiritually and educationally to take their places in leadership as they grow up, and to provide a close-to-home mission program to help people in the US discover missions and determine whether God is calling them into missions. This is an important aspect of Jesus’ Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations. Along the way, we have become an important part of the community of Palomas, and virtually everyone knows of the good work we are doing, from community leaders to the cartel. Even the cartel respects our work, and has been known to help us by doing things like providing us with a Thanksgiving turkey!
We are also blessed to have experienced many salvations through this program.
Where will the ministry go from here? The Lord has not yet given us a clear picture. It is clear that He is blessing the Alas de Amor scholarship program and expanding it. Currently, we have a 6,000 sq. ft. building in Palomas that is being used a few times a week by a local church while they build their new church, and we use it one weekend a month. We are waiting to see what else the Lord wants to do with it and with our missionaries. We are hopeful, and we pray, that many people who think they may have a heart for missions will join us in Mexico and see what the Lord puts in their hearts. There are many opportunities for ministry besides what we are doing right now. So, we ask you to pray with us that God will birth the next phase of this mission, and that it will bless Him and the people of Palomas. As always, you are invited to come and see what the Lord is doing on the second Saturday of each month in Palomas, and let the Lord speak to your heart about anything new He may want to do through you and others!
I think of Zech. 4:10, “Do not despise the day of small beginnings.” God may be stirring a small beginning in your heart. Let Him bring it to pass. Small efforts lay the foundation for future success.
May the Lord Bless you and keep you, may He make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; May He turn His face towards you and give you peace.
Jim & Pat