Francisco Madero

One of our great privileges while in Mazatlan was to visit the feeding program in the colonia of Francisco Madero. 10 years ago, Madero was the worst of all neighborhoods. It was considered to be the "tolerant zone" meaning anything goes. Gangs, violence, drugs, you name it! Police did not patrol or enter the neighborhood and it was home to the red light district. 10 years ago our pastor Jose was visiting Mazatlan and checking out how our church could get involved in the work there. He happened to meet another Californian who had a vision for reaching this community. Our Pastor Jose was able to join the efforts and help raise funds for building one of the first feeding centers/churches that La Vina has (there are now 13!).

La Vina began by feeding the children of Madero weekly, then offering a Sunday School program. Soon these children of prostitutes were bringing their moms along and the church began ministering to them. Then a weekly church began as well as other programs, and Madero has become transformed by the Love of Christ!

Years ago when our church took a team to Madero, they helped lay the concrete for the building. During the trip 3 years ago they helped run the Children's program. This time it was running like a well oiled machine, and there was little for us to do aside from loving on the kids! It was amazing to see the ownership the people of Madero have taken for this church.

We walked in to see 120 kids running around the church (imagine a big concrete gym). We interacted with them and watched them horse around (we really need to loosen up on rules in our Children's ministry!). It was so cute to watch the kids immediately go to their seats and began to pay attention as the pastor's wife, Lolita, began the program. The kids participated in games, worship, prayer and a lesson.

Afterwards they were served a hot meal. We wondered why the plates were placed inside plastic bags, with the food on top of the bag. Some kids gobbled their food down in seconds, others barely picked at it and turned their bags inside out to keep the food to go. One team member saw a mother pulling left over bags out of the trash can to take home.

The volunteer mom and grandma cooks served our teams a plate. It looked so good, but we were told by our missions coordinator that if we didn't eat it, it would be used to give to the volunteers so we had to politely return our plates.

It was so sweet to watch this children's program. To see this many children listen to a Bible message and receive a meal was so special. To see their moms crowding in and waiting to hear more was amazing.

Outreach 2 Loma Bonita

Our second day of outreach was to Loma Bonita, which means Beautiful Hill. To be honest I saw nothing beautiful about this place- aside from the people!

Loma Bonita is a poor colonia where La Vina has built 1 of their 13 feeding centers, and has had a school and church (I don't think either are operating right now). Once a week La Vina puts on a children's ministry program and gives the children a free lunch. We learned that we would be assembling bags of food to give to each house.

As usual the morning of our second outreach we met for team devotions, walked to the church for breakfast and stopped at Sams Club. Pastor Dave of La Vina pointed to items and told us how many boxes to get of each item. Oil, corn masa to make tortillas, tomato paste, pasta, rice... After we purchased 120 of every item, we created an assembly line in the parking lot to make bags per household.

Despite the heat, I couldn't believe how FUN it was to work as a team and assemble these bags. Such a simple task, but our excitement was building as we looked forward to delivering them! Even Canaan had a task!

We got to Loma Bonita and some boys immediately greeted our bus. They promised to lead us around the colonia to the occupied homes.



We broke up in 3 teams and headed in different directions to hand out tickets for a food bag. Our sweet "tour guide" Francisco led us barefoot -that is until someone loaned him a broken pair of size 10 flip flops! He took his job so seriously!

At each house we stopped at we offered to pray for the families, and told them to bring their tickets in an hour to pick up their bag of food. They were so appreciative!

We treated Francisco to a cold soda from the local "store". I can't even begin to express how the 6 pesos (about 50 cents) we spent on the soda blessed us to see his enjoyment!

We soon headed back to the center of the village to begin the food distribution.

Along with the food bags, we handed out stickers and candy to the kids, and toiletries to the moms. You should have heard us try to explain conditioner to people who rarely use shampoo!

The people seemed so trusting and open to us, and I was shocked to learn that the night before there had been a rape/murder in this village, and another family had been killed the week before (of course the pastor told us this AFTER we left).

Walking around Loma Bonita, praying for the people and meeting their needs taught me so much. We have so much to be thankful for!

Outreach Day 1 Continued

After pulling away from the dump, we drive down a ways into a colonia to feed children with some of the hamburgers we had set aside.

It may be one of the highlights of my trip seeing the kids run from their homes to greet us. I couldn't believe how dirty they were and was shocked to see them running barefoot through glass! I didn't mind loving on these kids, but I was worried about Aubri getting lice, or falling in the glass so we kept her in the backpack. Jose, Isabelle and I walked around handing out stickers to the kids while the rest of the team handed out burgers.

Pastor Jose took Jose (Jos-B) and I down the street to check on a family he had met several years ago. The family had moved, but another lady let us enter her house. Though it was little more than a shack, she commented on the nice ocean breeze that comes up from below and her ocean view. It still amazes me how so many people were so grateful for what they had.

We spent a little more time hanging out with the kids before we headed back to the hotel for a much needed shower and nap!

Outreach to the dump

Our first day of outreach was the hardest of all. We were sent into the dump. I've never been to an American dump so I can't compare, but I was told this is many times worse.

We drove up a dirt road to the top of a hill overlooking Mazatlan. Joy and I were riding in the back of an enclosed truck (think ice cream truck) with our kids, only able to see a little out the front window. The rest of our team rode in the back of an open pick-up. The closer we got, the hotter it seemed to get and for sure the dustier it was. We were shielding our eyes and mouth from the dust, yet trying not to breathe through our nose because of the stench (first miracle of the day was that I surprisingly got used to the smell and didn't notice it after a short while!). When we parked and got our first look around Joy and I looked at each other and wondered what had we gotten ourselves, and more importantly our kids into! Joy said, "Lord have mercy on us!" as we wondered how we were going to keep our kids from touching the ground for hours.

We had gone to the dump pulling a horse trailer that has been converted to a mobile kitchen. We would be feeding the dump workers and dwellers. Many people either live or work in the dump scrounging around the deposited garbage for anything of value. Either they want clothes or items to help build their home, or they are looking for recyclables that they will turn in for money. Some are sorting cardboard, others plastic, and others eating whatever food they will find. It is such a contrast to the tourist beach resorts that are seen in the distance just a 15 minute drive away.

In the blazing, muggy heat our crew got to work. We took shifts cooking and singing the ABC's to Canaan and Aubri who were restricted to the stroller and backpack for 4 hours (second miracle of the day is that the kids actually sat without a problem!). It was such a blessing to me to have other team members willing to help with Aubri because I felt like I got to contribute to the work too.

Immediately a group went out with cold water to hand out to the workers. As workers ran to get a cup, I was reminded of John chapter 3 when Jesus teaches that he is the living water. I know that after drinking this small cup, the people would be thirsty again immediately. But if they could only drink of the living water!

Our ministry at the dump was primarily providing food, yet a few from our team were out evangelizing, and all of us were letting the people know that Jesus loves them. It was so great to be a part of La Vina's work in Mexico because after we leave the church continues building long term relationships with the people and making disciples. While the dump workers don't often receive a hot meal, La Vina takes a group of retirees and tourist with sandwiches to the dump EVERY Thursday! Also, La Vina has planted 13 churches in the local colonias (villages) so a church is available to many. It was a honor to be representing La Vina church, and while I can't say I led any to the Lord at the dump, I know that I represented Christ and pray that the workers would be led to check out La Vina church.

Once the meat was cooked, we began an assembly line of putting together hamburgers, chips, and drink. We announced to the workers nearby that the meal was ready, and soon people began to run towards the truck! I line quickly formed, and after saying a prayer over the meal, and asking the ladies to come to the front of the line, we began serving 300 burgers. We noticed several people come through the line more than once (turning their hat backwards or trying to disguise themselves) but we just let them eat their fill.

Too many cooks in the kitchen, or many hands make light work?

What a challenging yet rewarding day!

Mazatlan Mission Trip

I don't even know where to begin describing and summarizing our week long missions trip to Mazatlan Mexico. I will first say this, I believe the Velazquez Family has only scratched the surface of our involvement into missions work! This is just the beginning for us!

Before our trip, we had many people question if it was wise to be headed to Mexico especially with a toddler. I was one of them! After going to Mexico in March and having a rough trip, I was very nervous to be going back. We had a million reasons why we shouldn't go, but Jose felt strongly that we needed to go. A couple of weeks before our trip, all my anxieties and fears began to be replaced by excitement. With lots of prayer behind us our trip went great!

While in Mazatlan, we worked closely with La Vina Vineyard Church. They oversee all of our outreaches and pretty much told us what to do and when to show up. Our mornings began with team devotions at our hotel, followed by breakfast at the church. We would usually make a stop at Sams Club to buy food for whatever we planned to do then would head to our destination.

The three kids on the trip did amazing! Even in the heat and dust there was very little complaining for any one. Our entire team got along great and worked so well together. God really worked through us, and used us to meet the physical needs of so many by providing food, clothes, toiletries and more. And more importantly we were able to share the love of God and the gospel with many more.

What was amazing to me was how we were able to live out missions no matter where we were. One of the people we loved on the most was a man named Armando who lived on the beach in front of our hotel. He slept in a canoe that he rented out to tourist during the day. He worked for a company that did parasailing and tubing also. Every day we talked to him, prayed for him, gave him food, and gave him business purchasing his excursions!

Other people we surprisingly had the most contact on were the time share street vendors we passed everyday on our walk to the church. We'd pass the same men every day and got to share what we were doing. On the last day, one man yelled after us "La Vina, Mexico loves you!" and another received the shoes off of Wayne's feet.

Thank you to all our friends and family who helped make our trip happen. With your financial support and prayers we feel we were effective in our ministry, reaching the world for Christ!