February 17, 2006
-
In one week we are leaving for MEXICO!! We are going to
be building homes for the poor in a small border town (pop. about
30,000, as I understand it). I thought I’d share a little about the group
through which we will be working. The name of the ministry is
“FAITH MINISTRY - MINISTERIO de FE”, and it has its offices
in McAllen, Texas, a south Texas border town near Harlingen and
Brownsville. I think the best introduction to this ministry would be to
hear from its founder, Deantin Guerra; the following by him, from
their website, explains a little about his heart, and that of this ministry.
The Starfish Story
When I went to work in the mission field, I had a hard time facing what I was seeing for the first time. I guess you can say that I was “culture shocked”. You see, when I was growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, we were poor and had eight in our family. We lived in government projects all of our lives. We were poor, but we always had a roof over our heads, clothing, and food. When I saw the type of poverty the people were facing in Mexico, I was overwhelmed. I could not face it or understand it. I had never seen people die of hunger, illness, or just because they did not have what they needed. It was very hard for me to take. I used to go home in the evenings and tell my wife that I had made a mistake. I could not take the daily depression and sadness that I was seeing. I wanted to go back into the sporting goods business. But now I understand that I was facing the problems with the wrong attitude. You see, I wanted to be able to solve the “big problem” all at once and I could not. I felt very depressed until I discussed my situation with a friend of mine that is a Presbyterian Pastor. After I shared with him how I felt, he gave me a book to read. And in that book, I found the Starfish Story which goes like this:
A father and his young boy of about five or six years of age were walking down the beach one day. The tide had brought in hundreds of starfish and they were all dying on the shore. The little boy would pick one up at a time and throw it into the sea and it would come back to life. After about thirty minutes of this, the father said, “Son, will you stop doing that? You are going to hurt your back and probably get sick. When we get home your mother is going to blame me. Anyway, there are so many of them and they are all dying, what difference does it make?” The little boy picked up another one, threw it into the sea, and it came back to life and he said, “It made a difference to that one.”
I have learned through mission work that you can make a difference, in HIS Name and in HIS Glory, in people’s lives. We can do it if we take one person at a time, one family at a time, one house at a time, or one colonia (community) at a time.
Deantin Guerra
Executive Director and Founder of Faith Ministry/Ministerio de Fe, Inc.
Comments (12)
Apologies to those of you who commented…and don’t see your entries here now. I added Deantin Guerra’s photo here, and in the process lost the comments.
blessings…Jim
What a great story…3 of my children went to Mexico to work with orphans when they were teens, the Lord used that experience and the felt good about serving Him there.
Mike
Well, God bless your trip! As soon as I know more about my summer schedule, I’m going to call MDF and see what it will take to go there… likely end of July or early August, the hottest time:) Are you planning to do a mission during the summer? Prayers are going with you, my brother. Gerrie
hey Jim! I’m so excited for you…theres just something about mission work…something about being part of a team…something about giving as much as you can…that makes my heart sing! I’ll be praying for you, and I cannot wait until I get to go to Mexico this year!! Faith is such an adventure and a challenge! I wouldn’t want it any other way
~ love Heather
I’ve actually been to McAllen Tx before. I spent a month there one week. hehehe. I actually had my worst ever experience with an airline just getting there. Wheh. Anyway, I wanted to let you know your challenge post is now up at my site. Thanks again for contributing!
Wishing you a Blessed Sunday in the Lord..
A hug,
Lucy
Enjoy your trip again!
I told our prayer group leader at church about your poetry last night, and I cut and pasted two of your poems into emails, including the copyright notice. I hope you don’t mind me doing that; I think your poetry is not just beautiful, but powerfully soul-touching, so I wanted to share it. This friend is a seminary student and very upright, so I know he wouldn’t steal it or anything. Su hermana en Jesus, Gerrie.
RYC: No, I get most of them from freefoto. I do have some outstanding photos from the Gulf coast of Florida, including serials of a sunset, but don’t have a scanner. So I look online for my shots. And yeah, I guess I look for the sunset ones because those were the ones I took in Florida when I was there in 1989-1980. IT was what I was doing when I found out Jesus was real and wanted me to get to know Him for who He is.
The one I really would like to scan is one of sunset, of course, but two kids are walking along the beach holding body boards under their arms. Just as I take the shot, one looks back at me over his shoulder. IT’s pretty awesome, I think. They’re silhouetted in front of the sunset.
oops. I’m not good typing numbers. 1989-90-ish.
Came over from the professor´s site. I like your poetry. It is theologically sound and not Hallmark card fluffy. I also post poetry on my site of you want to check it out. I am currently living and teaching in Honduras and trying to learn Spanish as well. Head´s up. Having a dark background and dark writing makes your site hard to read.
Have a great trip!!!