Communicating God's Love to a Hurting World! : Mission trip to Oaxaca Mexico: Foundation For His Ministry (March 2005)

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Mission trip to Oaxaca Mexico: Foundation For His Ministry (March 2005)

We first heard about (FFHM) Foundation For His Ministry in the early 80's while members of Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Milwaukee.

In the early 90's we ventured down to the Baja, Mexico mission for our first trip with 2 of our 3 children and several families from our church. Flying to San Diego, staying overnight in a motel, renting a van and starting out early in the morning for the 6 hour trip to the mission before it got dark!

At a later trip we met Frank Tichnor at the mission and while there he left for Oaxaca to scout out the area for a new mission base.

After reading about FFHM and the ministry in Oaxaca, we felt led to go there. One Sunday at church (Eastbrook) we asked Ron and Dolores Blust and Carol Beimborn if they wanted to go with us. The rest is history!

Now we can fly to Oaxaca City

SHORT TERM MISSION TO OAXACA, MEXICO

March 2005

On March 9th, 2005, five Eastbrookers – Richard and Naomi Dassow, Carol Beimborn, and Ron and Dolores Blust – left for a nine-day mission to Oaxaca, Mexico. We had an opportunity to serve at a new home for children, Hogar Para Los Ninos, founded by the Foundation for His Ministry which has been established in the Baja Peninsula of Mexico for approximately thirty years.

The Dassows and other members of Eastbrook Church have served this ministry in the Baja. Dr. Patrick Murphy and his wife Anna (Gini and Fred Schneider’s daughter) spent more than a year there early in their marriage, providing for the medical needs of the Mission.

Because the Oaxacan graduates of the Bible School at the Baja Mission wanted to return to Oaxaca to minister to their own people, a branch was started in Oaxaca about 8 years ago, with a mission serving 40 children. Now a new location has been secured and construction has begun on a facility that will accommodate 100 children. Ian Croft, Construction Manager for the facility, along with his wife, Elaine, hosted us while we were there. Ian schedules and works with the teams of volunteer workers in their assignments. The plan is to move the children into the new facility by mid-July. They also have future plans to build a church, conference center, school and medical clinic on the grounds.

Our team worked together with a team of five from Montana and two couples who are SOWERS, Servants on Wheels Ever Ready. They traveled to Mexico in their RV’s and are planning to stay for 3-4 months as needed. Others serving there are giving a year or more of their time to benefit the Mission, in answer to God’s call on their lives. In addition, there are talented Mexicans working in the kitchen providing meals, as well as skilled Mexicans laying tile in beautifully artistic designs throughout the facility. So it was truly a time for many different people to come together. We were able to practice our Spanish as the native Mexicans practiced their English on us. We visited other churches while we were there and celebrated community with our fellow Indian (primarily Zapotec) believers. They joyfully shared their love of Jesus with us.

We took part in a wide range of assignments including painting, carpentry jobs, sewing, cleaning, kitchen kp, and caring for the grounds. It was our delight to do whatever was asked of us, knowing that we were serving Jesus. In the process, we established relationships with selfless Christians who were being used of God. People from all over the U.S. and Canada form work groups to go down to Mexico at their own expense in order to help. One of the things our men helped with was placing forms for concrete work in preparation for a team of 13 coming from Chicago the week after we left. Their particular skill was pouring concrete so we prepared the way for them to exercise their gift.

Mexico is a marvelous country, the weather was beautiful – 80 to 85 degrees in the daytime, 55 degrees at night. The Mission is in a lovely valley nestled in the mountains of southern Mexico. An out-of-season shower brought us a beautiful rainbow – another reminder of God’s promise.

The bougainvillea and geraniums were blooming and even though we returned to blizzards in Wisconsin, we had a wonderful taste of Spring and of eternity – faithful people saying “Here I am” to Jesus Christ.

Dolores Blust
Thanks Dolores for this great summary of our trip!

Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka), in southeast Mexico, is a rugged, mountainous land of diversity. One of the great treasures of this beautiful state is its people,
many of whom have never heard the name of Jesus. To these we have been called, “…so that they may turn from darkness to light from the dominion of Satan to God…so they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ. ” Acts 26:18

BOOMERS in action!

Naomi,Carol, Ron and Dolores.
I took the picture.