We received this email today from a great friend of the ministry.  It reminded me of the need to thank all of you who support Amor Ministries.

Good morning all of you who I call friends and family in the Lord.  I am sure that each day it must be hard to stay focused when the news of the world keeps pounding Mexico and, I am sure, your ministry.  I just want you to remember that you never stand alone and that prayers are be offered up on your behalf daily.  Know that today I am lifting you, your ministries and your lives up to the Lord.  I prayed for safety today and the health scare and the discouragements that might come your way.  I know every one of you has your specific jobs and ministries to the homeless in Mexico.  I know that God is watching over you and they never leave his sight.

I am preaching this week out of James 1:19-27 -about what true religion/relationship in Christ means. The last verse says it is to visit orphans and widows in distress . I ,as well as you, believe more each day that this is and always has been God’s heart beat.  I am with you in prayer today on bended knee.  It is the only way that we truly can march out and do battle.  Remember when you  get down or discouraged that God is so much bigger than borders and so much wiser than the news media.  I trust that today you will have the chance to look into the face of those you serve and again see Jesus.  For that does not only happen on the other side of the boarder but on the other side of the office or cubicle.  The Lord Bless You and Keep You Strong Today!!!!

Seriously. Thank You.

We called him “Hooligan”. His real name, Julian, was lovingly changed to this fitting nickname as the week went along and we witnessed his antics around our worksite in Tijuana. Our group was building a house for Hooligan’s family and he was always right in the thick of the action. Hiding people’s hammers, tickling our group members and then dashing away, and laughing when someone struggled with some element of the building process were among this seven-year-old’s greatest joys.

Hooligan was standing out front of his existing house every morning when we arrived. His smile stretched ear to ear as he welcomed our group and then his shenanigans for the day began.  Despite the disruptions he caused, his smile and endearing personality were embraced and cherished by our group.

I’ll never forget his giant smile turning to passionate tears our final day in Mexico. He hugged me so tightly as I tried to understand the little Spanish I could make out in the midst of his sniffles. It was abundantly clear that his ornery antics throughout the week was the safest way for him to communicate his love and gratitude to our group of strangers. Little did he know, his tears that last morning communicated more than we could ever imagine. Our tears and embraces of that little fellah before our departure was one of the most profound moments in my life.

His picture still hangs on my wall in my office in Columbus, Ohio. I see his playful smile and am reminded of the significance that we all can bring to others in our lives. Years later, I hope he remembers our group as fondly as we remember him. The gift of the house to his family was only a small portion of the sacred gifts exchanged that week.

“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people.” – Galatians 6:10

Jason Barger is an 11-time Amor Mission Trip leader who has connected over 1700 people to build 120 houses in Mexico. As the former Director of Camp Akita in Ohio, he designed and implemented programs for over 1900 kids a summer centered on faith, love, service and leadership. Jason’s experience with servant-leadership led him to the creation of First Community Church’s Streets Mission Project to serve the homeless of Columbus, Ohio as well as mission trips to the Casa Hogar Sion Orphanage in Tijuana and the Village Mountain Mission project in the Dominican Republic. Jason is the author of the book Step Back from the Baggage Claim: Change the World, Start at the Airport and spends most of his time today serving, writing, speaking and consulting for organizations looking to bring about positive change. Jason, his wonderful wife, Amy, and their two sons, Will and Benton, currently live in Columbus, Ohio. To connect with Jason, please visit  www.stepbackfromthebaggageclaim.com

I used to worry about over-romanticizing what our Amor Ministries experience is like when I sat down to write these posts. In regard to what has taken place in 2009,  I don’t see this as an issue anymore. As Howard wrote in the previous post,

Our ministry has been hard-hit by two unfolding phenomenon that we cannot control. First, the lagging world economy has cut into the support that we need. Fewer participants and dollars limit the number of poor families that we can help. Second, the fears based on sensationalized media coverage of drug-related violence have kept many from coming on this Mission Trip.

Still, some 250 homes were built in Mexico and South Africa so far this year by more than 5,000 participants. That is a pretty impressive line, and I am fairly certain we could stop there and still leave a lasting impression by the impact our participants have made in the last four months.

However, I don’t want to  reduce these endeavors to numbers, because  doing so doesn’t articulate the true value and scope of this Mission Trip. Follow with me:

Let’s begin by including the thousands of people from the churches, schools, and communities of our participants who enabled them to come to Mexico and South Africa through financial support. Next we’ll mention the thousands more who were (and still are) praying for our ministry and our participants. To this, we will add our team at Amor Ministries and the hundreds of supporters who make it possible for each of us to be here. Aside from that, we have a host of volunteers who help us coordinate our groups during our peak season. Of course, I could not forget to point out our teams of Mexican and South African Pastors and their families who work tirelessly to bring the love of Christ into their communities everyday. Wait, there are more. Those 250 structures mean thousands of people now have a sturdy, water-tight house to call their own home.  Their communities will be impacted as a result.  I could go on.

But again, I must stress focusing on even these limits the potential effects our ministry can have. Because we cannot measure the impact God has on the life of each participant. Multiply that by 5,000+. We do not determine what the reaction of a teenager returning home from an Amor Mission Trip will have on their family, their friends, their future. Furthermore, we have no idea how to put a figure on the difference each participant could have on their own community. Multiply that by 5,000+. Indeed, I certainly cannot calculate the generational effect a new home will have on a Mexican family. Whatever it is, multiply it by 250 for 2009, or more than 15,000 and counting since 1980. Here one begins to get the picture that we can never see the whole picture.

For me, therein lies the rub. I am the type of person who likes to see the lasting impact—the full fruit, if you will—of our labor. But I cannot begin to understand how God works within the infinite variables of each of our lives at the same time to bring us closer to Him. Honestly, it blows my mind. At the same time, however, I am eternally thankful that God’s willingness to extend His saving grace to me (us) is not dependent on my (our) ability to quantify the works of His hand.

This has never been about the numbers. This is a movement. Thanks for being a part of it!

Every so often, a team member writes a personal newsletter that is so exceptional, I feel a need to share it with our audience. Howard Major’s most recent writing has touched upon the issues at hand in a way that is both inspiring and thought-provoking. It addresses the very essence of the message Amor Ministries has wanted to communicate about serving in Mexico. And the closing quote from a parent should make all of us stop and think about raising children in a complicated and ever-changing world.

Blessings,
Gayla Congdon, Founder and CSO

The past winter months were both challenging and fulfilling. Some Amor Mission Trip groups suffered more than others, lacking equipment and winter gear for the wind, rain, and mud, yet, they all persevered in what they came to do. I am always amazed at how hardships bring out the best in our groups. Part of that is the sheer novelty of seeing ourselves outside of our usual circumstances and realizing that hardship is a way of life for many poor families.

Working with Amor, we see things every week that change our vision of life. What is it about these sights that transform us? Is it the shock value? I walked into a shocker when I previewed a site for an indigenous Mixtec family. They were drying hundreds of thin strips of raw meat on clotheslines crisscrossing the small courtyard of their shack. We spoke nonchalantly about the details of their new house as we swatted away the flies that wanted their share of the meat drying in the hot sun.

Does the transformation occur because we discover that most of the world is different from us? Consider these shocking statistics. It is estimated that it would take the resources of seven Earth planets to support the present population with the lifestyle of the U.S. If the entire world population was transformed into a village of 100 people, 80 would live in poverty, 70 would be illiterate, 50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition, one would be dying, and one would be in birth. Six people would possess 59% of the wealth, and they would all be from the U.S. One would own a computer, and just one would have a university degree!

I think a Mission Trip transforms us by putting us face-to-face with these realities. Not just dry statistics, or drying meat, but the very lives of fathers, mothers, children—the orphans, homeless, and jobless who struggle to have a better life. We tend to look forward and upward in our pursuit of financial or social security. We also tend to look backward and downward when we measure our successes and failures. This vertical orientation can lead us into a profound restlessness that is never satisfied.

Instead, a Mission Trip helps us to look at life horizontally. We begin to notice things on either side of us, instead of up or down at what life offers or denies. One group calls it “seeing life through God’s eyes.” Our eyes are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion must look out onto the world. He has our bodies, our hands, and our feet to use to bless others now.

Our ministry has been hard-hit by two unfolding phenomenon that we cannot control. First, the lagging world economy has cut into the support that we need. Fewer participants and dollars limit the number of poor families that we can help. Second, the fears based on sensationalized media coverage of drug-related violence have kept many from coming on this Mission Trip.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the economic hardships and the fears could lead us all to re-examine our priorities and see life through God’s eyes; to look horizontally at the opportunities around us to help make this a better world for all? One example would be Amor’s Casa de Amor program. $25 a month can help build a house. Perhaps our resources are limited; perhaps we are not able to make the Mission Trip; but, we can still be a part of transforming the lives of families who have even less opportunities or resources to help themselves. For less than a Starbucks or a Big Mac a day, we can build a home, empower a whole family for generations, and make a dramatic statement the world needs to hear in hard times.

One parent summed up this notion of looking at life horizontally as he sent his son off on an Amor Mission Trip. “Have a safe trip. It will hopefully be a dangerous trip. Not that you would be harmed, but that you would be out of your box, out of your comfort zone, out of your routine, out of your expectations, and into a whole new way of being that transforms everything in your life. Now that would be very dangerous, to open yourself to God’s unconditional love, to take the plunge, the blind leap of faith to risk everything.”

Peace,

Howie Major

Fundraising for Mission Trips can be challenging, but the last thing we want is for money to get in the way of your ministry!  That’s why we’ve gathered together the best ideas around in the Mission Trip Planning Manual.

One of the most compelling fundraisers for Mission Trip participants is selling elements of the Amor house your group will be building in Mexico.  You can price the foundation, walls, roof, windows, and door of the home you will have a hand in building based on the funds you need to raise.  Then, Mission Trip participants can sell or auction the Amor home to sponsors. While the money raised goes toward your fees and expenses and does not directly support the supplies to build the house, the fundraiser lets sponsors be “mortgage holders” in spirit.

More than raising money, this fundraiser helps participants “own” their trip by investing time and effort in fundraising and allows those who cannot participate to be personally involved.  Plus, the support rallied around your Mission Trip will uplift your team!

For more fundraising ideas, check out our Mission Trip Planning Manual

Most parents agree that the foundation of family is under spiritual attack. One need only look at family life statistics in the United States for proof. In 1980, for example, 77 percent of children under the age of 18 lived with two married parents. Sadly, by 2007, that rate had fallen nine percent. Even more startling is the rise in illegal, destructive behaviors amongst our youth. In fact, the use of illicit drugs, engagement in sexual activity, and participation in violent crimes has risen dramatically since 1980. Seven percent of children in the 8th grade, for example, have reported recreational drug use while those in the 10th grade are measuring at 17% and even more surprising, 22% of seniors in high school have indicated drug use within the last 30 days. This, of course, bears the question: what has become of the American family? Though the causes for the breakdown of the family and its effects on the individuals are varied, the end results are the same—brokenness.

One major contributing factor to this is poverty. About 20 percent of America children under the age of 6 were affected by such circumstances, not to mention the 16 percent of children between ages 6-17 years who were affected in 2006. Interestingly, besides the physical effects of poverty, these children are more likely to live in non-traditional family structures, which seem to be directly correlated with poverty levels. It is a commonly held belief that the traditional family is the foundation for healthy lifestyles, including spiritual life. Yet, in the post-modern culture that we live in, how will families survive the rising tide of influences to which our kids are exposed?

Clearly, these statistics reflect the state of our culture. If such information were available for other countries, one can only imagine the ramifications. In poverty-stricken nations, the results are even more dismal than expected. Because parents cannot afford to feed, clothe, or even educate their children, they often turn to orphanages for help. These families are not separated by choice or fault, but instead by the environment in which they live. It is therefore, no surprise that a cycle of poverty and crime could occur.

In spite of such grim facts and figures, there is hope for family life around the globe, as long as we are willing to work together because families are at the very core of what Amor Ministries is all about.

Amor Ministries’ Founders Scott and Gayla Congdon first began building homes in Mexico 29 years ago to help keep families together, and for this reason we continue to build today. And while a house can still bring hope to thousands of Mexican and South African families, Scott and Gayla’s concern for the state of families extended to those on this side of the border as well.

So, it was on this premise that Amor’s Mexico Family Camp began in 1995. Through the partnership of First Christian Church of Columbus, Indiana and Amor Ministries, Mexican and American families alike are strengthened each summer as homes are built and relationships are renewed.

One family builds together while another in Mexico receives, and vice versa. That’s why, the program’s motto is “Families building homes, homes building families.” Children of any age join their parents in providing a new and safe place to live. The end result is that parents and kids on this side of the U.S. border are changed as they band together with a common purpose—to serve others. Equally important, is the transforming effect this has on those receiving a new home for the first time!

You, too, can have a hand in making a life-changing impact on family, both in yours and one in Mexico. For more information, please contact Amor Ministries’ Mission Services at 619.662.1200 extension 6 to learn more about Mexico Family Camp, taking place June 20th-27th 2009.

*Statistics taken from www.ChildStats.gov Forum on Child and Family Statistics

Adapted from original story by Steve Theme

If we learn from our mistakes, I would be a genius. I was so certain prayer didn’t work that I never tried it for my first thirty-five years. Recently, in the Mexican sun, I suffered from heat exhaustion for three days.  By the third day, I couldn’t even lift myself from the floor, that is, until I said a simple prayer.

This wasn’t my first prayer.  Fifteen years ago my relationship with God, prayer, and faith changed dramatically.  But Mexico is hot in the summer; the dust is hot, the ground is hot, the shade is hot—it’s hot.  It was this extreme heat that brought me to that simple prayer and God’s simple answer.

The family of five we were building the home for lived in a one room shack, with no windows and a dirt floor.  When it rained outside, it rained inside.  There were three children, Rico, Jose, and Stephania. Though their mother was always present with a smile, we hardly saw her husband.  He worked fifteen hours a day in a shirt factory to provide for his family.  We caught a glimpse of him one morning as he was finishing the glaze to the slab of his family’s new home; he had spent all night applying it!

When day five came, we were down to the wire.  Typically, if a group doesn’t complete the home, another follows behind and finishes it.  But since we were the last group at Rosarito for the year, we had to finish.  Yet as the sun positioned itself above, I started to fade. My head and stomach went into a spinning dance, while my arms and legs could hardly move.

At this point I figured the “mission” part of the mission trip was over for me.  I sank.  At the moment when the family needed me the most, I could only lay on top of the garbage in our van.  Once I got over my sense of failure, I prayed: “God, this is our last day here, and there is still so much work to do.  How can I help?”

A rhetorical prayer, I thought.  When I opened my eyes, I noticed the van’s dome light wasn’t spinning and my stomach was quieting down.  Suddenly, I could feel my energy and strength returning to normal.  My disbelief pushed the question “What’s happening?”

I continued to lay there a bit making sure I wasn’t hallucinating.  Then I sat up easily and was quickly filled with simple acceptance.  I don’t recall even saying thank you.  I just rose, walked back to the job site, and worked for the next five hours through the heat of the afternoon.

Rico, Jose, Stephania and their parents must have needed the house finished that day.  After surviving many trials, they deserved a new home.

Thirty-five years spent closing the door on God’s love, but He is still right there every time I seek Him.  God is always with us.  We just recognize it some days more than others.

Just as God is working in Mexico, the horizons have broadened for Amor Ministries in South Africa! After a successful pilot program in Ennerdale, Johannesburg in March 2008, God continues to build new relationships and open doors to expand the ministry worldwide.

Despite a strong infrastructure, South Africa still suffers from economic and social problems from the apartheid era. As a result, one third of the population lives on less than two dollars a day. Extreme poverty in rural areas continues to drive people to the cities in search of employment, with almost 10 million South Africans living in poverty housing. Overcrowded shacks pieced together with cardboard, corrugated iron, and scrap wood are grouped together in “townships” surrounding the modern cities. The occupants of townships are predominantly black South Africans who often live without adequate services, and it is these very conditions that Amor hopes to change.

Project South Africa will do more than just make life easier for a family in need; we will open hearts to truly see the grace and love of Jesus by providing the tangible objects of security, safety, and stability and it begins with a home. Physical and spiritual needs will be met, while Project South Africa provides the opportunity to reach the 23% who do not know Christ personally and to see love-in-action firsthand.

In June 2009, Amor Ministries South Africa is offering its first house-building Mission Trip for anyone who feels led to serve the 10 million South Africans living in poverty housing. For information about joining this exciting new chapter in Amor’s story, please contact Mission Services at 619.662.1200 extension 6.

For those unable to travel to South Africa, there are other opportunities to partner with Amor. In order to offer the same life-changing experience as we do in Mexico, Amor needs your support to make South African Mission Trips possible. Please contact Melissa Salazar, Director of Ministry Resources at 619.662.1200 extension 129 if you would like to know more about partnering with Project South Africa!

Bridalwood Golf Club in Flower Mound, Texas

“Chip” in for the purchase price of Amor’s new Chihuahua campground.  All proceeds go to the Chihuahua Camp Fund.

For more information go to http://www.amor.org/golf or contact Cristy at 619.662.1200 extension 115

Hundreds of groups from all over the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. take a mission trip with Amor Ministries each year.  In our experience of getting to spend time with these groups, they put some of their best work into the devotional materials they use for their trip.

It makes sense.  For many people, their week-long mission trip with us each year is a spiritual mountain-top experience.  So group leaders save some of their best stuff for the time spent around a camp fire at night in Mexico or South Africa.

Read more…