Dear friends,
It is good to write to Outreach Foundation supporters. Martha and I have been blessed by your ministry for over 30 years!
Hopefully, we are near the end of the COVID pandemic. The whole country of Mexico is most anxious that it be so. The burden it has placed on the church and society has been enormous.
Read MoreThank you for the prayers, gifts, and hands-on participation that have made 2022 a very good year.
Cisterns Built in 2022
March
Four cisterns in the Village of Felipe Angeles. It was our first time building there. We worked side by side with fantastic families who love the Lord and will not hesitate to break a sweat and get their hands dirty.
May
Four cisterns in the town of Xpujil for four families who live beyond the reach of the town’s water works system that only distributes water about once a week (if that).
May the blessing of God the Almighty Father be upon each one of you. I praise God for the wonderful ways He has used each of you as instruments in His hands for the expansion of His Kingdom.
This year, despite the effects of the pandemic, God has been faithful to us, and everything seems to be returning to normal. Of course, we also realize that a great number of pastors still fear being exposed to the virus.
SARA ministry retreats are once more taking place. From April to June, we had 12 mentoring retreats with an average of 13 pastors per retreat for a total of 156 pastors.
Read MoreFor 121 years, the Presbyterian Church in this working-class suburb of Havana has given faithful witness to the Good News. Like many churches in Cuba, it developed ministries unique to its context, such as one that served those diagnosed with AIDS who were often shunned by their families and communities.
When its current pastor, Rev. Yoelkis Sierra, began to explore the surrounding neighborhood, he quickly discerned that there were many young children whose families had no connection to the church. He and his leaders began to pray about how this might present the congregation with new opportunities to make Christ known.
Read MoreMay the grace and blessing of the good and mighty God be upon each one of you. I am thankful always for your faithfulness, generosity, and love towards us and our ministry.
Our lives have almost returned to normal from the pandemic. April was one of our busiest months. Mentoring retreats, church revitalization talks, and lay leadership training have resumed. This brings us great joy because we can be with the pastors again and help them in their ministerial journeys.
Read MoreDeep in the lush tropical landscape of the Mexican Gulf state of Tabasco is the campus of Sureste Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Sureste, founded in 1985 and a long-time Outreach partner, is committed to equipping the next generation of pastors and servant leaders for the Presbyterian church in the southern states of Tabasco and Chiapas where the church is growing rapidly. Most students are studying to complete a bachelor’s degree in theology. Outreach partners provide partial scholarships for many of the students studying for this degree.
Read MoreVenezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, is a case study in the perils of becoming a petrostate. Since it was discovered in the country in the 1920s, oil has taken Venezuela on an exhilarating but dangerous boom-and-bust ride that offers lessons for other resource-rich states. Decades of poor governance have driven what was once one of Latin America’s most prosperous countries to economic and political ruin… So begins a recent article from the Council of Foreign Affairs and it is that kind of news which tends to stick in our heads when we think about “Venezuela.”
Being a student of mission history, I went in search of the background of our (newer) partner there, Iglesia Presbiteriana de Venezuela (IVP) – the Presbyterian Church of Venezuela.
Read MoreEven as Cuba continues to struggle mightily with the effects of the pandemic and an economy in shambles, our partners there continue to inspire us with their resiliency, perseverance, and flat-out joy. This update is intended to give you some glimpses of that Spirit by highlighting several events…
Read More“Lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great”
Many water projects build or deliver the infrastructure and then give it to the poor. Our cistern ministry takes a different approach. In Mexico, projects that give away materials and infrastructure tend to have an overall negative impact. In search of better outcomes, we trust skin-in-the-game partnerships between families, neighbors, and communities to solve the clean water problem in our region.
Read MoreWe recently received the following information from Haiti Outreach Ministries (HOM) concerning their Student Sponsorship program. Please follow the link provided for additional instructions on how to sponsor a student through Haiti Outreach Ministries:
Education is essential for any child’s development, but in Haiti, education is much more than that – it is the necessary foundation to escape pervasive national poverty and a pathway to a better future. In Haiti, there is no free, public education. HOM and its Haitian partner MICECC (Mission Communautaire de l'Eglise Chrétienne des Cités) operate three primary schools and a secondary school, providing a robust, quality education steeped in Christian principles.
Read MoreDear brothers and sisters, servants of Christ Jesus and collaborators with him in the expansion of the Kingdom,
Grace and peace be with you all.
We've all experienced the difficulties of these past couple of years. But despite the struggles we have faced, battles were won, thus fulfilling the promise that in Christ Jesus we are more than conquerors.
Through your partnership, the gospel has been preached in many places here in Brazil. It has brought salvation to dozens of families in eight different cities, from the southern part of Brazil to the northeast. Here are reports from some of the new churches:
Read MoreThis reflection upon the current crisis in Cuba – and of the Church’s response to it – comes from the Rev. Dora Arce Valentin. Rev. Dora is not only the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cuba (the IPRC—the Independent Presbyterian Reformed Church of Cuba) but a pastor in one of its congregations, a bit west of Havana in San Antonio de los Baños.
Dear family in Christ:
When the gospels tell us the stories of Jesus' miracles, sometimes our rational minds fail to understand the true message of those experiences. And, indeed, even the disciples, who walked with the Master every day of his ministry, never fully understood him until after the resurrection. However, there are times when we can see those daily miracles relived in the solidarity between sisters and brothers of faith, in small or large acts of generosity, of those who speak to us of love and demonstrate it by sharing what they have, as you have done.
Read MoreOctober 19, 2021
Dear friends,
You likely have heard in the news about the recent kidnapping in Haiti of a group of American and Canadian missionaries. This is a tragic event, and we are praying for the swift and safe release of these individuals.
Sadly, this is not an isolated incident as kidnappings have become routine in Haiti in recent months. Haitians face the threat of kidnapping on a daily basis, as people have become desperate for money by any means possible. Our Haitian friends report great disruption to their daily lives, as doing even the simplest of things - going to work, buying food, etc - is fraught with complication and fear of being attacked or kidnapped. Pastor Leon reports that what is normally a 15 minute car ride from his home to the Terre Noire campus now takes two hours.
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2021
Dear friends,
Today marks the first day of school in Haiti for the 2021-2022 academic year. After a tumultuous summer, our teachers and students are thrilled to be back in the classroom! You can feel the energy and excitement in the air in these photos taken just this morning.
Adding to the excitement today, we are welcoming the very first class of 13th graders at the Baryé Fè secondary school! Since the school opened in 2015, additional grades have been added each year, and it is a milestone for Baryé Fè to now host the full complement of grades required by the Haitian school system. From pre-kindergarten to grade 13, the four HOM-supported schools are serving over 1,900 students this school year.
Read MoreWith gratitude for your generous response to our Cuba Emergency Appeal, we have been able to share more than $38,000 to meet the urgent needs of our partners at this critical time on the island, due to the pandemic and the collapse of the economy.
On June 21 at the Seminario Evangélico de Teologica (SET) in Matanzas, the school opened an annex ward of the local pediatric hospital which had been overrun with COVID cases. 120 patients and their accompanying relatives were received along with 20 medical personnel. For 47 days, ten SET employees and an onsite manager provided meals for 140 people. This included their daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as two snacks and food for babies under one year of age. Disinfecting cleaning, internet access and electricity had to be supplied by the seminary, along with the staffing of the kitchen and maintenance.
Gifts for the Presbyterian Reformed Synod of Cuba were sent with our wish that the funds be divided equally amongst the three Presbyteries who could then disburse resources, as needed, to their congregations which were in great need of assisting families to purchase food and medicine. Most of these congregations are found in small towns and villages and you can meet some of your Presbyterian family here, whom your gifts have both helped and encouraged…
Read MoreDear friends,
The 2021 cistern building season is over. We thank God for working through our American and Mexican partners to bring year-round rainwater access to hundreds of families in our neck of the subtropical jungle. Thank you for your prayers, time, and support of all kinds. In 2022, we will build cisterns with as many new families as the generosity of our American partners will allow. $2,200 for one family-owned rainwater catchment tank which can collect, store, and distribute up to 15,000 gallons a year for decades is a solid, long-term investment. As a testament to that, I share with you the following:
36 Cisterns Built in 2021 – 609 Cisterns Built Since 2002
Thirty-six family-owned cisterns were built this year: 8 in Carmen Dos, 8 in Unidad y Trabajo, 8 in Caña Brava, and 12 in Quiché Las Pailas. That brings our grand total to 609. Our Mexican cistern-building partners continue to lead the way.
Read MoreDera brothers and sisters,
Greetings to all of you in the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus. Once again, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to you for participating in our ministry here in Brazil. We really appreciate your financial support and your prayers. Just like the apostle Paul's experience with the Philippians, Odete and I have also felt the bonding experience with you as our partners in the Kingdom of God: " And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.
Despite living in a time of pandemic, our ministry must go on. In order to continue, we have been following the required sanitary protocols. Most of our meetings have been done through online services but whenever we find the opportunity to be among others, we gladly do it. In the city where we currently live, we have been going to a Presbyterian church and fellowshipping in person.
Read MoreDespite the COVID-19, pandemic, we continue training leaders and pastors to fulfill the Great Commission.
We Were Impacted as a Seminary by COVID-19
· Although just three members of our personnel were affected by the coronavirus and are now well, some friends and pastors around us died.
· We had to change some things about the way we train our students. The most important change was to establish online courses. We will continue providing courses online until the COVID situation improves.
· In the midst of this situation, in October 2020, we suffered the onslaught of a tropical storm. There was extensive damage to our facilities. So far, we have repaired six classrooms and two bedrooms. Unfortunately, we have not been able to repaint the buildings of our facility due to high humidity levels.
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