May News: Houses, visits, and celebrations!

Two More Houses Complete!

This month, we completed Casa #4 in Reynosa for the Lopez Batres family and Casa #1 in Miguel Alemán for the Sanchez Garcia family. Our construction staff and volunteers in each area worked hard to build these homes for these wonderful families. Our recently retired foreman Lupe even came to visit one day and laid the first blocks on Casa #4. We are so excited to be providing homes for these families, and we are on track toward our goal of building at least 12 houses in 2021!

A Special Visit

This month, we had a visit from our Board member Tom S. from Indianapolis! He came down to check on how things were going in McAllen and Mexico, help out with some projects, like pouring the roof of Casa #3 and prepping grocery packages, and just spend time with our staff. It was so good for us to see him again, and our staff in Mexico loved having a visit from their friend!

If you are wanting to come back and see your brothers and sisters here in Mexico, know that you don’t have to have a group to come with – you are welcome to come for a solo visit! Or join up with a couple of your Faith Ministry friends and come together. You can stay in McAllen and visit Reynosa during the day, you can come for a long weekend or a few days during the week – just get in touch with us and let us know you want to visit, and we will make it work!

Here’s what Tom had to say about his visit:

“I just returned from a 3 day visit to McAllen and wanted to share some of what I experienced and encourage all of you to consider a visit as well.

To begin with, I am pleased to report that Faith Ministry is ready and prepared to ‘re-open.’ I spent 2 days in Mexico at the complex and the clinic. Both are extremely clean, and all staff are taking COVID protocols seriously. As much as I wanted to (and I believe so did they), there were no hugs but plenty of fist bumps and elbow bumps. All staff (US and Mexico) appear to be in good shape both physically and mentally. In fact, I found the Mexico staff to be even more engaging than before, very upbeat and positive. I truly believe they can’t wait for groups to return.

We poured the roof on casa #3 Friday morning, and despite the loss of Angel, the construction crew is working very well. The new mixer was delivered Thursday morning, and you should have seen ALL of their faces, like kids on Christmas morning. It was priceless!

I could go on and on, you all know what it is like to come to Reynosa. That feeling you get when you leave where you are overwhelmed with joy but almost feel guilty because you came to serve them, and they end up blessing you beyond measure. That is exactly how I feel as I am writing this!

Reach out to David or Colleen to explore options for a visit. That’s what I did. They will work with you to get something scheduled. You don’t need a group, I went by myself. In any event, just know that the ministry we all know and love so dearly is ready to welcome us back, PRAISE GOD!”

Celebrating Mother’s Day

This month, our churches in Miguel Alemán and Reynosa did a great job of making sure that the moms in our community knew they were loved and appreciated! In Miguel Alemán, they distributed grocery packages and a special meal to the mothers, and in Reynosa, the youth from church put together a box of treats and a flower plant for each mom and delivered them door-to-door. Felicidades a todas las mamás!

Updates to Phase 1: Welcome Back!

As we announced last month, our Phase 1 plan of welcoming visitors back to Mexico starts June 1! All visitors must be fully vaccinated, and masks and social distancing are required while interacting with our staff and the local community in Mexico. The maximum size of a group is six people.

Since announcing our plan, we have made a change to our minimum age requirement. We are now allowing anyone 12 years and older to come down and see us since the Pfizer vaccine is now available to that age group.

Check out the full plan, FAQs, and an example of the covenant everyone will sign here: https://faithministry.org/welcome-back.

If you are interested in coming down, email Colleen at colleen@faithministry.org, and we’ll make a plan!

Prayer Requests

We believe in the power of prayer, so please join us in praying for:

Agueda and Luz, two of our staff in Miguel Alemán, who have been feeling under the weather and are currently recovering.
Marisela, our cook and caretaker in Reynosa, who continues to have health issues related to her back; pray for healing and comfort for her.
Continued peace and safety in the town of Miguel Alemán for our staff and the families that live there.
The health and safety of our staff, volunteers, Board of Directors, and friends across the world as we continue to take small steps toward “normalcy”

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12:12

Staff Vaccine Update

This month, Mexico gave the second dose of the vaccine to adults 60 years and older and the first dose of the vaccine to adults 50 years and older. This is great news for our staff in Mexico! The rest of our staff who has not received any dose is between the ages of 20 and 39 years old, so it will likely be a few months until they are vaccinated.

Here’s an update on the vaccine status of our staff in McAllen, Reynosa, and Miguel Alemán: