Workshop on Worship

One of the beautiful things of serving on the Frontera Ministries team is getting to know dedicated men and women serving along the border in ministry. Working in ministry in Tijuana both Rev. Ramon Contreras (LBCM ministry) and I serve on this board.  We invited Dr. Richard Schlack, director of the El Paso Missionary Institute to give a workshop to the bible institute students in Tijuana on his way over to California to pick up his two beautiful daughters from Concordia University, Irvine.

He was able to join us yesterday for a three hour workshop on worship.  What a wonderful offering that was very edifying to those studying with the Bible Institute and other church leaders. Pastor Schlack was a missionary in Venezuela for 19 years and his experience, deep knowledge and passion for the Lord’s word and work was a blessing to us!  Thank you Dr. Schlack for your visit. We look forward to your visit in August.

Day six….. (i think…)

Day 6 Life of a Missionary

Today we are going to visit with Tere, the local Directora of Edificando Generaciones who works alongside of Melissa, and her family, husband Sadoc, the magnificent mechanic, and her 3 boys, and her mom. These are delightful Missionaries for the Lord. They are young, enthusiastic, and loving God. They have built the Community Center on their own property and have built it pretty much by themselves por los manos (by hand.)

As we arrive we are greeted by many people with hugs and “Mucho gusto.” Today the children will go play and have activities supplied by All Saints, while I have a teaching class about the concerns of women. We will discover that the concerns of women are pretty much the same around the globe. In Every country and every state, women seem to be challenged similarly.

Our discussion is quite lively and exciting. I have Legna translating today. She is the Missionary who runs the Youth Center. She informs me how she has begun her program with other supporting Northwest churches to continue her critical work with the youth. She is a most valuable Missionary.

A surprise I have today is that one of our participants is a young woman who I have known since she was a small child. She is bubbly, her eyes are full of light, and she sparkles as she walks. I am inside bursting with happiness, because I see before me an example of the fruit of hard work of the missionaries here. This young woman is walking with the Lord, is well educated, and has a lot to say to encourage women. She is in a unique position to be a great model for other young people.

We have a delicious lunch handmade by our Missionary Tere and we visit.

After our lunch we have the rest of the day to prepare for the event for Day of the Child. They tell me that they are expecting 200 children tomorrow. I look around us at all of the boxes and packages, tables, stacked chairs. We have lot to do!! So Tere, Sadoc, and her family get started on the preparation. We itemize the dresses to sort out the sizes; we put together brown bags of prizes and gifts for the children and mothers. We get the big prices ready for the children; and cut up 4000 gems for the craft. Sadoc washes the chairs and floors. There is much to do!

I get the opportunity to sit and chat with each of the Missionaries’ children while we put packages together. They are my maestros (teachers). They humble me with their goodness and kindness. We have fun; it is hot and sunny outside, but very cool on the inside of the Community Center.

I reflect on this day how God has provided for this Missionary family and how this Missionary family participates in God’s great plan of salvation for all peoples of all nations. The good Lord did not only say to spread the good news to the 12 Jewish tribes; He told us to spread the Gospel to all nations from one part of the earth to the other. Just think – this whole family is actively listening to God and being directed by God! What a marvelous thing! Praise God!

They live right in the midst of peoples who need hope and encouragement, besides everyday needs of food and water. They can do God’s work- food for the soul and food for the body. Muchas thank yous.

Missionary Journal Day Five….

Day 5 Life of a Missionary

On Day 5 the sun came out early and it was a glorious day!

We went out to the Sola Gracia Mission site where the groups who do work over the Border come. We greet the ladies from the retreat last year. They are so happy we bought coffee (from Seattle) and goodies and lunch. We plan on a whole day of counseling and classes and scrapbooking and Bible class.

We start up our counseling classes hitting on topics such as child rearing, parenting, safety, depression and anxiety. These are challenges that I see as common in all cultures where the Life of a Missionary goes.

The Missionary today that is serving us is Doctora Vicky- a beautiful woman of God inside and out. With her husband Gustavo, they are critical Missionionaries at the church; and Gustavo is the director of the Bible Institute. They are passionate about Jesus Christ and ready to serve at moment’s notice. They inspire folks and are humble givers. The other Missionary involved today is Melissa who keeps up all relationships with the spiritual leaders in Tijuana. She faithfully meets  with the leaders and drives to the Bible Institute. Melissa blesses everyone with her presence.

We have a parent and child- grandparent /child lesson today. This lesson is to demonstrate positive parenting skills for babies and toddlers and give tips on parenting. I use my clinical techniques of Floor Time. At first, as Evi says, these ladies probably think I’m a little “loco” to sit on the floor with their babies. However, after soothing the babies, as Melissa said, “In two minutes, Kathy, as a total stranger, had the babies crawling all around her and playing; then in 3 minutes, they were calling her “mommy;” and in about 10 minutes, one is sound asleep in her lap.”

I wish we had a video tape of this session! It was so clear how the grandparents and parents could use some of these skills at home. I was so proud of one mom who played with her baby and told us, “I don’t know what to do with him at home- I never talk to him.” She learned a new skill today and I am Praising God -We had a God moment there!

After our class, the ladies and children were gifted with the gifts from All Saints. The angels, pictures of Jesus, journals, pens, etc. The Missionaries took some of the dresses for their Day of the Child Event. This year each Mission is offering their own Day of the Child Event to draw more children to the church and hear about Jesus. I am silently praising God because in the next few days there will be 4 Day of the Child Events at the different sites- rather than One! Just think How magnificent God is and can grow His Kingdom!

We ate delicious lunch and special Mexican cream cheese dessert. We enjoyed each other and chatted, drinking Coffee from Seattle. The ladies then began to create their scrapbooking projects – complete quiet- noo sound in the house- they loved them!

By this time it was 6pm and Melissa and I needed to start our travel back over the Border. The ladies were going to stay and have Bible class. What devoted women of God on such a lovely day!

Missonary Journal Day Four…..

Day 4 Life of a Missionary

What Blessings these Missionaries are for the people they serve!

Today the van is repaired by the Best Mechanico in Mexico- if you need a good mechanic- let me know.

We go off into the Neighborhood of Octubre to visit with the new Pastor Enrique and his wife Amparo. They have had a death in the family and are still grieving. We pray and visit with them and read their letters from Pastor Dallman. God gives Pastor D the best thoughts of encouragement for these fine Missionaries. Life of a Missionary can be very tough-going sometimes. We start the day off with a somber touch.

Old friends start to visit, bringing the children. One old friend is Rosie who Ron and I had bought tamales from years ago. She had had a brain tumor and had been very sick. God is healing her a bit at a time. Others have not been to the church for awhile. Still some go faithfully and serve as missionaries cooking and cleaning in a nearby Foster Care home of 37 children. (We are going to make sure those girls receive dresses too.)

We have a Bible study for the women – “Becoming a Woman of Grace.” Pastor stays outside to play with the children so the moms and grandmas can have adult bible sturdy. Isn’t he lucky? We have a great time discussing God’s word. We sing and pray. The ladies receive their gifts of encouragement – angels, journals, pens, pictures of Jesus. The girls come into the Inglesia to receive their dresses; and the boys receive the knitted beanie hats.

As I said the day had begun quite somber. But now Pastor and his wife are smiling and joyful to have these fine folks in their church. The ladies are absolutely delighted to mingle and giggle over the dresses. Each one gets to take home a dress for their other children or grandchildren. Invitations are given to come to the big event The Day of the Child put on by the other Missionaries. There is lightness in the air and a quiet joy coming out of the pervasive sadness.

The ladies begin to plan to meet for more Bible studies in the future and set a date. The Missionaries just had their first Bible study for women! Isn’t God awesome – He is working all the time. Who would know that a church in Seattle – All Saints- would help out the Missionaries and begin a new project?

Missionary Journal Day Two….

Day Two of the Missionary’s journal: ( a look into the journal of a short term missionary to Tijuana partnering with Edificando Generaciones ministry )

Day 3 Life of a Missionary

Today we get to spend a whole day with Pastor Abdiel, wife Alicia, children Keren and Abner in a neighborhood far off the beaten path. This is truly the life of a missionary to be out of the city and into the countryside on dirt roads with no running water. We are so happy to see each other and we are invited into the Inglesia. Pastor Abdiel has a new lay worker Alberto. We read the letters that Pastor Dallman writes to them every year. Such a simple touch of encouragement goes a long way in the Life of a Missionary.

We first go and visit with an infirmed grandma and we pray with her. We go then to the community Center to visit with 3 sets of children who are in the Martial Arts program with Legna. They are having so much fun and Legna is a true Missionary ministering to this neighborhood’s children day after day. She is building a new building (with old garage doors) next month for her martial arts stars. We had an opportunity to talk with nine moms about the adolescent life and how to understand them and not be confused by this time in life.

While the children are in class we have a program with the mothers about parenting. As each class comes out of the Center, they receive toothbrushes; and the girls receive “Dress a girl around the World” dresses with a blessing from Pastor Abdiel. They are surprisingly very shy; but they are very happy. In the photographs their joy is not quite apparent, but they left the Center full of giggles and bubbling joy and skipping up the dirt road.

As we walk back to the Inglesia we have children come out to see what is going on. Some of the children come waking to the church to receive their dress and toothbrushes from All Saints. Pastor and Alicia are so excited to visit with these children. Keren wore her own dress all day running around the church with us.

As we left the neighborhood, we stopped off to visit with a mother and her very ill child age 16 months. They are waiting on heart surgery for the baby. She is dressed so cutely and gives us a smile. We adorn her and her big sister with Dresses and a Baptism dress to be blessed in. We can see how this mother’s heart is breaking so we give attention to the children with smiles and encouragement. We pray over this baby and touch her with our hands. The Life of the Missionary deals with much sorrow and suffering sometimes. The Healing hands of God reach out through the missionary and Bless the children.

From a missionary’s journal….

Our dear friend who comes every year to be a missionary for a week with Edificando Generaciones ministry spent this week with us serving.  I so enjoy her reports from her perspective. She always sees things that I don’t see.  I will be sharing some of her reports to her congregation in Bellevue, Washington.  

Thank you Kathy for your commitment to helping people learn about Jesus in Tijuana!  Thank you good people of All Saints Lutheran Church for your love and support!

The Lives of the Missionaries (day dos)

Today is brilliantly beautiful with the sun and blue sky.

Our friends, the Administrators of the Edificionados Generaciones, missions in Mexico, are trying to figure out how to come over the border and capture the boxes! Missionaries seem to have more troubles than necessary. The ‘lil red truck was stolen. The van broke down. No transportation.

So God provides as always! A friend of Sadoc’s loaned his ‘lil red truck with a steel large box on the back for the day.

These faithful Missionaries woke up at 5 a.m. in Mexico to sit in the line at the Border. 3 Hours later they made it across to shop and load up the boxes from All Saints. They carefully unpack and decide what can go over safely without too many troubles from the Border Patrol.  I help them organize and unload and then load. I make them café.

We hug and laugh and are happy to see each other.

Then by 12 noon they are ready to go back over the Border. We stand and pray over the truck and the Missionaries for safe travel and no problemas with the customs where they will arrive and declare what they are bringing across. We pray that Holy Angels are all around them. They get ready to declare items, and they have the $20 dollars in hand. The missionaries explain that they never know what the Guardia will say; i.e., oh you have “this” -give me one more dollar, or no, you can’t bring that into Mexico- you can leave it there with us.

2 hours later, the telephone rings to tell me that they made it “rapido” thru the border. God sent them a female Guardia that looked in the bag of Angels (made by Lisa) and the Bibles from All Saints. She asked them “Are you Christian?” They said “yes.” She told them to, “Be on your way!” Praises to God!

With the borrowed truck they went off then to buy the supplies for the Events. Pray the Van gets fixed “rapido.”

The Life of the Missionary depends totally on God’s Grace!

Gift of love…..with a bit of sewing.

I got this email from one of our ministry partners — All Saints Lutheran Church in the Seattle area — that every year send us a team and support to do some big outreach in Tijuana.  They work all year to prepare, pray, collect, craft, etc.  One team of two ladies, both in their 90s, work to sew baptismal gowns as they have for many years for Tijuana.

This was the email I received today:

“Good morning.

One of our funerals this week is the 93 yr old Mary who made the baptism dresses (the other one Eva who will be 90 in Sept- is losing much of her sight now- she makes the pictures of Jesus for you-250 coming- with a magnifiying glass)

Anyway Mary went to heaven last week - she is one of our big funerals – she had made 30 new baptism dresses and had been going into surgery with Pastor R at her side and I called and we prayed and all she was worried about was the baptism dresses!”

Here is a photo of some of Mary’s handiwork that made its way to Thailand.

I sat down to write some words to share at her memorial service this Saturday.  I share them here too:

“Thank you for the opportunity to send some words of admiration and gratitude for the life of Mary who labored so lovingly sewing baptismal gowns for the ministry in Tijuana.  I am not surprised that even right before her surgery she was wanting to make sure the details for the baptismal gowns’ delivery were communicated.  That is the kind of dedication and commitment she had in preparing the beautiful baptismal gowns.  She was dedicated to this effort because she knew the importance of baptism in beginning a faith life and relationship with the Lord for each child that wore one of her baptismal gowns for his/her baptism.  Her gowns encouraged many a young mother to baptize her child.  I wonder what the count is? How amazing to think….that each baptism is a priceless gift that reaches into eternity and that this gift was duplicated hundreds of times?  Boggles the mind.  All this due to the effort of Mary and her friend who recognized the magnitude of the opportunity God had given them to impact the Kingdom of God …… a big opportunity disguised in a small sewing job!

Not only did these beautiful little dresses witness a miracle in Tijuana but they were present for baptisms on many other continents!  Here are photos of the dresses that were gifted to the directors of Lutheran Hour Ministries of Uganda, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Thailand … they were also given to directors in India, South Africa and many others who received a gown for the ministries in their countries.

What a gift it has been for me to receive and touch these gifts of love as they have come to us over the years.

Mary has now received the crown of life and I am grateful to have witnessed her ministry here on earth. And to think this was not her only ministry……only one she adopted in her late eighties! God uses our giftedness at every age.”

Thank you for the opportunity to share these words to honor God’s work in the life of Mary.

Blessings,

Melissa Salomon

Directora

Edificando Generaciones

Tijuana, Mex

Dresses for girls in Mexico.

We are grateful for the people of All Saints Lutheran Church in Seattle and are looking forward to a beautiful dressing of girls for the Day of the Child in April in Tijuana!

Dress Dedication

Last Sunday I was privilaged to visit All Saints Lutheran Church.  What a kind and welcoming group of people!!  Kathy is headed to Mexico to celebrate the Day of The Child.  She will work with Pastors in the area and will share stories about Jesus, do crafts with the children and give dresses to the girls.  On Sunday the church dedicated all of the items traveling to Mexico and they also asked me to share about Dress A Girl Around the World…

Here is the beautiful sign that greeted us upon our arrival!

And here are some of the dresses going on this trip

I had the opportunity to share with the children about dressing little girls

We also thanked the ladies in the church that had sewn dresses

This is how we put on the dresses

The second dressing

Our two volunteers

Time to lay hands on and pray for the dresses and the trip

It was a fabulous day with a great people

Stay tuned for the second part of our morning in the next posting!!

If you would like to become involved by sewing or

by donating to my fundraising effort for my trip to Uganda please email me at suzannewithdressagirl@gmail.com

Being the SENT Church.

We hosted a workshop for bible students of the Lutheran Bible Institute with Rev. Dr. Robert Scudieri who wrote a book that was translated into spanish on the Apostolic (Sent) Church.  It was a deep discussion of the history of the Nicene Creed.  Fascinating!

What nice words shared on Dr. Scudieri’s (former director of North American Missions for the LCMS) site about his trip to Tijuana…and a photo!
“What eager students attend the Bible institute! It was like being in New Testament times. Melissa Salomon and the Ministry of Edificando Generaciones collaborates with this Bible Institute with support from Concordia Church and School in Chula Vista, Ca – among others.”

Taking God’s word to the Yaqui people in Sonora.

Here we are sharing food and the Word of God with the people of the Yaqui community…..approximately 25 families are being helped with various things such as Bibles, food, clothing, blankets and many other things.

We were able to pray at different occasions and read the Word of God. Having the opportunity to speak to the people induvidually, we shared the necessity of sharing the Word of God to new communities.  A gentleman approached us about lending us a space in a village nearby so that those of his town can also hear God’s Word. Thank you Lord, for your promise that your Word does not return void and bears fruit…..abundant fruit! Following you see this young teen serving God in reading His Word to the Yaqui people. Pray for Jonathan and that God will continue to use him mightily.

One of our sisters Zulma who is a leader of the Loma de Guamuchil community has been going through difficult times with health challenges and surgeries in her head.  She has been praying for her life and family now that she is a young mother with children.

We pray to God for the lives of these people and that the seed that has been planted bears fruit and we ask God that he will give us the opportunity to share more of his word and love in our service.  ”Proclaim the message with intensity, keep on your watch. Challenge, warn and urge your people. Don’t every quit. Just keep it simple.” II Timothy 4:2