Local/US missions:
In addition to our homeless ministry, we support missionaries that have come from our local church. We provide support for a family in YWAM Lakeside, Montana, Brandon & Aksana Ashbaugh. Brandon leads Discipleship training, targeting missionaries towards Cambodia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Ukraine, as well as some nations that cannot be stated. He and Aksana have led mission teams into the nations.
Rebecca and Josiah Kelsall are on staff in the Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) ministry, located in Orlando, Florida. Rebecca researches and writes articles to publicize valuable ministries and to help people in their personal faith walks. Josiah is a computer guru who keeps the technology working for the CRU staff.
We also support short-term missions for young people in the church, believing that such missions have a lasting impact on those who go as well as upon those who receive from these missions.
Casa de Amor para Niños
Casa de Amor Para Niños is an ecumenical Christian work in Puerto Palomas, Mexico (just across the border from Columbus, New Mexico). We lead the Board of Directors, which includes people from several different churches, including churches in Puerto Palomas. This ministry began in 1999, and has evolved over the 25 years of its existence. Initially, through the help of many volunteers, we build a 6,000 sq. ft. facility to house children. Until 2012, we provided support for local families that were unable to take care of their children, providing room and board for children under 12 years of age. In 2012, the government of Mexico adopted a comprehensive law concerning child card facilities, and after discussions with the government leaders of Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF), we changed to a family orphanage, that could house up to 12 teenage girls at a time. We were able to hire a full staff to work with the girls and maintain the facility. Under this system, the girls remain under our care until they turn 18 years of age, although we keep them until they graduate from high school if they have not yet graduated, and then we help them with any further education they may want to establish a means of personal livelihood. Several of our girls have gone on to the University and two of them have received Associate of Arts degrees in the US. We continue to do all we can for the girls who have turned 18, just as parents would.
Prior to the COVID crisis, we typically took a van full of missionary-volunteers to the orphanage each month, where they would minister to the girls and also help in our Alas de Amor program. Since COVID, we have lost many of our volunteers, and the government of Mexico has not sent us any new girls, because they are apparently changing over to a system of family foster care, like in the US. It has also become increasingly difficult to hire a competent staff to work with the girls. So, as of 2024, we have 2 girls remaining in the Orphanage, both of whom will graduate from high school in 2025.
We are seeking to hear God’s plans for the ministry as it appears that we will need a change in focus. We are also seeking a new group of younger volunteers to hear from God and shape this ministry as the Lord directs.
Alas de Amor
In addition to running the Orphanage, we are very involved in the community through Alas de Amor. This is a program to help children and their families in ways that keep the children in school and also in church. We work with local churches in Puerto Palomas to identify their families that need help to keep the children in school. In Mexico, attending public schools costs money. In addition, many parents are functionally illiterate and do not understand the value of an education for their children, thus many students only go through elementary school of Jr. high school. When we started our program, there was not even a public high school in Puerto Palomas. Fortunately, one of our volunteers heard from the Lord and talked to the necessary people in the government to get a public high school to come to Palomas. The trials and tribulations of that process is another story.
In this program, the children who are chosen are required to attend church regularly, maintain at least a “C” (7 out of 10 on a grade point system), attend our monthly meetings for them and their parents, and write letters each month to their sponsors. Every year we recruit sponsors for the kids, who pay a monthly or annual fee to provide for the kids’ needs. In turn, the children have their school fees paid, they get a new pair of school shoes, school supplies, school uniforms, if needed, athletic outfits and shoes, and a lot of encouragement at our monthly meetings with them. We also plan events with the Pastors to provide some fun activities for the kids. This usually means we hold a Fiesta for Christmas, Easter, Family day, and end-of-school.
We currently sponsor about 140 students each year. For high school Seniors, we encourage them to apply for, and attend the University, and if they do, we help them with their financial needs to be able to stay in school. Several young people have successfully graduated with Bachelor’s degrees from Universities in Mexico, and several of them are now volunteering to help us in the Alas program, encouraging the younger kids.
In both our Casa program and our Alas program, our primary goal is to lead young people to salvation in Jesus. We know that the next generation holds the key to pushing back the darkness that surrounds them and bringing the light that will ultimately provide a satisfying and useful life.
--See more at www.casadeamorparaninos.org and on Facebook at casa de amor para niños A.C.