Visit to Centro Shalom

Six of us had the chance to visit Centro Shalom this past Saturday. We arrived at the border at about 10am and crossed in our on vehicle. We were met by Pastor Fernando and one of his staff, a youth member, 16 yrs old, who is his translator. We followed them in his car and arrived at Centro Shalom about 20 minutes later.

The first thing we noticed is that its changed a lot since we were last there. The cafeteria, main worship hall and administration building remains but they built a new "house" like building, renovated the nursery/childrens center, put concrete on a new quad area and were in the middle of construction for a new workshop (just the metal beams were in place).

There were also a lot of kids running around as there was a christmas toy giveaway event going on while we were there. Two churches, one from SD and one from SB were there to help run the event. We met pastors from both churches as well as volunteers from each church. It was nice to see others joining in the work and helping out. They both have been involved with Centro Shalom for 10+ years. We were the newbies.

Pastor Fernando spent two hours with us, giving us a tour of the new buildings. As we walked through he gave us the history of the buildings and what they were being used for. He showed us two rooms, one which was used to teach women how to dew clothes and one which was used to teach computer skills. He said they teach women how to sew and if they finish the program, they are given a sewing machine with which to use to make a living. The computer lab was mainly laptops and they are trying to teach computer skills to the children and community but he mentioned that they need computer teachers to help out.

He mentioned that the landscape of the immediate neighborhood has changed. Because of major flooding, many families' homes were washed out and instead of rebuilding, the government erected flood control walls of dirt. So most of the families that were living near Centro Shalom had to re-locate. It was quite a drastic change from what we remembered. This also meant that since many were no w further away it was more difficult for them to get to Centro Shalom. To alleviate this, they bough 3 school buses and they bus in the kids for service and other events.

We saw the nursery, which was just being renovated when we last visited 3 years ago. It was an amazing transformation. It was clean, beautifully painted and very inviting to young children.

Pastor Fernando showed us the skeleton of a building which they plan to use to create workshops to teach men carpentry and other useful hands on skills.

In the middle of the day, pastor Fernando collected some of the children that we sponsor and brought them to us for us to meet and talk to. I got to share why we are involved in the child sponsorship program and at the end we took pictures together. It was the highlight of the day.

We walked across the street from Centro Shalom and Pastor Fernando showed us a big empty lot that he is praying to purchase. He hopes to build a new multi-purpose center there where they can have service as well as use it as a gym and other activities.

We didn't get to see pastor Salvadore because he was visiting a church in California with his new wife. We got to meet one of the youth pastora, who himself is not much older than the youth. One of the blessing of Centro Shalom is that they have so many children coming but one of the challenges has been that they have no adult staff other than Pastor Fernando and Salvadore.

At the end, pastor Fernando, took us to his office and shared a bit more about his testimony, his ministry and vision. He challenged us to get involved and visit more often and we pledged to do so. We gave him a check so that they could buy blankets and distribute to the community. hopefully they will be able to get about 200 blankets. We also asked him to come visit us and speak and share with our congregation and he said he would.

It was a great time, despite the 3.5 hour wait at the border to get back home. We were so touched and blessed to see how the Lord is providing for the ministry. We realized once again how important it is we receive with one hand and give with the other. And we were renewed in our conviction about partnering, serving together and returning to help in the work that is taking place in Centro Shalom.

Thank you all for your prayers and support for this ministry. I hope you'll see from these pictures and our visit that God is at work and is using your giving to help people in need. Praise God for the work he is doing there! May many souls continue to come to find the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and may God also raise up leaders and shepherds to take care of the flocks as the need is great there.

Link to more photos of our trip: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxuMMiZ

Cards and Letters During Christmas

As we approach Christmas and the new year, I wanted to encourage you to write letters or cards to send to your sponsored child. I'm sure they would appreciate receiving a christmas card from us. Remember, we are not to send gifts, unless its something small we can put in an envelope.

Whenever we send anything to Centro Shalom, we want to send it together as much as possible. This makes it easier for them to distribute things to children as well as keep track of things coming and going so if you want to send something please bring it to church by Sunday, December 18th.

Last and most important, please keep praying for your sponsor child his/her family and the Centro Shalom church that God may use that local body to minister to all the people of that neighborhood and that God may use our small offerings to further His kingdom work. If you've been following this blog or their facebook page, you'll know God has been continually providing for their needs and blessing the work there in various ways through many partnerships. Please pray during Christmas, it may be a time for the community to learn about Jesus Christ the savior and come to saving knowledge of Him.

Email from Pastor Fernando on 11.29.11

[Background: I wasn't aware if they had done this in the past but they built two new homes as you can read about below. You can see from the attached photos the homes are very nice but very modest, literally one-room homes. Praise God for his goodness and provision for them. Moving from where they were to this is amazing.]

I’m sending you a progress report of the construction Project that we’re doing with the most recent offering that you so generously sent to Tijuana.

I’m attaching photographs of the two homes that we have finished building. The first one will benefit the family of Pedro and Imelda Sánchez and their three sons. The Sánchez’s arrived from Centro America to Tijuana and were living in a house that they themselves built out of pieces of Cardboard, wood and plastic sheeting.

The second house will greatly benefit Bernardo Ojeda. Bernardo is our Youth Pastor. He is in his second year of the seminary. Last year we built a house for his mother and his nieces but there wasn’t room enough for him and he had to return and live in the ancient house where he lived as a child. I was worried because Bernardo didn’t live with his family. The new house was built in the same land where his mother lives and now has a decent space to live in. I am very happy and grateful because this is the first time that we have helped with a house that’s dignified and clean for a believer whom will soon finish seminary and will be a full time pastor.

We still have to build a home for a very poor family and a bathroom for a man who is paralyzed from the waist down.

When we finish the entire project, I will send you the complete information as you have asked. I believe that we will be finished in two more weeks.

Dios le bendiga,
Pastor Fernando Martínez