Giving Tuesday and the Gift of Water through Adventures in Life Ministry

Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Two days America joins together to shop, shop, shop.

Here are the numbers. Americans spent over 50 Billion Dollars during the Thanksgiving Weekend on everything from Christmas trees to Legos to Elsa, the heroine of the hit movie Frozen.

Today, known as Cyber Monday, will be more of the same as retailers are expecting upwards of 2.5 billion. That's quite a bit less than the Black Friday numbers, but let's be honest here, 2.5 billion is still a lot of money, or as a good friend of mine might say, cabbage!

Tomorrow, December 2nd, is known as Giving Tuesday. It's a day set aside in the Christmas shopping season to give back to those in need. This year, Adventures in Life Ministry needs your help.

Everyday when you get up in the morning you brush your teeth with clean water. You brew a pot of coffee or a cup of tea with clean water. You put your glass under the kitchen tap, turn on the water and instantly, that glass is overflowing with clean, drinkable water.

But what if you were unable to do that? What if the only water available was not drinkable? What if you could not afford to have clean, fresh water in your home?

That is the situation I encounter everyday in the villages where we serve in Oaxaca. Places like San Pedro Amatlán, San Baltazár and Eloxochitlán. 

Recently I was in Eloxochitlán for a medical clinic. Two of the doctors helping us were from Oaxaca, and as I've written before, they were stunned at the conditions they witnessed. Lack of potable water was literally killing people in this village bit by bit.

I shared with them that AIL Ministry could get portable water filters that families could use in their homes. Dr. Milton, in his review of the week shared that effective water filters could essentially be a game changer. People could literally take river water, filter it, and get a clean glass of water.

This Giving Tuesday, and throughout the Christmas season, we would like to ask you to give a water filter to a family in Oaxaca. Each water filter, from Sawyer Water Filters, filters about a million gallons, enough water to last a family of four a lifetime.

The cost is $99.00. For only $99.00, above your regular giving, you can make a donation that will literally change lives. 

Earlier this year I was in a village known as San Ildefonso. The pastor of the church came up to me pleading for help in getting more water filters for the people of his village. The same is true in every village and town where I work and serve in Oaxaca.

Simply put, these water filters save lives and give us the chance to share about the true living water. 

Can you help? To make a donation, just click this link and you will be directed to the support page of AIL Ministry. Make your tax deductible donation of $99.00 and we will send you a thank you note and let you know what community will get the water filter you provided.

Our goal this Christmas season is to provide 100 families with clean water. With your help, I know we can get this done.

Stories from the front... Short-term mission with a holistic focus

Let me tell you about Patricio.

I met him last summer at one of our camps in Oaxaca.  That in itself is no big deal as I meet lots of new students and kids in Mexico as part of my ministry.  What is surprising is that Patricio came to our camp from Veracruz, almost 5 hours away in another state completely.

Abandoned by his parents and now living in a group home in Veracruz, Mexico, somehow Patricio heard about our little camp and made his way by bus to Oaxaca.  Last year I heard a version of that story time and time again from our ministry partner there, Pastor Chable.

We received more than one call from parents in the middle of the night telling us their kids would be at the bus station in Oaxaca at 6:00am in the morning and asking if we could pick them up.  Basically parents, like Patricio, had heard about our camp and were just sending their kids, trusting God that we would have space for their children.

In Ensenada, one of our camp weeks each year in Mexico

Each year these camps, [three in Oaxaca and one in Ensenada] serve between 50 and 80 kids.  Three of the camps are for children ages 5 - 12 and one is for students, ages 12 - 18.  

In addition to the spiritual emphasis of our camps, we also have a vocational focus each year for the student week.  We have learned that if we can teach some life skills, such as music, English, or like last year, culinary skills, then we can help give hope for the future to at least some in Oaxaca.

Our Culinary Team and Chef Yesenia Martinez from Los Angeles, in Oaxaca, last year.

Patricio was part of our Culinary Skills classes last year.  In addition to working with a chef all week at our camp, his team also got a day cooking with Chef Rodolfo Castellanos of Origen Restaurant in Oaxaca City.  Origen is one of the best restaurants in Oaxaca and thanks to Bricia Lopez of Guelaguetza Restaurant in Los Angeles, we were able to give our kids this unbelievable opportunity.

At the end of the day, I was sitting with Patricio, talking.  I asked him what he learned from Chef Rodolfo.  I was stunned by his answer, expecting to hear something about cooking.  “Two things” he said.  “First, love God, then pray every day.”

Patricio with Chef Rodolfo Castellanos of Origen Restaurant in Oaxaca after a day cooking together.

Patricio said nothing Rodolfo had to say about cooking stood out as much as “Love God and pray everyday.”  Literally, that was our message for our camp that week, and Patricio heard it loud and clear.  Not in a church, but in a restaurant as he was learning how to cook.

I think we should celebrate moments and epiphanies like the one Patricio had that day with Chef Rodolfo.  But there's a problem.  I have been told countless times by pastors and leaders both here and in Mexico that the emphasis Adventures in Life, and our ministry partners throughout Mexico put on meeting the physical needs of people takes away from the true Gospel work of evangelism.

It is a criticism we firmly reject and here's why.

Here I am with Felix in his personal greenhouse that produced 1000 pounds of tomatoes in the first harvest.

In many areas where we are working, helping families improve their economic station in life, and have access to better health care, gives us the credibility and relationships we need to share about Jesus.  Camps, family portraits, greenhouses, agriculture aid, water wells, water filters, fish farms and medical clinics all say loud and clear, WE LOVE YOU, long before we ever mention Jesus.  It's what we call holistic ministry, focusing on spirital, economic and physical simultaneously as we serve in Mexico. 

This style of mission, where we focus on the person first, tells people that we love them unconditionally, whether they know Jesus or not.  It is a philosophy that helps explain why kids like Patricio get on a bus and why moms and dads across Oaxaca trust us enough to send their kids to us in the middle of the night.

It is an approach that, in the words of Young Life, a long time ministry to high school campuses here in the US, earns us the right to be heard when we share about Jesus.  It is also an approach that models the compassionate love of Jesus to a hurting world, and when done right, leads to an eternal life, growing in Jesus' love.

Want to help?  Here are five specific ways you can bless our ministry and our work in Mexico.

1.  A new dorm at our site in Oaxaca so more people like Patricio can have a week at camp, learn some new job skills, and hear about Jesus and his love. [$12,000.00]

2. Sponsor an entire week of camp in Oaxaca, or Ensenada. [$5000.00]

3. Provide enough medicine for our Annual Spring Medical Clinic. [$3000.00]

4. Provide a personal greenhouse like the one above for a family in Oaxaca.  [$400.00]

5. Provide a Sawyer Water filter like the one in this video, for a family in Oaxaca. [$100.00]

Dear Santa... From Adventures in Life Ministry

Dear Santa, whatever you can do to make this list a reality for Adventures in Life Ministry would really be appreciated.  I know you're busy and everything, but who isn't these days.

Anyways, I've tried to be brief and give you some pictures to make it easier to understand.

1. A Few "More" Good Men... no, not the movie... we need a few more men for our Annual Oaxaca Men's Ministry, February 1 - 8, 2014.  We've got a roof to put up, a solar pump system to install, and a host of small electrical and plumbing projects to complete.  If you can help, and would like to join the bunch of guys pictured here, drop us a line ASAP!

2. An Eye Doctor in the House! Our Spring Medical Ministry, March 22 - 29 desperately needs an eye doctor or optician on the team.  Maybe you are the person that can help us round out this local church based ministry.  We pray with, treat, and really get to know the people we serve in the communities of San Pablo Guila, San Baltazar Guelavila, San Idelfonso Amatlan and San Pedro Amatlan.  Get in touch with us now to be part of this ministry.

3. A glass of fresh water... $100.00 will give a family a Sawyer Water Filter that will provide years of clean drinkable water.  This can literally be a life saver for a family that cannot afford to buy purified water.



4. Solar Panels for our ranch south of Oaxaca City... We need an additional four 245 watt panels [just like the ones in the picture] to install our solar pump for our well.  Your donation to this could make sure that AIL and Pastor Chable have the water available for our continued camp and agricultural ministries in this area.

5.  Send a kid to camp!  Want to make sure a child or teenager gets a chance to hear the Gospel at camp?  The cost is $100.00 for each person you want to send.  Want to sponsor the entire camp?  Only $7000.00 for between 50 and 100 kids.  Look at the faces below... you can help make it happen!

6. A new computer for AIL Ministry... here's the deal.  Our office computer is on its last legs.  It is from 2002, has a Celeron processor running XP and a paltry 1 gig of RAM.  Maybe you can bring us up to date.  We're looking at about $1500.00.

So Santa, that's about it this year.  Some big dreams, a few small ones and lots of ways to support our work and mission in Oaxaca, Ensenada and Guadalajara, Mexico. Here's a link to give directly to AIL online, or, if you want to mail a check, here's the address...

Adventures in Life Ministry

3243 East Warm Springs Road

Las Vegas, Nevada 89120

Merry Christmas to you and yours and have a blessed New Years!

Wasting Time, Water and the Gospel...

I'm wasting time today.

Or, to put it another way, most people would think I am wasting time.

Years ago in one of my philosophy classes, my prof, Phil Hanson encouraged all 8 of us to become good at wasting time.  It was, he told us, the only way to get all of the stuff out of your mind and focus on what was really real... or as he defined it, the God stuff.

And yet as I try to forget about the busyness of life, even here in Oaxaca, I am learning just how difficult that is.

As I walked into town today looking forward to a day of rest and reflection, my mind was racing.

Pastor Chable and I got back to the ranch last night after a busy two days in the Sierra Mixteca, north of Oaxaca City near Tlaxiaco.  We had spent our time sharing and learning about rabbits, tilapia, water and the Gospel.

To say that I am excited is a understatement.

How often, in this day and age, do you get a chance to be part of bringing water to a community?  Can you imagine living today in a place where literally there is no water source and you must steal from another town?  Welcome to Benito Juarez, Coquilla, Oaxaca.

I was there yesterday morning and saw the excitement on the faces of the people as they pumped about 1000 gallons of water from the city's first well.  And then started digging deeper to get even more water.

Now 1000 gallons may not seems like a lot to you and me, but for the 70 families living there, it represents hope.  Hope for a better tomorrow for their families and their kids. In the indigenous areas of Oaxaca, more than 10% of the kids die before reaching age 5. One of the main reasons is dehydration related to a lack of water.

The men, and women of Benito Juarez are working to solve this by digging wells and pumping the water.  Adventures in Life will come alongside this community and help them make sure that water is safe to drink with Sawyer Water Filters.

And then the hard work begins.

It hit Pastor Chable and me last night when we were sitting in the bus station waiting for the ride back to Oaxaca... we are planting the first seeds of a new church in this region.  First by addressing the very practical need of water to live, and then by addressing the need for living water...

Pray for us, and if you want to be part of this work, contact Adventures in Life through our web site.