For this year's trip to Mazatlan, I had three major purposes: 1) getting the permanent resident card, 2) spending time with Amanda's family during the Thanksgiving week, and 3) exploring ministry opportunities in Mazatlan.
Approximately 20 years ago, when we first visited Mazatlan, we stayed at El Cid Marina. We attended a worship service at Vineyard Church and joined the group of people who went out to hand out lunch to people working at the dump site. Because of this memory, I looked for this church, and we attended a Sunday worship service. Coincidentally, the church was celebrating its 30th anniversary.
On a Friday, I went to the office of YWAM Mazatlan without an appointment. Natalie received me and explained about their ministries. I was invited to attend a worship to be held on Monday. It was a standing praise time primarily for the youth. I learned about BWAM (Business with a Mission), which was taking place in Stone Island under the leadership of Carlos from Peru. But he was unreachable by email. Later, I had a Zoom call with Anna, who was in charge of volunteers. I gave my credentials and asked her to let me know if there would be any ministry opportunities. So far, nothing concrete has come up from YWAM Mazatlan.
Vineyard Ministries was still reaching out to minister to poor people, including those working at the dump site, twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So I signed up to serve on Thanksgiving Day. The number of volunteers seems to vary, but when I went out, there was a large group of people who came to serve. The ministry has grown quite big, and a tour program has been developed. There were several buses and minibuses for transportation.
Some people were bottling filtered water into plastic bottles.
And others worked on making sandwiches, a total of 320 on that day.
Before we went out, we watched a short video about the program with the explanation of the program director, David, who has been leading this program for 13 years.
First, we visited
a few colonias where Vineyard Ministries operates the
Community Center of Hope, like the one shown in the following photo:
We served sandwiches and water to them as they lined up. We were saying "Dios le bendiga!" or "God bless you!" each time we handed the food out. Since Vineyard Ministries has been doing this service for more than a couple of decades, people recognize the yellow buses with deep appreciation.
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The last stop was the
dump site. I was familiar with this type of dump site because I have been involved in the dump site in the vicinity of Phnom Penh in Cambodia. A whole family collects and sells recyclables and makes approximately $5-6 a day.
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| Iglets on the dump site |
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| Tire Garden |
After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, I finally met with Pastor Fred, who started the Vineyard Ministries some 30 years ago. I also met with Dan, who was leading the water fountain project. We made a donation of $1,000 out of our home's Star Fish Project to help finance the ministry in the greatest need. Fred asked for the funds to be used for the hospital's temporary housing project, and I said "Yes!." I thought Kristin could serve for the Hospital Ministry.
We also explored the possibility of working with any who may be interested in establishing businesses for the Kingdom's purposes. We will see what the Lord has in store. - Jeffrey
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