Dear Doves,

 

Last December I received a newsletter from the Christian Family Bookstore with the following story attached:

 

***Fortunately, God does not measure success in the same way we do...as we drove away from The Rio I felt that I had for a short time rubbed shoulders with one of the wealthiest men in God's Kingdom...

 

Our bus stopped just off of the highway at what appeared to be a large open field filled with temporary shelters - tent-like structures constructed with tarp roofs and mismatched lumber. These are not, however, temporary shelters. These are the "homes" of people living in desperate circumstances in Monterrey, Mexico. The place is called The Rio. An illegal squatter village on the outskirts of Monterrey, it's where hundreds of Mexico's poorest of the poor exist. There is no running water or legal electricity. No bathrooms. No heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. Some of the people living here have been in these conditions for over 30 years. The population is primarily women and children. The men are largely non-existent as they are out trying to scrape some money together, are drug or alcohol addicts, or are dead. Some of the women support themselves and their children through prostitution. Others work at menial jobs that pay very little money. Still others have no means of support.

The mismatched lumber that forms walls of the shacks is actually boards and lumber scraps salvaged from the city dump just a short distance away. Other building materials include oil drums, odd pieces of sheet metal, used pallets and anything else that can be salvaged to put four walls around themselves.

On the edge of this shanty town stands a little shanty church. As we approach the tent-like structure we can hear the sound of hammering on the roof. In the back of the church, standing on a ladder, is an unassuming little man. He is vigorously hammering another piece of tarp to the frame of the roof so that we Americans can have some shade from the hot Mexican sun. The man is short and unassuming. He is sweating profusely and his hands and well-worn t-shirt are quite dirty from his work.

"This is the pastor!" someone says. He climbs down from the ladder with a bright smile. We extend our hands to him. He pulls back just a little, obviously hesitant to shake our clean, white hands with his own sweaty, dirty ones. His name is Jose Angel. Married with six children, Jose has been a follower of Jesus for only 6 years. Despite his short time as a Christian, he has assumed the challenge of being a pastor to the people of The Rio. In addition to this little church, he also is the pastor to two other little churches, each of which are in equally challenging situations. To support himself, Pastor Angel works full time as a mechanic since none of his three churches provide any income to speak of. He has set a lofty goal to somehow raise enough money to provide the people of his community at least one good meal per week. ***

 

I was extremely touched to say the least, and wrote to Tim Way through their Customer Service Dept. and asked how I could help these people of the Rio. Mr. Way replied and was shocked anyone had responded to his story, and put me in touch with Back2Back Ministeries who runs an orphanage near the Rio.  One of their men, Gabriel helps Pastor Angel at times, and so he was my link to this blessed pastor.  In communications with Gabriel I discovered that the people of The Rio were moved about an hour farther away from Monterrey where they can own the land, as long as they can make $190 mo. payments, but there are no utilities.  Unfortunately, this means they now have to pay $6 (US) for transportation to their jobs in Monterrey, where they only earn $7-8 per day.  This now leaves them with only $1-2 per day to provide for their families!!! He said they were praying for a bus so Pastor Angel could take them to town each day.

I immediately began searching for a school bus and found several good ones for as little as $1200.  I also wrote to the megachurch I have been attending, told them of the dire needs of this volunteer pastor and his flock of 300 families in this one little shanty town. I also forwarded all emails to them to verify everything I had said, and asked if perhaps they had any money budgeted for such things...no matter how small.  I explained that these people are the poorest of the poor and have nothing and are desperate.  I am sad to say I never even got one acknowledgment. 

Last month, our local paper ran a 3 full page spread on how this megachurch pastor lives like royalty, along with his children who are all in the ministry, all have personal trainers, luxurous homes, expensive SUVs and wardrobes, and carry black American Express cards like mega-rich celebrities. The main thrust of the articles was how he refused to ever give financial accountability of the income of the church which is above $17 million. I remembered quoting, Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that [there shall] not [be room] enough [to receive it]. And, I said I wanted to share the blessing with them, as we serve an AWESOME God.  I guess the article explained why they had all the riches they needed.  Hundreds have left the church, but hundreds more new ones are coming in. I stopped tithing to the church and attending, and my tithe will be going to The Rio where the people don't even have food to eat, let alone not able to put it on an elite black credit card!

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I am very saddened about all this and pray that the man I thought was my pastor will soon realize that indeed God does Not measure success the same way we do, and pray he learns how to be a truly wealthy man in God's Kingdom like Pastor Jose Angel in his raggedy, dirty T-shirt, sweating in the hot sun, and trying to provide one meal a week to six congregations of starving families in Mexico!!!

 

After I wrote to FiveDoves in December, Ellen Gonzalez wrote me back, and has since come on board wanting also to help the people of the Rio.

We have even named our effort The Cornelius Project based on Acts 10, and Ellen is in Mexico now.  Gabriel's wife Kelly is supposed to take Ellen to the Rio on Tuesday, so she can access their needs personally, since communication back and forth is very difficult. Please pray that Ellen's trip will bear much fruit...

 

Although I worked in various media most of my life and Ellen in dressmaking, neither of us have any experience in fund raising, which appears to be the way we may have to go to help these people. We are both single mothers and can't provide all this ourselves. It seems to me that to raise donations, people would need to get a tax deduction which would involve setting up the Cornelius Project as a non-profit entity. If any of the Doves have experience with fund raising or non-profits, or experience with sending goods from US to Mexico please let me know, I need all the advice I can get to do this right for the Lord. And if any Doves feel lead to help us with this project, you are most appreciated, whether it be with donations, prayers, ideas, or advice.  I constantly hear the Lord say three times to Peter, "Do you love me?-- Then, Feed My Sheep," and that's what we are trying to do.  There are certainly many obstacles to overcome in getting food and a bus into Mexico, but with the Lord's help we will easily achieve this and more.  Please pray for this project and perhaps your part in it.  And may God bless you richly!

 

In His Service,

 

Kay