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September 2000
Dear Friends and Family;
Greetings to you all from the U.S.-Mexico border! May the peace
of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you this day and always.
You may be surprised to receive this letter through the Mission
Connections Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) rather
than from me directly. I promise to continue writing you personally,
but I hope that these group letters will help me keep in contact
with you on a more regular basis.
As I write, I am sitting in the Lavanderia Gonzalez the laundromat
where I do my weekly laundry. It’s an unusually quiet Saturday,
as most negropetenses (Piedras Negrasans) have headed to Eagle
Pass to do their shopping. So, while they spend their money at
Wal-Mart, I have free reign of the washers and dryers! Those of
you who wash at laundromats know what a blessing this is.
Since I last wrote to most of you, several exciting things have
occurred in my life and in the Amistad ministry. The first is
that I have moved back to Piedras Negras. After four years living
in Eagle Pass, in January I began praying about moving closer
to my hermanos y hermanas on the Mexican side of the border. Through
a series of experiences, the Lord began to show me that not only
would He let me move back, but that was where He really wanted
me to be. I needed to live among those whom we serve, not be the
"American missionary from the other side of the border."
In June, the Lord opened the door for my move into an apartment
owned by a church member, which is located around the comer from
the church and Amistad Center, two doors from the apartment where
I lived in 1994–95. Friends and members of the Uno en el
Espíritu Church helped me clean and paint the apartment
and even helped me move my belongings across the border. Three
and a half months later, I couldn’t be happier. Being in
Mundo Nuevo (our neighborhood) has allowed me to receive more
people into my home and develop a better relationship with those
around me. My prayer now is that my presence may in some way serve
God’s greater purpose in drawing others to Him. Please pray
that I may be an instrument worthy of this charge and impact the
Mundo Nuevo neighborhood for Christ. As I do so, I also ask your
prayers on behalf of several friends and neighbors: Araceli, Maria
Elena, Catalina, Ceci, Raquel, and three little friends: Leo,
Cheli and Jenifer, for all of whom I feel a special spiritual
responsibility.
Over the past several years the Lord has also been dropping hints
that I should continue my education. I have been fighting the
inevitable, not wanting to leave my friends and work on the border,
but God has been more insistent, and doors of opportunity are
opening. At this point, I am preparing an application to Fuller
Seminary’s School of World Mission in Pasadena, California.
The master’s program in intercultural studies with emphases
in international development and evangelism appears to be the
program most tailored to my needs as I envision the work the Lord
has for me in the future. I hope to take a few courses by correspondence
during the next two years. Then, after the completion of my term
at Amistad in the fall of 2002, I would, Lord willing, enter the
program full-time. Please support me in prayer about this as I
am struggling between my need for reflection, study, and further
preparation and a certain fear I have of leaving what has become
my home, the U.S.-Mexico border, and a ministry I dearly love.
And, speaking of the ministry I dearly love, the year 2000 has
been a good one for Amistad. A few new programs have been initiated
and others are undergoing some changes. Juvenal (my Mexican counterpart)
and I are completing the purposes for which we were placed here.
These include overseeing a shift in the medical ministry toward
preventive care and a greater emphasis on evangelism and discipleship,
not only in the congregations we support, but within the outreach
programs as well. We also hope to see an improvement in our evaluation
process, including those we serve in the evaluating and decision-making.
We would appreciate your prayers as we move forward with these
challenges. Change is not always popular or easy!
Well, it appears I am headed out of the laundromat just in time.
The "mob" has arrived. It’s time to pass the dryers
and my seat on to them. Maybe I’ll head over to Wal-Mart.
My dear brothers and sisters, friends and family—thank you
for your love, encouragement, and generous support. If you have
received this letter it is because the Lord has so richly blessed
me through you and your friendship, for which I am eternally indebted
to Him.
And now may the joy of the Lord flow in you and through you as
you minister in His name wherever He has placed you. "Press
on and take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of [you]!"
In love and gratitude, from your sister,
Susie Frerichs
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