Dear Friends,

When I arrived here, I had a lot of information about mutuality and partnership in mission. It was only after being here for a while that I have came to appreciate how very difficult it can be to do, but how harmful it is not to.

Many people and churches here have for a number of years received direct aid from friends, supporters, Christians in the United States. Their view of the eternal flow of aid from the U.S. has been validated. Gone is self-esteem and in its place powerlessness and a community that does not know how to work together.

Constant poverty, struggle, and exploitation also have robbed them of the belief that they could have some control or power over circumstances.

However, change is beginning to show grand signs of blooming.

The parents of 13 disabled children in a rural colonia were encouraged to meet to discuss the lack of transportation to the special school miles away in town. In just one meeting, they began to develop a support structure and talk about how they could solve the problem. A woman was chosen to get details from the school, and another to arrange a follow-up meeting. I noticed one mother, Blanca, a member of the Presbyterian Church, leave the meeting and return with a piece of paper. At the end of the meeting, she read the poem and prayer she had returned home to get. The tears and smiles that day knit forever a group of people. Blanca’s prayer sowed Christ’s seeds in fertile ground.

How important it is to have ministries that build communities of faith and strength rather than dependency! Ministries that lead people to discover their abilities, resources, and strengths. Ministries that help discover ideas and facilitate communities working together. Ministries that aren’t afraid to proclaim the love of Christ. We wish we could say we’ve learned how to do all that well. We do know that wherever God leads, that is the call He has for us. We have learned to listen to what enlivens people in their lives, and meet them there. And that is where God is—in the midst of the pain, the celebration, the struggle, or whatever it is that animates.

What else have we learned? We have learned (and have to re-learn daily) to let God lead and show. We have learned to look for God in all things. And we have seen where He was leading when we were so afraid and unsure. It excites us about the future!

We have learned a lot about prayer: We have learned how wonderful it is to intentionally spend time in praise and thanking God. We have seen the power of prayer and we have felt the power of the prayers you have prayed for us.

Please pray God to show us His will for this ministry and us. Please pray that we will proclaim Christ first in all we do. Pray that we all learn to give aid in such a manner as to empower people. Pray that resources will be directed to areas of health education in order to short circuit the cycle of preventable diseases. Pray that this ministry can continue to bring nourishment—physical, spiritual, and mental—to those most in need. Pray that our resources shared will empower, encourage, and enable our brothers and sisters.

By His Love,

Trel and Dennis Lowe

The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 242