Annual Ministry Update, 2014

A letter from Amanda Craft serving as Regional Liaison for Mexico and Guatemala and Omar Chan serving in Mexico

March 2015

2014, what a year to be involved in mission!
As Lent has arrived, we have taken time for reflection and retrospection.  Part of that process has led us to also remember the many works that were achieved last year as Omar and I moved into two different mission co-worker positions.  Our journey to our new life and call reminds us of Paul’s time in Tyre, from Acts 21:5-6, “When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.”  Our current journey in Guatemala ended as we endeavored to begin different ministries.  We had to say farewell to loved ones in Guatemala to start anew along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Border to Border: Coffee, Migration, and Faith in November 2014 in Chiapas, Mexico

Here are highlights from 2014:

January – Omar moved into a new PC(USA) mission co-worker position as the Facilitator for Presbyterian Border Region Outreach (PBRO).  He participated in World Mission’s orientation in Louisville, Ky., with other mission co-workers training to head out to international locations.

February – Omar had the opportunity to make his first PBRO border site visit to Frontera de Cristo to learn more about the variety of ministries happening there.  Omar and Amanda attended a PBRO Board of Directors meeting in El Paso, Texas.  We had the opportunity to meet folks from each of the six border sites and learn what they are doing.  Since we would be moving to El Paso later in the year, we explored El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

March – Omar started work on communication methods for PBRO—website, newsletters, Facebook page, and display materials.

April – The farewells for Amanda and Omar begin as we prepare to move from Guatemala.

May – Omar and Amanda welcomed Sandi and Brian Thompson-Royer, newly commissioned PC(USA) mission co-workers, to Guatemala.  Amanda attended the Synod Assembly meeting for the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church (IENPG).

June – The women of the Union Sinodica Femenil hosted a special lunch for Omar and Amanda to bid us farewell.  Omar started his transition to the U.S.  Omar and Amanda attended the 221^st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  We were both commissioned as mission co-workers and planned and managed a booth for PBRO at the event.  It was the re-introduction of border ministries.  Alejandro turns 5.

July – Began the move to El Paso, Texas.  Omar traveled from Louisville, Ky., with house possessions to El Paso and then secured housing.  Amanda and the boys arrived in El Paso in late July.  The scramble began for school registration.

August – Omar dove into learning about border ministries, trying to gather a better idea about how each site operates.  He began planning trips to each site.  Alejandro began kindergarten and Matteo started his new preschool class.

September – Omar visited two border sites to continue this learning and to begin observing the particulars of these sites.  Amanda planned and facilitated the Guatemala Mission Network meeting in Louisville, Ky.  Mid-month, Amanda headed to Iowa for a church visit in Fort Dodge.  Matteo turns 2.

October – Omar visited three of the border sites.  Amanda and Omar were introduced to work at Pasos de Fe, the border site in El Paso/Ciudad Juarez.  Family traveled to El Salvador for the Latin America and Caribbean PC(USA) mission co-worker regional gathering.  Amanda traveled to Guatemala to renew covenants between the PC(USA) and both global partners in Guatemala: CEDEPCA and the IENPG.

November – Omar attended the Border to Border: Coffee, Migration, and Faith travel seminar hosted by Frontera de Cristo to learn more about Café Justo and how this program is providing coffee growers in southern Mexico with a viable life.  Amanda gave a Sunday school presentation at University Presbyterian Church in El Paso, Texas, about doing mission in partnership.  The family attended the 30^th year anniversary of Frontera de Cristo and PBRO in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

December – Amanda led an Advent reflection with the PC(USA) mission co-workers serving in Guatemala.  Omar continued compiling information about the various border sites, pulling together a report of his initial observations.  Final plans for the Voices from the Border and Beyond trip occur.  The family travels to Ky. and Pa. to visit with family during the Christmas holiday.  This is the first time the entire family could travel for such a visit since 2009.  It was a time of rest, relaxation, and lots of fun with cousins for the boys.

Signing the renewed covenant agreement between the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the National Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Guatemala (IENPG)

We made huge transitions this past year, especially as we moved our family back to the United States.  The boys struggled initially as they found their ways in new schools and a new culture.  Both of us have been challenged to say farewell to colleagues, friends, and loved ones and arrive in a context in which we had to learn a new culture and begin to understand the history and present realities of the U.S.-Mexico border and each border site. In spite of those challenges, we have felt God’s accompaniment and presence in our lives—we have found a supportive and enriching church community in El Paso, we have been genuinely welcomed into the lives of our partners in Ciudad Juarez, Omar has been well received at each of the sites, and Amanda has been fortunate to work with a gifted and dedicated team of mission co-workers along the U.S.-Mexico border and in Guatemala.  We are fully aware that God has blessed us with these special moments in our work and family life.

We must thank you for the support and patience you have offered our family during this time of transition.  Your encouragement of and interest in the ministries in which we engage have kept us inspired and motivated.  We invite you to continue to play this key role by praying for us, learning more about the work we are a part of, and supporting us financially.  We hope you understand how God’s light is shining and God’s mission is alive in this world because you enable significant ministries to endure.

Blessings of peace to you,
Omar, Amanda, Alejandro and Matteo

The 2015 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 44