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Early 2016 we started a garden to feed the poor in a small town in Mexico. Here’s what the garden looks like now!

We’ve been blessed with lots of rain and the garden is growing! We’re growing a few types of zucchini, green beans, and herbs.  Zucchini is our main crop so far. The seeds are cheap, and they grow quickly and produce so well!

Zucchini are very popular here and this time of year they are pretty expensive, so most aren’t able to have them until the fall.  We also harvest the blossoms. People love to stuff the blossoms with cheese and fry them.

For years, the community in which we’ve been working has been trying to complete a public meeting and recreation center. It originally started as a 20 X 20 single room that currently houses a seniors group, a pre-school, and a no cost legal clinic. A few years ago they were able to add bathrooms.  Recently the women made and sold tamales for an entire year to earn enough for material to build the walls for a larger meeting room and the men built the walls.  But when it came to building a roof, they found it was beyond their capabilities.  To make things worse, the roof on the original room needs replacing too.  We offered to help, and the Agape Community Center became our current project.

Update November 6th 2015: We’ve finished the Agape Center! The two new roofs are on, we added new sturdy doors, electricity, windows, and the necessary window bars in this area. The community will now come together and paint the building. They’ve already started using it for community meetings, the local senior citizens club, birthday parties and daily Zumba classes. With the school room, the church, and now this community center, we feel so blessed to have been able to take on projects that impact whole communities. Our thanks go out to you, our readers, for the support and prayer that makes this possible!

The photos below begin with the earliest and end with the latest.

Each year before the rainy season, we go through the community to see which homes are most in danger of flooding. And we begin replacing warped and rotten wood, relaying tar and roofing paper and patching walls. Often we end up needing to remove the entire roof and start fresh. (You can see into a home from above after we removed the old rotten roof in the first image below.

Since our community here is on the coast, unprotected wood rots quickly and soon begins to leak. And because it’s on a hillside, walls with cracks and holes leak into houses from the runoff.

Repairing roofs here means heating tar in a barrel, and using a rope mop to apply it to the roof. Other crews here use tar paper that is supposed to seal with the sun, but our guys swear by hot tar… even though it’s hot, messy and dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. They say it’s the best and cheapest way to repair them. And we’ve never had a leak in a roof we’ve done! Thank you so much for your support that gives families in need warm, dry homes!

After we had wrapped up the last service for Parvathi’s tribe, they asked if we would do anything special for the children. We told them about the outreaches we’ve been doing for almost ten years now in a different area, and they loved the idea. We hold these outreaches VBS-style with games and stories and crafts and food. All centered around Jesus.

It took a few days to find volunteers to help. Not many other people in the area speak their language. But the Lord quickly brought it all together, and soon we had helpers, a meeting hall, food, snacks, and clean drinking water for all 47 children for five days!

The children came from 9 am until 4 pm each day. It was a little more challenging than usual though. These children have never been to school and haven’t learned to read. So we focused on Bible stories, and songs, and even memory verses. The kids were so proud of themselves for memorizing Bible verses. They had so much fun!

The parents had told us one of their biggest needs was personal hygiene items. So on the last day, we were able to give each child their own towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, and soaps. Such simple things we take for granted in the first world. But the kids were so excited to have them!

At the end, some parents asked if we could hold regular services for the children. We would love to, and we’re praying how to proceed. Please join us in prayer as we continue to minister to this tribe and show them the love of Jesus.

I praise the Lord for what He is doing in the lives of this tribe, and for our growing relationship with them. A relationship that started simply, when we responded to His prompting to pay for cancer treatment for a young girl we had never met. I pray we’ll always be sensitive to His gentle promptings!

The volunteers made up a sign thanking all of you who support this ministry and make this all possible. Thank you so much for responding when the Lord prompts you to give. Lives are being transformed because of it, and I’m so grateful!

May the Lord richly bless you!
Samantha

I’ve included a few short videos of the kids reciting memory verses and singing.

Click on the images below to view the gallery.

A few short weeks after I published Parvathi’s story here, her condition worsened, and she went home to the Savior she had just met. We cried and cried, and we mourn still.

Parvathi was from a small tribe. When we were asked to provide medical treatment for Parvathi, they accepted us among them. And, fortunately, our volunteer there speaks their language!

In addition to medical treatment, we brought groceries each week to Parvathi and her family. After Parvathi was born-again, others close to her noticed a change in her. She was no longer afraid and she had a deep peace. Six women, in particular, started asking Parvathi about this change, and she told them about Jesus. They asked our volunteer, when he came to bring groceries to teach them too about Jesus. So he started teaching them and praying with them and teaching them worship songs in their language. These six women also accepted Jesus!

Then, shortly after, Parvathi passed away. We held a memorial service for her and during this service, all six women testified how much Parvathi loved Jesus, and that they too had received Him as their savior. These women are well respected and their testimonies greatly moved the tribe.

Then they asked us, if we have love for them as a people, can we hold a meeting for all of them as we had for Parvathi and the other women? With Bible Stories and singing?

We put together an evening with food, Bible Study, praise, and prayer. The men were so happy to be included! And families together learned about the love of Jesus. They are so receptive, and many have given their lives to Jesus. They have asked us to begin regular services for them.

It’s amazing how the Lord is working things together here! He is giving peace from despair and beauty from ashes in this tribe. When we thought our ministry among this tribe was over with Parvathi’s passing, it looks like it’s just beginning.

Thank you so much for your support that makes all of this possible! Both your giving and your prayers are bringing salvation to so many.

In 2007, a reader from India wanted advice to start a Bible outreach to children in a poor tribal area. We prayed, and knew the Lord wanted us to join with him and share His love and provision with these people.

Violent persecution of Christians took place just before our first planned outreach. Over 50,000 were left homeless after mobs burned down homes, churches, and businesses. Christians were threatened to covert to Hinduism or be tortured and killed. In the aftermath of the attack, those who survived and were able to fled the area, leaving mostly seniors and children.

Reaching the children in this area became even more important than before. And we’ve continued for 9 years! For two weeks at a time, we provide food, activities and the love of Jesus to hundreds of children, while teaching them about the Bible.

Because of the persecution and danger in this area, we couldn’t post photos or info on the internet before. But the Lord has brought so much restoration to this area in the last eight years. Those who were children in our first outreaches are now the youth leaders. The Lord has raised up pillars in the community who love and serve Him!

Thank you so much for your support that enables us to reach those in need with the love of Jesus.

In October of last year, we met a woman who had just learned she had cancer. Parvathi had gone to the dentist with a swollen cheek, thinking it an abscess. It turned out to be a large malignant tumor.

She and her small children live in a hut made of tarps and bamboo and were able to eat only by begging. She certainly had no ability to pay for surgery plus cancer treatment. The hospital and doctor agreed to donate the facility and surgery, but they still needed the anesthesia and chemo and radiation treatment costs.

After prayer, we agreed the Lord wanted Gracethrufaith to cover it. This was all just one year after Jack had passed away—one week after learning he had cancer. I am so happy to help others with cancer—especially on the one year anniversary of losing Jack to the same disease. I’ve learned the best antidote to grief is giving. (It may be the antidote to everything.)

Parvathi was so amazed at the kindness, she asked why we would help her. And our volunteer told her about Jesus. Who He is, and how He loves her so much, He suffered and died so that she can be with Him. And now He asks His followers to show others His love. Parvathi replied she loves this Jesus who loves her, and she asked to know Him! Her entire family was saved! We are so blessed to be a part of what the Lord is doing!

Because of your generosity, we are also able to provide food for them each week. Now her kids don’t need to beg, and it helps us keep in contact with them.

Several months later, after the full course of treatment, the doctors contacted us and said her cancer was not responding to radiation, and it was spreading to her eye and throughout her body as well. Her health deteriorated quickly, and the doctors put her on hospice, saying her time is short and there’s nothing they can do. She’s too weak to undergo any more surgery or treatment. We’ve held prayer and fasting days over her continually since.

I’m heartbroken. But Parvathi isn’t. She said that this Jesus who saved her, whom she loves, will keep her in peace until she dies. That she is so grateful she got to meet Him before dying. She said she’s not scared, and that she knows He will take care of her children. When she explained her situation to her kids, it was with gratitude, not fear or anger. She knew their time apart would be short in light of eternity. She said Jesus suffered and died too, and what a privilege for her to know the same.

Oh, her sweet, sweet faith. I pray for a miracle! A miracle healing of her physical body. I also know that the greatest miracle has already happened. She was dead and is now alive. (Luke 15:32) And no matter what happens next, she wins! The enemy loses. She and her Savior will be together forever, and nothing can take her from His hands.

These stories are far too personal to share on the internet. We’ve never done so before. But Parvathi asked (and keeps on asking) me to post her story and thank everyone here who helped her have more time with her kids and to know Jesus. It’s personal, but also precious, and I’ve been having such a hard time writing it—to do her story justice with my words. I hope that you too are encouraged and touched by her child-like faith. Thank you for being a part of what the Lord is doing through this ministry. We couldn’t do it without you!

A dear friend, when she heard of Parvathi, said she is jealous for this young woman’s faith. Amen!

Now please join me in lifting up Parvathi, her children, and her family in prayer. That our God, Who is faithful, Who began a good work in her, will carry it on to completion. Amen and amen.

You can see the update to Parvathi’s story here

It’s official! We’ve begun a Children’s Church for the tribe we’ve been serving in India. Our Spring Bible School outreach was such a success, the tribe asked us to keep coming every week to minister to the children. After much prayer, we’re moving forward!

You can read through our history with this tribe in our earlier Outreach posts. 

🙏 Thank you so much! I am overwhelmed by your generosity! It’s your prayers and your support that make all this possible. ♥

Each week we’ll pray, have Bible songs and teachings and love! So much love! It was the love of Jesus that first drew this tribe to Him.  

This tribe doesn’t speak either Hindi or English (the two main languages of India). And they can’t read. We are finding beginner books with Bible stories for them so they can learn to read while learning the Bible! Parents and children together.

This little one needs medical attention for his eyes. We’re looking into what it will take to help him. We need to find the right facility and doctors. Please keep him in prayer!