MEXICO CHURCH BUILDING MISSION:

In the summer of 1989 a group of about seventeen teens and adults from the Holmes Road Church of Christ in Memphis traveled to Monterrey, Mexico where they met with Rick and Sherry Owens, missionaries from the united States. From there they went to Zaragosa, Mexico, a small and very poor mountain town about one days drive from the U. S. boarder, to help the Christians there build a small building where they could meet for worship.

The Owens had gone to Mexico initially to help set up medical missions. They soon realized what a great need there was for places where the Christians could meet. The Church was growing very fast. Besides the fact that they were outgrowing their meeting places, a group meeting in a home or garage in Mexico is viewed as a cult by outsiders. That is true there even more so than in the United States due to the predominance of the Catholic religion and their emphasis on their buildings.

The word of this effort spread throughout the United States in a very large part by people from the Holmes Road Church moving to other areas and encouraging their new Church families to get involved. That is how Sitka first became involved in 1996. Since that time Sitka has assisted with 21 of those building projects.

Our Mexican brothers and sisters are very capable of teaching and converting people and they do a great job of it. In most cases, we cannot teach them due to the language barrier. However, they do not have the money to purchase the materials or the time off from work to construct the buildings. We do and we can, We carry money to purchase building materials and we work hard for about four days. As many of them as can get a little time do help in every way possible. The following week another U. S. group will pick up where we left off. The end product is a simple and substantial presence of the Lord's Church in the community.

Rick works in Mexico ten months of each year with groups of seventy to one hundred twenty coming in most weeks from all over the United States. Individuals from Sitka are involved in two of those weeks each year.

In addition to helping purchase building materials the Sitka congregation sends some personal support for Rick and Sherry yearly to their sponsoring congregation the University Church of Christ, 1555 University Ave, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88001

According to Rick Owens, we have constructed in the neighborhood of 150 buildings. In each case the congregation experiences much faster growth as they began to meet in their building.

The Mexican Christians are a very caring and appreciative people. We can communicate very well. Smiling and pointing is universal. None of us can go there and work with them without becoming spiritually stronger and more humble. We do get, far more than we give.