A special message from our Program Directors in Mexico, Victor and Lety Velasco:
Hola and Feliz Navidad from Forward Edge and our program down here in Oaxaca, Mexico.
We want to tell you a story of the impact you’re making.
One of the first families to join our program 10 years ago was The Santiago Lugo family. The parents had little education, they were very poor, and all six children were going hungry.
We began to provide them all with nutritious food, doctor visits, safe water to drink, spiritual discipleship, and our daily homework club for the children.
We were also able to offer Berenice’s mother a job as a cook to provide more for the family, and help them get the very first earth-block home through our partner ministry Operation Enduring Homes.
Most importantly, they learned about Jesus, and we were so excited as the whole family decided to get baptized!
She is the first in their family to ever go to college!
We praise God for the miracles He has done for this family, and thank Him for people like you who’ve given generously to make it possible. There are many more families like them in Oaxaca and in other Forward Edge programs around the world who still need your help.
For example, we have three children right now hoping to go to university like Berenice, one being her younger sister Audre.
We want to leave you with a quote from a letter Berenice recently wrote:
“Thanks to each of those who made possible one of my biggest dreams, a university career. But I am blessed for the best gift anyone could have ever given me…to know God and my savior Jesus Christ.”
This is what success looks like!
Victor and Lety VelascoCountry Directors – Oaxaca, MexicoForward Edge International
By Melanie Kruse Off On a Mission Trip I’ve never been on a mission trip like this. This was the first time we served with Forward Edge and the first time our two daughters had joined us, but that’s not what made it different. On this trip I didn’t cry.
Love has a way of radically transforming lives. At Forward Edge, we place our focus on helping children trapped in poverty reach their full, God-given potential (Ephesians 2:10) by meeting their basic needs (food, safe water, health care) and empowering them with quality education, vocational training, and spiritual discipleship. This
Berenice was used to seeing the same narrative play out around her growing up: a life marked by poverty, wealth inequality, and barriers to education. Most families in her area in Oaxaca, Mexico have traditionally come from smaller villages in search of a better life and are facing severe unemployment
In Zaachila, on the outskirts of Oaxaca City, Mexico, live many impoverished families who’ve traveled from distant areas in search of more opportunities and a better life…only to find themselves confronted with the same devastating and debilitating effects of poverty: hunger, joblessness, water-borne illness, lack of education, gang violence, drug
23 yrs. old
Entered the program: January 2019
Alice is currently living with her aunt and under the care of her big brother. She has been helping out at the family retail shop close to where they live. The family uses a charcoal stove to cook and boil water for drinking. Alice’s parents passed away and her older brother works to provide for the family. He is away most of the time.
Plus bonus group fundraising ideas!
