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
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It started with a simple nudge—a last-minute feeling that I was forgetting something important. Rushing through the airport, I couldn’t shake the urge to buy a Bible. I didn’t know why, or who it was for, but I trusted the feeling. A week later, in a small village in Ghana, that Bible found its way into the hands of Talata, a girl who had never heard of Jesus. This is the story of how God’s quiet whispers and a small act of obedience became part of something much bigger than we could have imagined.
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.
In his book, “Empowering Children”, former Forward Edge board member, Dr. Ravi Jayakaran, shares the importance of involving children in the process of their own development. When a community invests its resources in its children, it invests in its own future. Just as Forward Edge values all children and believes
11 yrs. old
Entered the Program: February 2025
Caleb lives with his parents, little sister, and adopted older brother in a one-room adobe house with a tin roof, and concrete and dirt floors. The family shares a bedroom, except for his brother, who has his own, separate from the house. They cook with wood and get water from a hose on their property. The bathroom facilities are outdoors.
Caleb’s parents met in Oaxaca City when they both worked there. After a year, they got married and eventually moved to the village where his father was born. Caleb’s parents intended to be in the village temporarily but the family required help tending their crops, so they decided to stay. They also adopted Caleb’s cousin as their own child because there was a need.
Plus bonus group fundraising ideas!
