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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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
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.
8 yrs. old
Entered the Program: August 2024
Mary lives with her grandfather, her older sister, their guardian and three other children in a two-room wood house with a dirt floor. The house has electric lighting and tapped water. They have an outdoor kitchen and use firewood for cooking. There is no bathing facility; they share a communal pit latrine with their neighbors which is in a poor condition.
Mary and her sister were abandoned by their mother to the care of their aunt who, also, later abandoned them. She and her sister lived on the street with no food or shelter until their grandfather found them and took them in. Since he is elderly and doesn’t work, one of his friends has offered to help him take care of the girls as she can.
It is suspected that Mary may have had a stroke when she was younger but a medical exam is needed to verify this.
Plus bonus group fundraising ideas!
