The Mission Diaries

There were tears and hugs as brothers and sisters from Orange County (California) said their goodbyes to the disciples of the San Pedro Sula (Honduras) International Church of Christ. Only a week before, the OC group had arrived in the middle of worship service after flying all night. They were part of the L.A. Church’s Member Missionary program, in which church members go on a one-week mission trip to a foreign church, stay with local families and participate in the local congregation’s multiple ministries and benevolent programs.

The OC group started each day with a devotional at the church building. Then they would either volunteer at the local HOPE worldwide clinic and school, or they would visit some of the city’s needy communities, or evangelize at one of three college campuses or at shopping centers. In the evenings they met with different groups from the church to teach lessons and enjoy great fellowship.

“The San Pedro disciples gave us their hearts”, said mission group coordinator Mauricio Mairena. “They even prepared a turkey dinner for us on Thursday, because they knew it was Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., and they didn’t want us to feel nostalgic about not being home for that holiday! On Sunday, as we said goodbye to our host families and to all the brothers and sisters, there was not a dry eye among us!”

The mission team members will be posting more information and testimonials about their experiences in Honduras. Please return to read their stories.

Jaime De Anda

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“Train a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6)

Perhaps one of the greatest challenges faced by potential missionaries is the prospect of moving your children from city to city and country to country and worrying about the effects that such “unstable” upbringing may have on them. The above scripture becomes a paramount building block to the faith of such families, as they hold on to God’s promise.

Today I witnessed a fulfillment of that promise, together with several dozen brothers and sisters who were present at the baptism of Diana and Elena Amaya, 17 and 14 years old, respectively.

I met Javier and Kelly Amaya  sometime around 1983, while they were in college and still dating. I remember having this intense conversation with Javier outside the door of our apartment, as my wife and I tried to make him see that he had hurt Kelly’s feelings and wasn’t even aware of it (Men do that sometimes!) With great humility Javier chose to listen and do what was right, so he went and immediately apologized and resolved things with Kelly. For many years, they would continue that pattern: choose to do what is right.

The Amayas left promising careers to work in the fulltime ministry. They started as Spanish Ministry leaders in Boston, then worked with the South Florida Church of Christ, and then went overseas to lead the Guatemala City Church of Christ. When asked to do so, they moved to Mexico and accepted the job of overseeing the work of HOPE worldwide in Latin America. That responsibility eventually brought them to the Los Angeles area, where they now serve as Regional Evangelist and Women’s Minister for the East Region of the Los Angeles International Church of Christ (photo at left.)

Diana and Elena were born into such a missionary family. Several times they went through the ordeal of packing and moving to a new place, leaving old friends and familiar surroundings behind. Since childhood they learned to step by faith. And they saw the examples of parent who truly lived out Matthw 6:33 (“Seek first the kingdom…”)  But today they took their own step of faith, not to please their Christian parents, but because they had arrived at their own conviction to make Jesus lord of their lives. The photo at right shows the Amaya family sharing just before the baptism, which was held at the home of Will and LeighAnn Neel (another great church family, but more about them some other time!)

The churches in Mexico and Central America rejoice today! The Amaya family is loved by many disciples of Christ whose lives have been blessed by their ministry. And for so many young families in the church, today was a statement of faith and hope to all. When we do what is right in the eyes of God, and we step out in faith, God will take care of us, and our children will be blessed!

Jaime De Anda

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Sometime around early 1986, my wife and I were invited to become part of the mission team that would plant the Mexico City Church of Christ. To say that our initial reaction was unspiritual would be an understatement. After all, there was all this work to do with the Hispanic community in the U.S., and we already had three kids to raise, and I had gotten my PhD and had a career to develop, and…

It reminded me of an earlier, “difficult” decision in my life. 1982: After studying the Bible and being confronted with the reality that I was not a true disciple of Christ, I kept trying to find reasons to doubt the decision that I had to make. What about baptism? Isn’t it all about faith only? What about the many Christian denominations? What about the Holy Spirit? After one such session, one of the evangelists of the church smiled and simply asked: “Well, Jaime, are you a Christian according to the Bible?… No? Then why don’t you just deal with that for now and let God help you clear up all these issues as you grow spiritually?”

That also reminded me of an even earlier decision. 1978: I had a great girlfriend and wanted to marry her, but at the moment I was preparing to leave Puerto Rico and move to Boston to go to graduate school. Should we marry and go together? What about culture shock (my girlfriend had never even flown in an airplane)? What if it didn’t work? What if it was too much to build a marriage and study a PhD at a very intense academic institution (MIT)? Should we wait a year and then get married? What if we fell out of love duing that year of separation?

Her mother could tell that I was really struggling with the decision. One day she handed me something she was reading: it was one of those “Daily Reflections” type of booklet. That day’s entry talked about faith not being an endless search for the right answer from God, but about weighting your options, making your decision and then trusting that God would guide you after you stepped out on that faith. She looked at me and said, “So what are you waiting for?”

Sometimes we face decisions and we want to have all the answers and all the options and possibilities right in front of us so we can feel that we’re making the “right” choice. It’s like stopping at an intersection, and not moving until all the traffic lights ahead of us are green. If that is what you are waiting for, you will never get anywhere!

I made the choice! I married the girl, and we embarked on the journey together. After 28 plus years, we are still on this great journey and still together! I am so grateful.

And I am grateful that I put off all my questions and excuses and made the decision to become a disciple of Jesus. God has come through and cleared up many of my doubts along the way.

And I am grateful that we made the decision of faith and joined the mission team to Mexico City. God has blessed us tremendously because of that choice.

If you believe that God wants what is best for you, if you trust him enough to just submit yourself to His will, and you believe that his love for you is greater than you can imagine, you don’t need to wait until all the lights are green. You just need to take it one step, one crossroads at a time. God bless you!

Jaime De Anda

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A few weeks ago I attended a class by Dr. Douglas Jacoby titled “Reaching a Postmodern World”. Here are some observations derived from Dr. Jacoby’s class:

1. The post modern mindset is suspicious of authority. We like questioning authority and institutions. Of course, the Bible is one of those authorities we suspect, so we like it when its integrity and textual base are questioned, as in the recent Da Vinci Code book and movie.

2. The post modern mindset upholds personal, individual values as long as they don’t come across like absolute, right-or-wrong morality. Morality is relative. We should be free to build our own, customized value set by combining whatever we decide to put into it.

3. The post modern mindset upholds “inclusiveness”: no group should feel marginalized. Everyone’s opinion should be respected. Be gender-neutral. Be tolerant of sexual preferences. “Do not judge”.

4. The post modern mindset typically blames the “system” for society’s (and the individual’s) flaws. It’s always someone else’s fault (the parents, the government, the education system, religion, etc.) Individual responsibility is not high on the value list. This is the era of the disclaimer: “Do this or that but, if it doesn’t work, don’t blame me because I’ve already warned you that it might not work!”

A Christian faces a major challenge in trying to live by God’s Word in a post modern world. The key element?

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, NIV)

Jaime De Anda

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In the last few weeks our fellowship of churches has been faced with several events and circumstances that could represent a threat to our unity. Several articles and documents have been posted on various web pages. I’m more aware of the Spanish language ones, like www.icmeca.org and www.pergaminos.wordpress.com, so please go there and do your own research.

Is unity important?

Well, it was important enough for Jesus’ final prayer to be: “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23, NIV, emphasis added)

It was important enough for the apostle Paul to address the church in Corinth: “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” (1 Cor. 1:10, NIV, emphasis added)

God’s perspective is clear: He wants to see a unified church. What will it take? I think we have to start by becoming convinced that unity is more important than our wishes and preferences or even our personal dreams and goals. What do you think of that?

Jaime De Anda

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