27 de Marzo, 2014 

            This year we are celebrating 30 years of ministry together!  Throughout our ministry, our greatest roll as the board has been to discern how God is calling us to be in ministry in our context.  As our community and the needs of it  have changed over the years so has our ministry focus.  Most recently we have sought a need to be more proactive in responding to the reality of the violence of drugs.

We are grateful to God for the expressions of concern that many have shared with us because of the spike in drug violence recently here in Agua Prieta.  Learn more about the current situation in a letter drafted by Mark Adams and  Miriam Maldonado to delegations who are planning on visiting us.  The letter also includes specific prayer requests.

We are convinced that God has called us to respond in faith and not fear to the challenging circumstances that surround us.  We continuing strengthening our commitment to working in prevention and intervention with children, youth and adults who are struggling with the reality of drugs and the lure of the narco-culture. 

Know that we cherish your partnership!

On behalf of your ministry on the border,

Jeni O'Callaghan           Rodolfo Navarrete          Monika Patience        Carmina Sanchez

  "When I began to be a part of the community garden in September 2013, there were no vegetables to harvest. My husband did not want me to participate because he said I was working a lot and no one was paying me for doing it. I told him that no one needed to pay me but in the future, our whole family would receive the benefits of my work.

My family has now been blessed since January with all the winter vegetables that we have harvested and not only my husband and children but my grandson as well. We all have the blessing of enjoying a good plate of food that God provides us through the garden and the work of my own hands.

Sister Esther and her grandson watering seeds of hope.

Now my husband and my grandson accompany me to plant seeds . . .seeds that give us hope of nourishing our family. The greatest joy for me is harvesting so many vegetables and that I can do it together with my grandson who inspires me to teach a very important lesson that is growing our food without chemicals.

I and the other 16 women that participate in DouglaPrieta Community Garden are blessed by the providence of our good God. Thanks be to God for all the sisters and brothers who helped us get started with the gift of seeds of hope."

Sister Esther shared this testimony in a conversation with Miriam Maldonado, Frontera de Cristo's facilitator of community and family gardens and liason with DouglaPrieta.

Click Here to read the article about DouglaPrieta in El Imparcial, Sonora's largest newspaper.  

Click here to see more pictures from DouglaPrieta 

Gratitude For the Life of Don Beto Sanchez:

Founding Member of Café Justo

Violence and Healing

by Pastor Rodolfo Navarrete 

Our sisters and brothers of the Flying Samaritans came and helped us facilitate a clinic on March 8 with the New Hope Community Center. The tension that many sensed because of the acts of drug violence that has occurred in Agua Prieta did not prevent them from sharing in ministry with us here.

This group of young people came and shared a bit of faith, hope, love and healing . . . .all elements that are needed when we have to confront the reality of violent acts and the fear that often follows. It is a beautiful witness, and the presence of the Samaritans brought strength and hope to a tense community, stressed and sick because fear is sickness and not only the mind and the heart but also the body. A consultation with the doctors that came healed not only an infection, but healed the heart, mind and spirit with their presence that gave us an example of love, courage, commitment and above all faith.

Thank you for overcoming prejudices and fears and showing us that violence can be conquered with love, dedication and commitment. Blessings!

Teach The Children: Use Words Only When Necessary

by Jocabed Gallegos, Co-coordinator of FDC

Start children off on the path they should go,

--Proverbs 22:6

In the last couple of years, we became aware of the increasing of situations where children and youth were being directly impacted and targeted by the drug culture which surrounded them.  We have been listening for how is God calling us to respond to this sad reality?

I recently received a call from DIF (the Family Services Agency of Agua Prieta) saying that they needed us to help with a growing problem of delinquency in adolescents. Hugo, our intern, who is working in two neighborhoods working in prevention and intervention, and I attended the meeting in one of the Junior Highs in the most affected area in Agua Prieta.   We will be working to link our partners to address the problem of adolescents who are targeted by the drug culture and become victims of violence in different ways.

FDC Co-coordinator Jocabed Gallegos (center-left) participating in the City's Delinquency Prevention Task Force

Immediately, we realized that a big issue is that many of the youth do not have the support of their parents for a variety of reasons.  In our organizing meeting, only 10 parents of the 38 youth we are working with showed up.  Our team has committed to invest in each of these youth with each team member relating directly with two, to know what are their problems and based on that be able to help them.  The four eighth graders that FDC will be relating with directly are Cristian, Cristal, Paola and Axel-- please join us in praying for them and for us that we might be instruments of God's love and healing in their lives. 

Also in the Community Center, we are continuing to work with the kids that now are teenagers, and we want to help prevent them from getting involved in violent situations and make choices that will be good for their lives, their families and their community.

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We also have become part of the City Prevention of Delinquency Task Force, and we will be facilitating Promoters of Peace workshops for churches and organizations in the city.

Those are some of our steps answering to the call of God, please, join us on prayer, so we can show how God is moving in us and through us.

Bi-national Internship Ministry Partners

With Tucson Borderlands Young Adult Volunteers