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Building Relationships and Understanding Across Borders
 
 

FDC bi-national interns James Martin and Hugo Licona Sanchez

 

 
September 30, 2014

30 de Septiembre, 2014 

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
         
We are grateful for your partnership in ministry here on the US/Mexico border and beyond. For almost thirty years, God has been bringing together folks of varied economic, linguistic, faith, political and cultural backgrounds from Mexico and the United States to experience and share the good news of Jesus across borders. We are glad that you are part of our bi-national family and hope you can come and be a part of our upcoming 'reunion' celebrating 30 years of ministry.


 

 

Registration is now open for our 30th Anniversary Celebration Events (see below) November 20, 21, and 22! Please plan on joining us for one or more of the events as we give thanks to God for 30 years of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ across borders!

 


 

Peace,

 

         Jeni O'Callaghan      Rodolfo Navarrete Arrieta          Monika Patience       Carmina Sanchez

              President                   Vice President                         Treasurer               Secretary 

 

 

 

 

Upcoming

Celebration Events

 

 

"30 years of faith in action in the US/Mexico Borderlands":

Reflection on the changing contexts of the borderlands and the different ways faith communities have responded

Thursday, November 20 from 5 -8 p.m.

Southside Presbyterian Church Tucson, AZ

Suggested donation of $30

"All proceeds above cost of event will be used to support communities responding in faith to immigration."

 

Border Immersion Delegation: Responding In Faith to the Challenges of the US/Mexico Border

Friday, November 21 from 10 a.m.- 8 p.m.

Douglas/Agua Prieta

Suggested donation of $60

Led by Jocabed Gallegos, Mexican Coordinator of FDC and John Fife, FDC board member, former moderator of the PCUSA General Assembly; one of the founders of the sanctuary movement and doting grandfather.

 

30th Anniversary Celebration: Saturday, November 22 Agua Prieta, Sonora

10 a.m.until 2 p.m.

Suggested donation of $30

 A Time of Worship, Reflection and Fellowship through Song, Art, Conversation and Food

 

Border Songs Concert

2:30- 4 p.m.

Suggested donation of socks

Former Bi-national Intern Jordan Bullard will be performing the songs that he composed during his service with Frontera de Cristo as the Migrant Resource Center Coordinator.

 

Conversations, Dinner and Impact Report with the farmers of Cafe Justo

5-7 p.m.

Suggest donation of $30

"All proceeds above costs will go toward development of coffee shop."

Join farmers from Chiapas and Nayarit reflecting 12 years of responding to root causes of immigration.

 

 

 

 

The Cross on the Border/La Cruz En La Frontera

 

  

 

"Therefore, the cross is not just a symbol of hope from the bondage of ours sins, but that Jesus continues to be crucified though the lives of the poor. Jesus reveals this to Christians in Matthew 25: 40 and it demonstrates why Jesus is still being crucified through the suffering of the poor.

 

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

 

I think this realization for me on how the cross today offers hope, joy and peace, but also represents the continuing suffering of people whom God loves has helped me understand the border more in the contexts of my Christian faith and know that God is present in both the joy and suffering I see and feel on daily basis here. I feel that my work with Frontera de Cristo is seeking and being where God already is on border. Click here to read full blog James' blog


  

 FDC Welcomes Trisha Maldonado as New Office Manager

 

 

We are grateful to have Trisha Maldonado join the FDC ministry.  Trisha, most recently a reporter for the Douglas Dispatch, brings with her to FDC a love of our border community, solid administrative and computer skills and experience as a journalist and photographer.

 

"I am extremely excited about my new adventure with FDC and look forward to meeting and working with all of those involved with FDC," Trisha said.  

 

 

Sports with a "Purpose"

by Hugo Licona Sanchez

 

 

Hugo Licona Sanchez
When I think of the future of my country, with all the various socio-political and economic circumstances that make this border a complicated place to live; when I see how society has come to accept the reality of corruption and drugs as something morally normal, it does not surprise me that we have generated a generation of adolescents and youth plagued by the use of alcohol and drugs seemingly without a specific life giving purpose. Click here to read full article.

 

 

Help Us With "Throwback Thursday"

 
Each Thursday, we are posting pictures from FDC's thirty years of ministry, remembering the different people, ministry and events that have marked our history. 
 
Check out some of the recent posts and if you have images from your time with FDC please send them to us to share as we celebrate all the different ways God has worked in and through this bi-national ministry.  We especially will appreciate digitized images from the 1980's and 1990's-- was there really a time when we used film?
 
We are celebrating 30 years of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed here on the US/Mexico border and beyond.  As part of the celebration, we are collecting "remembrances".  Please send your reflections and pictures of your experiences with Frontera de Cristo to us as we remember 30 years of bi-national ministry.

 
Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support!

 

 

 

Doctors Without Borders Mexico, Comes to Aid the Migrant Resource Centerin Agua Prieta

         By Christine Garcia, SSND

 

 

The reality that a high percentage of migrants have experienced violence and other traumas on their journeys toward a better life is a constant concern for the volunteers serving the migrants who grace the door of the Migrant Resource Center (MRC). What can we do to be ready to meet them and assist at these moments of need, to strengthen them on their journey?

 

On September 23-24, volunteers and staff of the MRC participated in "A Psychological First-Aid Workshop". We were honored to be directed by two very knowledgeable and skillful presenters from the globally renowned Doctors Without Borders/Medicos Sin Fronteras, Monica and Jose Luis, who came to us from the MSF offices in Mexico City. Through slide presentations, dynamic and fun activities, role-playing, and meaningful discussions, they reached their objective: to provide us with tools that would enable us to provide psychological first-aid to the migrant population while taking measures for our own emotional care. 

 

Click to read entire article


Follow Migrant Resource Center on Facebook.

 

 

  

Prayer's for Pastor Rodolfo  


 

 

Please join us in praying for FDC Board Vice President Pastor Rodolfo, his family and the Lirio de los Valles PC. Pastor Rodolfo has been hospitalized and is receiving dialysis. His treatment to help restore kidney function. Pray for God's healing and peace that passes all understanding.

    

  

 Voices From The Border and Beyond

A Travel Study Seminar To the US/Mexico Border and Guatemala and El Salvador

January 23-February 1, 2015

Cost: $1,200

 

Frontera de Cristo is excited to be working with Presbyterian World Mission and our partners on the US/Mexico border and in Central America, "to facilitate a Travel Study Seminar for Presbyterians who want to understand the context and respond to the needs of the thousands of Central American children who are crossing the border".  We are gauging the interest and exploring the possibilities of facilitating an ecumenical delegation.

 

Application deadline is November 1, 2014. Click here for more information.

  
   
 
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Support 

Frontera de Cristo by:

  

1)  Joining us in giving thanks to God for:

  

  --the blessing of our call to witness that Jesus Christ is our peace across the borders that seek to divide us; 

 

2) Praying with us for God's guidance and help in:

  

--Responding to the reality of the impact of drugs on the families and communities of Agua Prieta;

 

 3) Providing Support to the Migrant Resource Center:

 

-The MRC invites YOU to visit or volunteer. Come, learn, and be blessed by our brother and sister migrants.

 

-MRC Donation needs:

 

-Shoelaces

 

-Underwear

 

-Socks

 

-MRC Volunteers commute by bike-but we need helmets and bike lights! Please consider donating to help keep us safe on

the roads.  

 

 

-Financial donations will help pay MRC operating costs, but food items when donations are scarce and keep our bicycles in operating condition.

 

 

3) Donating by clicking the donate now button.

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