First time missionary, Nelly, helped teach the Bible story to over twenty kids for three days

Year after year, since 2018, Faith Lutheran Church from Pierre, South Dakota has brought a team to Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) to serve in Juarez by building a house for a family in need.

All hands on deck for this team as they worked to get two houses completed in five days

“We learned about YLM in 2017, when our church’s assistant pastor invited Mariachi San Pablo to Pierre for our 500^th Reformation celebration,” Dennis Ryckman shared about how their church became involved in mission work through YLM, “My wife and children had been doing mission work in Juarez through another ministry for several years, but when we learned about YLM, we helped spearhead the first Faith-YLM partnering mission trip in 2018 with twelve members.”

The two years after their first mission trip through YLM, the team had decreased to only a 9-person team. In 2020, their team of 9 were one of three missions team who made the trip to El Paso to build a house in Mexico for a young man paralyzed from the waist down. Both Dennis, and his wife Carolyn, shared their desire to grow their team, to inspire more people to come and experience God’s love through the mission field.

Little girls received pretty pillowcase dresses at the end of the 3-day VBS

Their year-long prayer was answered when a team of 23 arrived on the third week of May 2021 to build two houses and hold a three-day VBS at Kilometer 30. As Faith continued to reach out to their Pierre community about this opportunity to love and serve God and others in Mexico, they invited Mariachi San Pablo to Pierre October of 2021.

The results?

A team of twenty-nine, from eight years old to eighty-two, arrived in a bus, which was purchased, fixed, and renovated earlier in the year by the majority of the team. The Friday before they were set to arrive, they piled into their Gospel-testifying bus and headed south. The team was comprised of people from different churches and denominations, but all carried a common goal: to be the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus to the people they were set to encounter in Mexico and El Paso.

Lots of hugs and cuddling took place every day

What a joy it was for all who worked alongside this team throughout their mission week! They came ready to build two houses in Anapra, hold a three-day VBS at Iglesia Luterana San Lucas that included meals for the kids coming out of school, distributing over 1,000 Bibles, Spanish and English, along with children’s books, wooden cars for boys, and pretty pillowcase dresses for little girls.

Everyone pitched in to ensure the houses would be completed at end of the week

This team came ready to work, eagerly helping each other get the initial squaring, measuring, cutting, nailing, and raising of walls at both building sites. The younger missionaries on the team were eager to learn and help, listening attentively as adults taught them how to safely use tools, what needed to be done first, and more.

Several of the teenage girls on the team, with the leadership of Cassandra and Gracie, helped with the 3-day VBS. Held in the afternoon at San Lucas, kids arrived after their morning school classes. One of the team’s missionaries was Nelly, a woman who spoke fluent Spanish and helped teach the Bible lessons. She was one of the blessed additions to the team.

As is their habit, the team distributed Bibles throughout the week, both in downtown Juarez and in the Walmart parking lot the nights they went out to buy needed supplies for the next day. To finish off their mission week, they came out early morning on the Saturday they were set to leave and helped distribute food boxes of produce and non-perishable food staples to over 100 families. The last of the pillow-case dresses were given out, along with the children’s books and Bibles.

Before leaving, Dennis made sure to reserve the third week of May for 2023…and shared they were praying for an even bigger team, one comprised of many different people, of all ages and backgrounds, whose shared desire is to work together in loving and serving God and people.