With the Mission Forum scheduled for the second Tuesday of April, the Texas District pastors who were invited to help lead the discussion on Hispanic ministry were invited to come to Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) upon their arrival to El Paso the day before. Karla Gonzalez, YLM’s Interim Executive Director, met them soon as they arrived, joyfully welcoming them, and showing them the different buildings of the 100+ year old 4.2 campus. As each building is dedicated to an area of ministry, she clearly shared YLM’s vision, mission, and goals to help further the Lutheran churches in El Paso and Cd. Juarez.

“Our desire is to work together, to be a resource for churches dedicated to taking the Gospel to their communities,” Karla explained as they prepared to leave for Cd. Juarez, where the Texas pastors would visit KM30, one of the areas where outreach ministry is done by YLM’s partnering mission-church, Iglesia Luterana Santisima Trinidad.

For these three pastors, the trip into Juarez, Mexico was their first time, and discussions were had concerning the media’s portrayal of this large city, the desperate need people experience, not just physically but also spiritually. Karla shared her own experience, being a native of Cd. Juarez, and how God brought her to YLM where she discovered the liberating freedom of the grace taught through Lutheran doctrine. The pastors, in turn, also shared their own experiences on how they came to the Lutheran faith, but also how that led to them becoming church leaders dedicated to planting and growing churches within Hispanic communities.

Visiting KM30, as well as Iglesia Luterana Santisima Trinidad, was impactful for them, though they’ve seen these kinds of impoverished towns before in the areas where they serve in South Texas, as well as their own home countries. An unplanned joy was for them to visit the work site where Family of Christ Lutheran Church of Ham Lake, MN was building a house for Lupita, a single mother with a six-year-old son.

Rev. Jose Angel Hernandez, pastor of Iglesia Luterana Santisima Trinidad and the home-church of San Pedro y San Pablo of KM30, was present and had the opportunity to share the history behind the Juarez Lutheran churches with Pastor Jaime Gonzalez. As the Family of Christ Servant Event mission team cleaned up, Pastors Lincon Guerra and Rodrigo Fernandez explored the structure being built by the team, looking into the pallet house beside it. The visual experience of seeing how a little house built by a team of missionaries in the outskirts of Juarez can change the lives of many was impactful for them as they discussed ways to get their district churches involved with YLM.

This opportunity allowed for new connections to be made, with relationships forming for the purpose of taking the Gospel to as many people necessary through the partnership in ministry.