Window on the World

From Randal Dick,
superintendent of missions

Remembering the forgotten ones

We would like to feature a ministry involving a number of our members in remote parts of Mexico. I think you will find the article and the pictures inspiring. The report that follows was written by my assistant, Barbara Edwards. The information and photos were provided by Raul Sifuentes and Dan Hart.

By Barbara Edwards

In this month’s column, I would like to open the window on a missionary organization compassionately serving and ministering to the indigenous people of Mexico.

It was once said that Christ is renewing his church one member at a time, and, in turn, they are finding ministry. This is evident in the life of Raul Sifuentes, a WCG member who formerly attended in Glendora, California. Raul and his wife, Paula, now live in Mexico. They, along with Dan and Josefina Hart of Peoria, Illinois, also WCG members, have affiliated themselves with a Christian medical and dental missionary team called Amigos Sin Frontera, (Friends Without Frontiers). It is a small organization doing a great work—a team working together to reach people for Christ.

Antonio Moreno established Friends Without Frontiers in 1995, after being approached by a bus driver and a taxi driver who were aware of the needs and suffering of impoverished people in the mountainous villages. Dr. Moreno decided to investigate, and upon arriving he saw the incredible needs of the people. While there he helped a family whose daughter was suffering from a severe earache. He examined the girl’s ear and extracted a three inch worm.

Amid the suffering he realized the great spiritual vacuum that existed in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca, Dr. Moreno deeply desired to teach the Word of God. He told this family about the gospel and they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This was the beginning of Friends Without Frontiers.

The organization provides the physical, medical, dental, optical and spiritual needs to entire towns in the mountains of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Morelos. The team is composed of surgeons, ophthalmologists, gynecologists, pediatricians, stomatologists (a branch of medicine that deals with the mouth and its disorders), nurses, teachers and a considerable number of volunteers. The volunteers include homemakers, people who clean instruments, assistants to the doctors, taxi and bus drivers, and many who pick up and drive the people to and from the makeshift clinic.

They have a full-time gospel team that teaches through performing mime and drama. They also have a team that does paintings and ministers in any way they can to bring the gospel to the people. They are united with one purpose: to bring honor and glory to God by using their skills, knowledge, abilities and many years of personal experience to serve these isolated and desperately poor communities.

What they view as one of their main assets is that they are an interdenominational missionary group, with its main goal to bring as many people to Christ as possible. The main vision of this evangelistic team is through medical services to open the doors for the gospel where there is no gospel.

According to Mexican Senator Diego Cevallos, 10 percent of the 96 million inhabitants of Mexico are undocumented in their own country, and this prevents them from having access to state programs. According to one resident, they have not had medical help for 41 years. A 1998 poll showed that 73 percent of the residents of Mexico City do not know what the term "human rights" means.

In May 2000, journeying with six portable dentist chairs, six portable electrical dental labs and two electric power plants, the team traveled to the villages of El Mamey and Nuevo Allende in Oaxaca. About 800 people received medical treatment, 600 received dental work, and most remarkably, 165 accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Other trips included San Mateo Sindihuis and San Juan Teita, Oaxaca; Tepetlixpa, Mexico; and two journeys to Tlacoapa, Guerrero.

During one arduous 13-hour trip over the mountains, through rugged terrain and creeks and over unpaved roads to Tlacoapa, the team arrived exhausted and somewhat irritated. Later they discovered that people had walked 13 hours to be helped by the team. One man had a bullet removed that was in his hand for 13 years. Another had a tumor excised, which was on his foot for 41 years.

Initially, the municipal president of Tlacoapa was against having Christians in his midst, but he admitted that even the Department of Health had completely forgotten to assist them. He was one of the individuals given medical treatment. In gratitude he gave Dr. Moreno a letter asking him to return every six months. A pastor in Tlacoapa visits the people once a month to preach and teach the gospel. He walks 12 hours to reach them because there is no direct road.

During the last six years Friends Without Frontiers has planted five churches and reached 23 communities for Jesus. They have provided about 25,000 medical consultations and given around 15,000 food rations (rice, beans, sugar, salt, cooking oil) as well as tons of used clothing, shoes and toys. They have distributed Bibles, pamphlets and New Testaments (in their own dialect) and have shown the Jesus video (in Spanish or their dialect) as well as other videos with Christian themes. In every town they visited, the team instituted "Teach to Read and Write" programs to train leaders (young and old), so they in turn can teach others.

Friends Without Frontiers is indebted to the many people who support their work: the professional team, the churches, including the WCG, and the volunteers. Resources are supplied by the members of the various organizations who represent eight to 10 churches. This is accomplished through fund-raisers and assistance from the various churches.

The Word of God is like seed, capable of producing immense harvest. If our view of God is great, the worth of those created in his image will be great. The reverse is also true. Our concern about people reveals what we think about God. Life gains significance only in Jesus.

The dedicated effort of Friends Without Frontiers to reach the forgotten and marginalized of the villages of Mexico should encourage us to think globally. God loves all people! As evidenced by his creation, he loves diversity.

Dr. Moreno was asked what the most valuable reward is that he receives from his ministry. He answered: "The reward is to see a man smile, a child saying ‘thanks,’ to see people with a loving heart for Jesus…. When a child comes to us we say: It’s really worth it. It doesn’t matter how many hours of labor, it’s truly worth it—even if only one person has repented and [becomes] converted."

MISSION FOUNDER—Antonio Moreno.

TLACOAPA—a mission site.

HUSBAND-WIFE TEAM—Silvia Moreno, a dentist,
wife of Antonio Moreno, also a dentist.

PEDIATRIC SURGERY—A cyst was removed
from this girl’s arm.

SHARING GOSPEL—765 people accepted Christ
during this mission trip.

ENTERING ETERNITY—This elderly
man became a Christian, said he was
no longer afraid to die and was found
dead two hours later.

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2002