Mission trip to Oaxaca Mexico: Foundation For His Ministry (March 2005)

Preparing for another trip this year.  November, 2017

Our group from Divine Shepherd November 2017

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 Original post & pictures: Original post of prior trip.
2005 pictures



 Aerial view from nearby mountain.





We first heard about (FFHM) Foundation For His Ministry in the early 80's while members of Divine Shepherd Lutheran Church in Milwaukee. 

In the early 90's we ventured down to the Baja, Mexico mission for our first trip with 2 of our 3 teen's and several families from our church. Flying to San Diego, staying overnight in a motel, renting a van and starting out early in the morning for the 6 hour trip to the mission before it got dark!

 

At a later trip we met Frank Tichnor at the mission and while there he left for Oaxaca to scout out the area for a new mission base. 

 

  After reading about FFHM and the ministry in Oaxaca, we felt led to go there. One Sunday at church (Eastbrook) we asked Ron and Dolores Blust and Carol Beimborn if they wanted to go with us. The rest is history!

 

  Now we can fly to Oaxaca City 

 

   SHORT TERM MISSION TO OAXACA, MEXICO

 

  March 2005 

 

On March 9th, 2005, five Eastbrookers – Richard and Naomi Dassow, Carol Beimborn, and Ron and Dolores Blust – left for a nine-day mission to Oaxaca, Mexico.  We had an opportunity to serve at a new home for children, Hogar Para Los Ninos, founded by the Foundation for His Ministry which has been established in the Baja Peninsula of Mexico for approximately thirty years.

 The Dassows and other members of Eastbrook Church have served this ministry in the Baja.  Dr. Patrick Murphy and his wife Anna (Gini and Fred Schneider’s daughter) spent more than a year there early in their marriage, providing for the medical needs of the Mission.

 Because the Oaxacan graduates of the Bible School at the Baja Mission wanted to return to Oaxaca to minister to their own people, a branch was started in Oaxaca about 8 years ago, with a mission serving 40 children.  Now a new location has been secured and construction has begun on a facility that will accommodate 100 children.  Ian Croft, Construction Manager for the facility, along with his wife, Elaine, hosted us while we were there.  Ian schedules and works with the teams of volunteer workers in their assignments.   The plan is to move the children into the new facility by mid-July.  They also have future plans to build a church, conference center, school and medical clinic on the grounds.  

 Our team worked together with a team of five from Montana and two couples who are SOWERS, Servants on Wheels Ever Ready.  They traveled to Mexico in their RV’s and are planning to stay for 3-4 months as needed.  Others serving there are giving a year or more of their time to benefit the Mission, in answer to God’s call on their lives.  In addition, there are talented Mexicans working in the kitchen providing meals, as well as skilled Mexicans laying tile in beautifully artistic designs throughout the facility.  So it was truly a time for many different people to come together.  We were able to practice our Spanish as the native Mexicans practiced their English on us.  We visited other churches while we were there and celebrated community with our fellow Indian (primarily Zapotec) believers.  They joyfully shared their love of Jesus with us. 

 We took part in a wide range of assignments including painting, carpentry jobs, sewing, cleaning, kitchen kp, and caring for the grounds.  It was our delight to do whatever was asked of us, knowing that we were serving Jesus.  In the process, we established relationships with selfless Christians who were being used of God.  People from all over the U.S. and Canada form work groups to go down to Mexico at their own expense in order to help.  One of the things our men helped with was placing forms for concrete work in preparation for a team of 13 coming from Chicago the week after we left.  Their particular skill was pouring concrete so we prepared the way for them to exercise their gift.

 Mexico is a marvelous country, the weather was beautiful – 80 to 85 degrees in the daytime, 55 degrees at night.  The Mission is in a lovely valley nestled in the mountains of southern Mexico.  An out-of-season shower brought us a beautiful rainbow – another reminder of God’s promise.  The bougainvillea and geraniums were blooming and even though we returned to blizzards in Wisconsin, we had a wonderful taste of Spring and of eternity – faithful people saying “Here I am” to Jesus Christ.

Dolores Blust 


Thanks Dolores for this great summary of our trip!

 Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka), in southeast Mexico, is a rugged, mountainous land of diversity. One of the great treasures of this beautiful state is its people,
many of whom have never heard the name of Jesus. To these we have been called, “…so that they may turn from darkness to light from the dominion of Satan to God…so they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ. ” Acts 26:18

BOOMERS in action!  Blooming where we were planted or transplanted!

Naomi,Carol, Ron and Dolores.
I took the picture. 

Vision of FFHM (Foundation For His Ministry)  

 
Link to info on mission base.

Locations of the various mission bases

 

 A link to 2 videos of what God is doing in Mexico through Foundation For His Ministry!

How to get viewers to your website to donate or come back again.

For a non profit, that is the bottom line. You are not just telling about what you do...you want them to donate to your cause. 

If you are a Christian non profit, you believe or should believe that God supplies the funds...but He does that through people.

If a potential donor has a substantial amount of funds to invest in your organizations... whether it's $1,000, $10,000, $100,000 or 1 Millions or more...

What are they looking for? How do you think or believe they evaluate your organization?

 

You do need a good website that grabs their attention and instantly conveys 


 1.  Your Vision Statement

2.  Your Mission Statement

3.  Your Strategy for reaching your Mission


 
The Basic info you need on your site! 

But what are donors really looking for?

Relationships...It's all about relationships!
Connectedness
Friendship

 We must have clarity about the mission. I look for people I respect who are practical-minded. I want to be sure it's the sort of project that I can bring something of value to, and in which I'm being involved in a meaningful way. So I always ask myself: Is it a mission I believe in? Do I believe in the people who are in it? and Does it use my talents and gifts in a way that engage me?"


There's a lot of noise going on in the world. We need to listen to God speaking to us and that it is God that is speaking.

When I stand before Jesus one day, I want to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant". Isn't that what you want to hear?


So what are donors asking themselves as they view your website and consider if they should invest in your cause?


So what is God calling me to do?
We all know there is no I in TEAM.
What is God doing in the world through this organization?

Can I be a part of their TEAM by donating to Our cause? Yes, it's our cause!

IF you are already donating or volunteering with this charity...do you feel a  part of the TEAM?

(8 p.m Tuesday update...Just returned from a American Red Cross Volunteer Appreciation event. Some 60 or so local volunteers attended. Once a year event...food, fun and fellowship.  
The Salvation Army also has a Volunteer Appreciation Lunch.

With the organization you donate to or volunteer with...do you feel a part of the TEAM?
How?
How do they communicate with you?
Newsletter?
Phone call for funds?
Phone call to see how you are doing and if you would like prayer?? 
If you are on social media, Linkedin and or Twitter...do you communicate that way? Retweets on Twitter and Status Updates on Linkedin? Do they acknowledge your efforts? Do you feel a part of the "Team"?

Have I prayed about how I might be a good steward and use God's funds to further His cause through this organization?

Do I need more help in evaluating this organization?

See this site:  Checking out a non profit before investing in it.

 

 If you have questions about the non profits mission and if they are TRUE to the founders original mission, Check my blog post on this very important concept!

 

  Would love your feedback!

Blessings on your journey!

Helping Your favorite Christian Non Profit Stay On Mission!

"Peter Greer and Chris Horst have identified one of the deepest challenges any leader faces." - Andy Crouch, editor, Christianity Today.

As Christian organizations grow and professionalize, their mission often becomes cursory or expendable. Again and again, leaders have watched their ministries, businesses, nonprofits, and even churches lose sight of their original goals in the process of expansion.

Mission Drift provides the tools leaders need to keep their organizations "Mission True" or get back on track. All leaders will face Mission Drift at some point. In this important resource, Peter Greer and Chris Horst show readers how to leave an enduring Christian legacy and avoid drifting off course.

 Mission Drift Book Trailer

  

If you want to be more intentional in your giving and volunteering with your favorite Christian non profits, the following blog posts are helpful.

 

If you are an employee of your Christian non profit, you should be vigilant to see if they are true to their mission and if you wish to continue investing your life in this organization.  If they have drifted from their original mission statement, you have the opportunity and obligation to help them get back on track. Here is what you can do:   Mission Drift: What Is It, Potential Impacts, & Recovery Methods 

 

Mission Drift website 

 

Ok, so if you are still with me...what is in my best interest to do now?

 

Maybe we may be like the frog immersed in lukewarm water...and don't know what is soon going to happen. We don't know that our favorite organization is drifting off course.  

 

Most of us reading this are contributors to a non profit and if we are blessed with the opportunity to volunteer also we are most fortunate!

 

Some of us may be "Staff", employees or interns.

 

A few of us may be Board members.

 

And maybe someone is connected or working with a foundation or grant maker.

 

What should we be looking at and watching for?

 

1. As we look at our charities website, is their Mission and Vision statement and strategy for reaching it clear and to the point?

 

 2. What do they post on Twitter and Linkedin? Easy to check these sites.

 

2.  Is there a listing of the Staff and Board of Directors?

    Check them out on Linkedin. Connect with them. 

 

3. Is there a clear CTA (Call to Action) ? What do they want you to do? 

Are you part of the team?

 

 How To Get Viewers of your website to Come Back and Be a Part Of Your TEAM!

  

Look at the following websites to get more clarity on why this is important!

 

How to know if a non profit is true to their mission by looking at their website!

 

More on Vision & Mission

 

 

 

 

My latest Tweets on "Twitter"

 

Reflections on my early business life as a commercial lettuce grower.

  In Jesus Christ God gives us our identity, our purpose and our meaning in this life and in the life to come.1 Peter1:1-12 

Previous blog posts about our Lettuce Farm

We will not be around in 50 years. Our children won’t be around. Hopefully our grandchildren will be here.

This was my life before marriage as an only child.

Each of us has a story in his heart. 

Sometimes it is good to review the past events in our lives to fully understand how the LORD has made us, directed us and led us where we are today and why we are as we are. I believe it’s good for our children to see and understand this. 

 Looking back...I was so fortunate to have the parents I did and all the opportunities they gave me! So what may seem like a reflection of my successful business...in previous posts...I want to acknowledge how the LORD worked in my parents and me even when I didn't really know, understand and acknowledge this and be thankful and give all glory and honor to Him!

I also remember a verse from Exodus 20:12  "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."
 

As pastor Matt Erickson always says: “I must decrease so Christ can increase”…

 “The desire of my heart is for Jesus to increase in my life, and for myself to decrease. As Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” So hopefully as you read this and other posts by me the focus is not on me, but what the LORD has done in my life in the past. 

“When people look at my life, I want them to see less of me, and more of Christ. As I walk with Christ day by day and endeavor to follow him, I want HIS will and HIS power to be manifested in my life. He must increase. We must decrease.

Everything that has happened in my life life was NOT because of anything I did or accomplished. It’s all by the grace of God. His hand has been in my life directing me long before I consciously knew Him or even acknowledged him as Lord of my life. Although I had a highly successful lettuce growing business, I want to make sure that the LORD gets all the credit!

So hopefully as you read this and previous posts ...while the focus may be on me the LORD will get all the glory and honor.

Looking back…would have liked to have asked dad some questions…grand dad died when I was 14.  Why did he immigrate to America? Where did he get the $ to purchase his 11 acre farm in 1925 that eventually came to me…When was that 300 foot deep well dug?  It was a key ingrediant of a successful business!

We usually don’t ask questions or sometimes we think of them too late.

Decided to document our farm business as best I knew how…Hopefully answer some questions that our grand kids may be interested in sometime in the future when we (I) am not here. Hopefully some encouragement to them. Ok for you to read also. 

Some further reflections and observations on my early childhood and how it influenced my later life…with decision making. 

●My parents were not “religious”…not church goers…although for some reason they made it a priority to have me go to Sunday school as a child….At least  through confirmation.

  
●Had an idea of God, but no real personal relationship. That came years later after farm operation ended. Everything I thought I accomplished really was from the LORD. That will come in a later post!

●Parents were introverts as I was.

●Parents were hard workers, good people.

●Grew up as an only child.

●Parents were hard working...always in the field...Had times to get away...remember walking the rail road tracks with my only friend...next door neighbor. When we got to the trestles, he walked across...I usually left and went home. 

●Parents let me help and do most anything on the farm as a child.  Probably drove tractor around age 10 or so.  Low key encouragement!  Didn’t tell me what to do.…at least no perception of that. Led by example.

 ●On our way from Riverview grade school...walking through Lincoln Park to Lincoln Park Lutheran Church Confirmation class...friend would pick up old cigarettes along the way and smoke them. That was 8th grade. That was sort of the parting of the ways...friendship. 

●Later as a teen or even preteen...always had an interest in learning and doing something new or different...on the farm. 
  

●Always doing some kind of research ...those years without the internet!  Always read American Vegetable Grower magazine and research was done by snail mail. 

 ●Pre Teen: Parents gave me tons of opportunities to work on the farm. Develop a good work ethic. Saving money. 
 

●Had little projects like a row of yellow plum tomatoes that I picked and sold  and  the money was mine. Had a bank account as a preteen even.

●Had a small gladiola patch. Sold bunches of glads to Winkies 5 and 10 stores. 

●My dad was not in good health and didn’t participate hardly at all at least in my older teen years.

●Gave over complete operation of the farm to me a few years after high school.

●My mom was a key player and without her we wouldn’t or couldn’t have kept on. It was a family farm, although we had several high school kids help during the summer months. 

●So when things changed rapidly with city of Glendale expansion, my decision to end the business was also in consideration of my mom. A very hard worker. Time to end. Could maybe have worked a few more years…as passionate as I was with the business…I knew it was time to end this chapter of my life. Took another 8 years getting land up to grade level and selling it in small parcels. In the meantime…attended UWM…pre business  for two years until all the savings I had accumulated rang out…and I got position at A.L. Gebhardt Co. as a bookkeeper because of the accounting courses I had taken but mostly I found out later because I was treasurer of my church and my boss figured I was an honest person. Also, being at the right place at the right time. The hand of God was truly in this.  

As I now look back on my business days as a lettuce grower...I say to myself, "I wish I knew then what I know now."  Still trying to figure out what the LORD may be saying to me. 

Explo 72 Comes to Milwaukee   Next major event in my life

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P.S. Received a B.A degree from Trinity Intl. University in 1985. 2 years work in one year, having 60 credits done at UWM many years before. 


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Many years later…as a result of my prior interest in agriculture…I got involved with a Christian non profit, www.chapinlivingwaters.org.  Their mission was and still is: "Chapin Living Waters exists to help poor people in developing countries grow vegetables when there is insufficient rain. We offer simple, sustainable technologies for subsistence farming, bringing hope to the poorest people and the opportunity to solve their own problems."

"Chapin Living Waters was founded as a means to express Christian love to needy people in developing nations through small-scale drip irrigation technology. While much of our effort is directed toward missionaries working among these suffering peoples, Chapin Living Waters stands ready to assist any group, regardless of race, color, or creed. With 1.1 billion people going to bed hungry tonight, we are dedicated to working in partnership with as many organizations as possible."

● Worked with Chapin Living Waters as a volunteer, as Webmaster of their website and using social media, such as Twitter and blogs to maximize impact of their technology and expertise around the world. Reason Dick Chapin asked me to help with their website was because he knew I had made Eastbrook Churches website.

 

 
● As of August, 2014, Erick Wescott, a new Board member has developed a new website and is the new webmaster. I will continue as a volunteer with social media.


● Have represented Chapin Living Waters (Speaking & or booth setup) at various conferences such as: ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) Partners Worldwide, Agri Expo and Food Security Conference.

 "The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, strengths and a unique personality with different experiences.  I'm sure or hope that as we get nearer to the end of our lives...whenever that is...that we would like to finish our lives well and leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."​ 

That will be a good ending to our story!

Hope some of this will be of benefit to you!

Have a great day!

 

Some key verses from the book of Proverbs:

"For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths." Proverbs 5:21

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD'S purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty." Proverbs 21:5

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Proverbs 27:1

Just some true statement from the Bible... observations...reality, not promises from the Bible. Our actions have consequences.

While I thought I was directing my life and business, it was in reality the LORD!

To God be the glory!

 Richard

 

The Key to Joy!

 

Finding peace with God