Lately I have been a bit frustrated,
asking myself, if I have
become so
blind that I can not see the poor whom I serve?
I am ashamed to say that I struggled a bit to share this with you. Embarrassed and ashamed that it is very possible that I have, become so blind and poor to see the needs of others. Losing sensitivity to the poverty we live among day in and day out. Perhaps because it has just become the new normal for my children and I. Where it does not faze us to see and experience the living conditions of our friends we visit each week. After all there is no illness or addictions in the family, there is both dad and mom in the picture and the entire family attends mass every Sunday together. However God insisted that I see them with His eyes. To see their needs and their worth.
For the last two weeks I have awaken in the middle of the night with a great desire to help them. With a burning desire within, that I must do something. Knowing that they have no way to build a home for themselves, As Marixa stays at home caring for their three children. Milton struggles to find enough work to provide for the needs of his family at times holding down 3 different jobs. If that’s not enough Milton was recently told to leave one of his jobs, as he confronted his employer and tried to defend the 32 underage children (some as young as 8 years old) working in the factory where he had been working at. Even with the struggles this family has seen financially both Milton and His wife know that they must praise the Lord and to be obedient to Gods will for them. That they must not lose faith.
It reminded me of Pope Francis’s call to all Christians to remember the poor “the treasures of the Church”. Pope Francis asked “ Do I, a Christian have at least one poor person as a friend?” I was overwhelmed with great Joy to know, I do. I truly do have friends who are poor! Pope Francis reminded all, that “the poor are valuable in the eyes of God”, that “they need someone to take them by the hand”. But more so “the poor remind us how we should live the Gospel: like beggars reaching out to God.”
Knowing that many of you are gearing up for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and giving Tuesday. Scoping out the ads for the best deals for this year’s Christmas Gifts for that special someone. Or perhaps you’re a business owner trying to find that perfect charity in which to make your companies end of the year donation to. I knew I must seize the moment and yet again become a beggar in the name of Christ and to reach out to each of you.
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| This is where they cook |
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| Kitchen area |
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| Buckets used as a sink |
I urge you to prayerfully and carefully take a look at the pictures of our friend’s home. This is what we as missionary see every day. Ask yourself what you would do if these were your friends. Perhaps even reflect on the things you see in each picture. The hanging clothes with no dresser drawers to go in. The beds, the walls in which anything and everything crawls through. Or perhaps your eye notices the dirt floor. Whatever strikes you about these pictures ask yourself if God is asking you to forgo one or two items on your Christmas list this year to help this family out. We cannot allow ourselves to just overlook the poor or to pass them by. We must see them as Christ sees them. VALUABLE! And as the treasures of the Church.
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| One of their beds, made with blocks and bamboo |
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| The children's bed, with sweet little Alondra taking her afternoon nap! |
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| A humble area. Clean dry clothes hang on a line, because their is no drawers. A table made of blocks and bamboo. |
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| Despite what it may seem, the home is very incredibly clean and in order. |
Please prayerfully consider making a difference in this families life. Giving them a gift that they could not ever possibly return. However your gift will not go unnoticed in the eyes of our Lord. We invite you to make a special onetime donation to help build a home for our friends. Milton, his wife Marixa and their three children all live in this hut made of bamboo, over a dirt floor in which contains no doors.
Our goal is to give them a small one room home with a concrete floor, brick walls and a door. If its Gods desire to provide more than enough funds for the small one room home, than we would use the extra funds to set them up with a water storage tank and an outdoor bathroom.
Our Christmas wish this year is that you will prayerfully consider making a donation so together we can build a home for this wonderful family. Whom have become are sweet friends. Because God sees the poor as the Treasures to the Church.
“Do I, a Christian
have at least one
poor person as a friend?”
Pope Francis
17 November 2019
To make a Special Donation
Online: Follow the link
Mail:
12611 Everglade Road, Abbeville, LA
70510
*** Important please
place in the memo:
HOME FOR THE POOR
*** If you have any question about the home that we would
like to build or would like personally to make the journey to Peru to help
build the home feel free to contact us at :
Karendelcastillo@familymissionscompany.com
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