I Would Like To Sing a Hymn

UPDATE, APRIL 2015: A generous family has offered to donate funds to help rebuild Emmanuel Evangelical Church in Los Cabos! For every $1 given, they will match two and a half times ($2.50) up to $35,000. If this goal is met, this will provide all the funds needed to begin construcion on a new worship center in May. 

We asked Vicki Reyes, TEAM missionary in Mexico, to provide an update on how their community is rebuilding after Hurricane Odile ravaged the Baja California Peninsula in September 2014.

“I would like to sing a hymn,” eighty-three year old Gilberto spoke out into the candle-lit room.  We could hardly hear him over the raging winds of Hurricane Odile. TEAM missionary Art Reyes had driven through the early part of the storm to bring Gilberto and his wife back to our home to wait out the night. At first, they wanted to remain in their borrowed one-room wooden house. As the storm got worse, however, they were glad to move in with the Reyes family for the night.

In a trembling voice, Gilberto began to sing a ranch-style Mexican hymn about the Lord as the potter and us as the clay. It was a beautiful moment. It helped us to resist being like Peter, focusing on the wind and the waves, and focus instead on our protector, our potter.

The next day, we found Gilberto’s home destroyed. He and his wife stayed with our family for several weeks. Thanks to funds sent in to TEAM for hurricane relief, Art and a few other Christians were able to build Gilberto and Maria a much larger one-room wooden house with a full bathroom. They were very grateful! Other relief funds provided members of the community with food, construction material, potable water and more.

Many businesses, homes and churches suffered extensive damage in the storm. Photo courtesy of Vicki Reyes

Thanks to the help of Operation Blessing, several cement block homes have been built, roofs have been replaced, and shoes and food items were distributed during a time of great need. Millions of dollars of damage and looted stores had left the area without many necessary items.

Two of the three TEAM-related churches in San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas were also very damaged. Funds have been coming in to enable the believers to repair or begin to reconstruct the buildings. The re-construction on Emmanuel Evangelical Church of Los Cabos should begin this month.

Beto attends Adonai Evangelical Church of La Playa, a TEAM church plant. His home was destroyed in the hurricane. Photo courtesy of Vicki Reyes

Please continue to pray for the families and churches in Mexico who are still working to rebuild their lives, homes, schools and businesses.