By Keith Martinson, WHPC Mexico Mission Team
WHPC has had a presence in Patzcuaro, Mexico since the early 2000s, when WHPC members visiting Patzcuaro saw a need to help the children there and started a feeding program in the local Presbyterian church. Since then, with help from the WHPC Mexico Mission Team and the larger church, the program has grown into a formal afterschool Christ-based program named AMO Patzcuaro. (Amo means “love” in Spanish.) WHPC has been supporting AMO for seven years.
AMO serves children and families who live in a poor area of Patzcuaro, with the goal of bringing them to Christ and improving their life skills. These children and their families have very limited resources and face many difficulties in their lives on a daily basis. AMO strives to meet their physical, educational, spiritual, and nutritional needs.
AMO meets twice a week, on Thursday and Sunday, for four hours each day. The program begins by serving a hearty meal to the participants followed by a teaching component that uses classic children’s literature to teach the children not only reading but also a moral lesson. This is followed by a Bible study that uses verses to emphasize these moral teachings for a Christian life. They wrap up with a time for games. If the weather is nice, they may have outdoor activities. After AMO, the children join their parents and other adults for a church service. Currently, the program serves about 30 children ages 4 through 16 and their families.
Students participate in AMO’s program, which combines literacy instruction and Christian teaching.
AMO is run by Alejandro (Alex) and Veronica Sanchez. Alex is also a minister who serves a church in Patzcuaro. AMO first started meeting in the basement of his church, which was a rented facility. It soon became apparent that the facility was inadequate for both the church and AMO. The building had dirt floors, the walls leaked, there was mold, and the kitchen where the meals were prepared was inadequate. A new location was found and rented. It was old but met the needs of both the church and AMO.
After several years in the rented facility, Alex and his church decided to purchase a facility instead of renting one. Alex had an agreement with the owner of a new building to purchase it, and he approached the WHPC Mexico Mission Team to ask if we could help. We liked the idea.
Each year WHPC takes a mission offering at the Christmas Eve service to support one or more mission partners. In 2017, following the Mexico team’s suggestion, WHPC committed $20,000 from the offering to the purchase of a new building for AMO Patzcuaro’s ministry.
After the successful offering, challenges arose. When Alex approached the owner to finalize the purchase, the owner raised the price, so Alex decided to look for another facility. After looking for over a year, he found a lot in a great location close to the town center and AMO’s current site. Alex had an architect friend look at the lot, and he agreed that it would support a building to fit AMO’s needs. With renewed approval from WHPC’s Session, the lot was purchased using funds from the Christmas Eve Offering. It took several months, but with help from the WHPC Mexico team, Alex was able to raise the further funds needed to construct the building. Construction of the new home for AMO began in August 2020 and was completed last month, in January 2021.
An image from late 2020 shows the new building nearing completion.
The WHPC Mexico Mission Team is in regular contact with Alex and his ministry. We believe that, with the construction of the new building, an already successful program will flourish. Whenever we travel to Patzcuaro we hear and see how Alex and the AMO program are making a difference in the lives of the children of Patzcuaro. Not only are non-churched children hearing about Christ, but also their parents are being introduced to the Lord. We were introduced to one family that runs a small bodega. They had not been going to church, but after their children joined the AMO program, the whole family were drawn to Alex’s church. We pray that AMO will continue to transform lives in Patzcuaro.
The main meeting room in the new building is now ready for worship and ministry.
If you would like to learn more about AMO and WHPC mission in Mexico, please reach out to the WHPC Mexico team, which is comprised of Mary Tucker, Mike Douglas, Barbara Martinson, and Keith Martinson.
