Mexico: Purepecha Story, Part 3
Music is very important to this indigenous community. Luis, Alberto’s son, began a Christian music group with other young people that began to come to their Friday night services. The group learned the indigenous language and began to sing evangelical songs in their local Purepecha dialect. They began to be invited to different family gatherings, and word spread in the community that “their message is so different, so freeing, so without guilt!”
Of course, this began to enrage the local priest of the traditional religion, and the community elders were very upset that Alberto was “turning their world upside down!” It was a story just like what had happened in Acts chapter four. Alberto was called to a meeting with the community elders and the local priest. Just before heading out, someone came to warn Alberto that they were planning to burn him alive in the town square. Alberto did not go to the meeting, which enraged the elders and priest even more.
The townspeople began to plot against the family, blacklisting them at the local stores. No one would sell them any merchandise, forcing Alberto and Julia to drive into the next town to buy their groceries. Alberto bought a taxi and was accepted into the local taxi union, but no one would take his taxi.
One day, a crowd with baseball bats and knives gathered in the street in front of Alberto’s home. They began to shout obscenities and storm the front gate. The mob was ready to handle this family once and for all, make them leave town in disgrace, and ex-communicate them from the traditional church and the indigenous community. This would mean that Alberto and Julia would have to give up their home, land, and life in Quinceo.
As the mob advanced on their home, Alberto relates the following: “As they began to bang on our gates, out of nowhere, two big dogs came at the crowd, one from each side, and began to bite at the people. There was blood flowing in front of the house, and the people were screaming because they had never seen these dogs before in town. We didn’t own any dogs either. The mob began to disperse in fear, running for their lives and screaming from their wounds all the way to their homes.”
The next day, the town elders and priest came to the front gate to talk with Alberto. They told him that his family could stay in town and that the blacklisting would stop because “your God is greater than anything we have ever seen or encountered in our town.” They were also allowed to keep having church on their back patio.
Today, more than 100 local people gather weekly to praise God in their native dialect and listen to a message that helps them grow in their faith and that evangelizes to the visitors that come. They are outgrowing the back patio and have put a down payment on a parcel of land that is a little bit outside the center of town. If they can buy this piece of land and build a church, it would be the first evangelical indigenous church in that town ever! It is a daunting task, but this family has faced huge mountains before, and our powerful God always takes care of them.
As an Alliance church in Guadalajara, we have come alongside this indigenous church during the last four years, getting to know them, taking work teams and ministry teams from our church to their community, and becoming involved in their lives like a sister church. We have begun to take monthly offerings to help this new church reach into their community and share the message of the hope and light there is in Jesus.
What began as a family following their “stolen” daughter to the United States became a story of God being in control of each step in the lives of Alberto and Julia, leading them tenderly and showing them love and mercy. In response, Alberto and Julia became obedient to God’s call on their lives to go and share with their community so that no one would perish but have eternal life. Their daughter Abigail’s death has been the catalyst for hope in this very dark and lost community.
Alliance Women is committed to prayer and financial support for this Circle of Hope ministry in Mexico. We have set a goal to raise $16,600. To participate, please visit www.alliancewomen.org/give.
Download this project profile.
Mexico: Purepecha Story, Part 2
Alberto and Julia grew in the Lord and started attending an evangelical church in their small town in West Virginia. The leukemia treatment for their daughter was not having much effect and, unfortunately, Abigail died at the tender age of 18.
Alberto’s father demanded that the family bring her body back to their small community in Mexico so that she could be buried in her homeland. The family acceded to the wishes of the grandfather and patriarch of their clan. As the family returned to the little town of Quinceo, the spiritual darkness of this indigenous community was so strong and almost overwhelming for the family. As they held a service for Abigail, Alberto and Julia wanted to make it a celebration of not only her life but of the new life the whole family had experienced. The service reflected their faith in a living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Their immediate family did not know how to handle this “new” Alberto and Julia and began calling them “hallelujahs”—a common derogatory term for evangelical Christians in Mexico. Alberto and Julia could feel the oppressing darkness of their community; it was in stark contrast to the freedom and light they had experienced through their new life in Jesus. As they say in their own words, “We didn’t have any theological training, but we had life training through our church in West Virginia, Bible studies, our personal experiences as believers, and our fellowship with other believers. There was darkness all around us. We HAD to share with our family this new life we had experienced, this freedom, and our certainty that we would see our daughter again in heaven! Our family didn’t know anything about Jesus!”
After the funeral, Alberto talked with Julia and said these words: “How can we return back to our comfortable life in West Virginia when there are so many people dying every day in darkness and wrong beliefs, going to hell, being lost forever?”
Julia wasn’t so convinced at first. She liked her life in the United States. She had a beautiful home that they had built little-by-little. Their two boys were deeply involved in church, school, and sports in West Virginia. But the intense darkness that enveloped their family in Mexico began to work on her heart, and Julia knew that she had to obey and stay in Quinceo. Julia would once again begin a new life and become a witness to her community of the amazing power of Jesus and all that He does for His children.
Alberto and Julia received land as part of the indigenous community and were also able to buy some land in town where they built a home for their family. Using the back patio, they began to build an area that they would open to the town. Alberto and Julia started holding church services every Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. Alberto began to preach, sharing from the Bible and from his life testimonies of what Jesus had done for him and what Jesus wanted to do for others in this community.
In December of 2020, the Circle of Hope made its first trip to the town of Quinceo in the state of Michoacan, four hours south of Guadalajara, as part of an integrated church-planting strategy to reach and train the Purepecha, an indigenous people group. The goal is to plant a new church, Breath of Life, in the nearby town of Paracho and establish the community development ministry of Circle of Hope. Once a suitable office is found in Paracho, the church and Circle of Hope will begin to offer Bible studies, spiritual counselling, legal aid, and job skills training for home micro-businesses.
Alliance Women is committed to prayer and financial support for the Circle of Hope ministry in Mexico. We have set a goal to raise $16,600 for this vital ministry to women. To participate, please visit www.alliancewomen.org/give.
Download this project profile.
Mexico: Purepecha Story, Part 1
Alberto and Julia left their little town of Quinceo, Mexico, in 2012, following the birth of their daughter, Abigail. Julia had been “robbed” by her boyfriend/husband at the age of 14 and promptly taken to the United States to begin a new life.
Julia couldn’t bear to be without her only daughter, even though the customs and traditions of their indigenous people called the Purepecha allowed the husband to do whatever he wanted with his new family.
Alberto and Julia received visas for the United States and settled in West Virginia with their young son. Alberto worked as a roofer, and Julia worked in the kitchen of the local hospital. They continued looking for their daughter, but it was not easy. The husband did not want any interference from the family of his young wife, so he kept changing where they were living.
After another son was born to Alberto and Julia, they learned of the whereabouts of their beloved daughter. Abigail had reached out to her parents asking for help. She, at the age of 16, had two young children and was diagnosed with leukemia.
Alberto immediately drove to southern California, picked up his daughter, and brought her back to seek treatment at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. He would not let Julia care for their grandchildren, but at least Abigail was found and would be able to receive help for her illness.
People from a local church heard about their story and began to minister to this family. They sat with them in the hospital and shared with Alberto and Julia about Jesus. The family soaked up this message of hope and received Jesus as their Savior and Lord. In Mexico, they had never heard this message; their indigenous community put their hope in things, spirit animals, and nature. Never had they heard of salvation by grace, a free gift from God.
The family felt whole, free, and grateful to rest in Jesus and His promises. It is an amazing transformation when someone is truly freed from the shackles of idol worship, animistic beliefs, and non-life-giving rituals. The message of “Jesus only” changed their world—Alberto and Julia and their family were truly free!
In December of 2020, the Circle of Hope made its first trip to the town of Quinceo in the state of Michoacan, four hours south of Guadalajara, as part of an integrated church-planting strategy to reach and train the Purepecha, an indigenous people group. The goal is to plant a new church, Breath of Life, in the nearby town of Paracho and establish the community development ministry of Circle of Hope. Once a suitable office is found in Paracho, the church and Circle of Hope will begin to offer Bible studies, spiritual counselling, legal aid, and job skills training for home micro-businesses.
Alliance Women is committed to prayer and financial support for the Circle of Hope ministry in Mexico. We have set a goal to raise $16,600 for this vital ministry to women. To participate, please visit www.alliancewomen.org/give.
Download this project profile.
Circle of Hope: Vero’s Story
From the age of five, Vero lived alone in the central plaza of Guadalajara, Mexico. She tells of finding a big tree in the plaza that she made into a little resting place to get out of the blazing sun. Vero’s life in the plaza was a refuge from what she was experiencing at home. Her mother was practically a prostitute and brought a different man home each night. At her lowest point, Vero was offered to the men as a special gift for extra money. There was a reason Vero had to escape her home and live in the plaza.
By age 15, Vero had her first child. After many men and four more children, she settled down with one man and found herself at our Circle of Hope office space taking the first workshop we offered—basic haircutting. We began each workshop with a verse of encouragement, introducing women to the Bible and Jesus from the very beginning. We would talk about the hope we can have in Jesus and why we were called the “Circle of Hope.”
One day, Vero asked me, “What is this hope you are always talking about? Is this something someone like me could have, too?” This simple question began Vero’s discipleship journey. She attended the Breath of Life Church, received the great news of Jesus as her Savior and Lord, attended baptism classes, and was baptized in 2020 along with two of her children.
Vero’s transformation is a work in progress. God has His hand on her life, and she is growing like a wildflower, looking beautiful in the process! Vero, who yearns to be able to finish her high school education, is leading the Sunday School in one of the Breath of Life Church campuses. She makes the teachers’ calendar, organizes the curriculum, and plans special days for the children. This would seem impossible if one looked at Vero as the world sees; but with God, nothing is impossible!
Vero has been transformed by the hope that she was looking for and received from Jesus! She belongs to a community of faith, a family that loves her and sees her through the eyes of Jesus. Her past is wiped away, and she is a new creature in God! Vero is now an important part of our community and has found her place to belong in the family of Jesus here in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Alliance Women desires to support women like Vero with our prayers and financial support. We have set a goal to raise $16,600 for the Circle of Hope ministry in Mexico. To participate, please visit www.alliancewomen.org/give.