There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

1 John 4. 18

Seeds of hope are emerging under the warm desert sun. The Tailoring Project that began this past January is teeming with momentum, excitement, and hope.

Two months ago, these five beautiful women from Palo Chino knew nothing about how to sew. Yesterday they stood before us after over 48 hours of sewing classes, and proudly displayed the items that they, with their own two hands, had created: pillowcases, kids’ fleece pajamas, tablecloths and place-mats, tortilla warmers, boxers, skirts…

The hearts and spirits of these women have been infused with strength and hope. When we asked how their families had responded to their involvement in the tailoring project, the majority of them said: “You can’t learn to sew”, “You’re too old to be starting new things”, or “Why are you wasting your time?” But despite the daily opposition, these women have ascended and developed a new fortitude. “They are exuberant light, full of confidence and strength. It is beautiful to see them shine for their community. Negativity has the potential to destroy, but these women have chosen to rise above it”, says Joy Stanley, head of marketing and public relations for Yobel Market.

The tailoring project is the first of many initiatives focusing on building a strong, sustainable community. And far beyond our expectations, these women have joined together and are standing behind one another, cheering each other on and growing together with new bonds of unity.

Regardless of the climate on the border, Yobel has chosen to wholeheartedly invest in our Mexican brothers and sisters in Colonia Palo Chino, believing in the extraordinary ability and potential of these women to bring tangible change to their families and community. They are a truly dedicated team, learning through leaning on each other and pulling each other through.

The honor of serving and sharing life in Juarez grows in our hearts day by day. Thank you to all who have contributed, supported, and invested in this amazing community of people!

Visit our Gallery for a deeper look into our incredible weekend.

Seeking our own glory with men makes faith impossible. The deep self sacrifice that gives up its own glory and seeks the glory of God alone, and that awakens in the soul spiritual sensitivity to the divine – that is faith.

A. Murray

This is the second in our series of five videos with our friends from Yobel Market.

Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.

Pope John XXIII

hope (n.)
• a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen
• a person or thing that may help or save someone
• grounds for believing that something good may happen

Despite the barrage of negative news coming from Juarez, despite the despair and darkness, we will not lose hope, we cannot. Thank you, Greenwood men, for choosing to be hope in Juarez, and for sharing your personal, on the ground perspectives from this city the world has neglected. Your bravery, your hope in the sovereignty of our Good Father, your belief in the Light that obliterates darkness and your choice to act has bolstered our spirits and fortified our strength.

We are marching forward and excited for the restoration that is coming to Juarez as we choose to join together and fight, to be the hope that our brothers and sisters so urgently need. As we dream of creative new ways to enable our Mexican family, we invite you to share your own creative dreams and ideas. We would love for you to be a part of this beautiful voyage, and for some, that may mean developing your own ‘on the ground perspective’, walking in the dust of the Juarez streets, seeing with your own eyes the persevering beauty. Please contact us if you would like to be a part of this story in some way.

We are pressing on to bring hope to Juarez, Mexico, but we cannot do it alone. As I said in Fatally Comfortable, “Every day we will wake up and do something, and eventually we will have ushered in freedom, beauty and life to this country, an ocean of water to this parched desert, even if it is drop by drop. We know that this burden is too big for us to bear alone; it gets a little lighter as more and more people decide to carry it together.” As our belief and hope increase, so does our power to bring change.

Every thing that is done in the world is done by hope.

Martin Luther

As the story unfolds we will continue to shed light in places that popular news media seems resistant to go. Although we will continue to relate the harsh reality of the violence, pain and oppression of our wounded city, we are dedicated to telling the stories of hope and shining a light on the moments of peace and normalcy.

We are idealistic but not delusional. We are carriers of hope and hope is our story. Hope is what drives us forward. Hope is what keeps us going back to Juarez. And hope is what will propel us and everyone fighting with us to bring the change that Juarez so urgently needs.

We cannot stress enough that Juarez is a city saturated with very good people. It is not just a haven for monsters and killers; it is the home of over a million people who are just trying to live life. It is a city of survivors. It is a city of strong, determined people who crave opportunities for a better life for themselves and their children. Families that want to see their young boys finish school and find good jobs rather than fall into the ever-widening chasm that has swallowed up over 29,000 lives to date.

We are grateful for each of you who are standing with us and our brothers and sisters in Mexico.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

James 1.27

The last 48 hours in Juarez have been hell. The news of women and children and innocent people being slaughtered is infuriating. If we allow it, this news has the potential to crush our hearts and obliterate our belief in anything good. Unfortunately, a lot of people will read about yet another massacre in Mexico and they will strengthen their resolve to stay as far away and disengaged as possible. More El Pasonians will stay home. The streets of Juarez will become even more desolate.

So, what do we do with this news? The short answer is to engage. Negative reactions empower despair and fear, and do nothing for building opportunities and solutions. Maybe that doesn’t mean crossing the border with us, but all of us have the ability to shine a light in the darkness. We cannot run away from the border, nor can we charge blindly into danger, but we must engage. We are compelled to fight against the darkness with a light and a hope which spur creative solutions.

Though the videos may be amateur, I feel that these short commentaries from our brave friends shine a bright light into the darkness of our borderland. And even the smallest flicker of light is visible from great distances for those enveloped in darkness.

Look on victims of abuse as if what happened to them had happened to you.

Hebrews 13 – The Message

El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico appear to be one great city if you fly over at night. Here on the ground El Paso and Juarez are called “Sister Cities”. Ironic.

Why? To begin with, for its size El Paso is ranked the second safest city in the U.S.. Conversely, Juárez is the most violent city in the Northern Hemisphere, some say it is the deadliest city in the world. The only thing that separates the masses is a thin imaginary line called The Border.

Yes, it’s a weird place to hang out. For instance, yesterday evening before we crossed the border, we stopped at a funky coffee shop in downtown El Paso and bought a pound of fair-trade-organic Ethiopian coffee. Less than five minutes later we were in downtown Juarez, just a couple of blocks from where a car bomb exploded last July, killing three people.

Charles Bowden explicitly scrutinizes the statistics with his candid and seasoned reporting. The following is his consideration of the complexity of the border stats taken from an interview by Jeremy Gantz.

How is it possible that El Paso is one of the safest cities in America, with falling crime rates, while Juárez lies across the Rio Grande?

Well, it’s a question that’s ignored, because one of the constant themes is that violence is spilling across the border. That’s a lie. It seems that if you put people in a city where the police are not totally corrupted, where they’re secure in their property, where they can get a job that pays a decent wage, they don’t kill each other.

I am thankful to be an artist; I am blessed because the act of creating causes me to be thankful. If, in the midst of poverty, even in the midst of plenty, you can take time to enjoy the process of creating something colorful or pretty – something that mimics the beauty of God’s creation – I believe you will come a bit closer to knowing Christ. If you share that creative spirit surely you will be blessed.

-Lisa Ambler- founder of Art for the Nations

Creativity. Such a powerful word. Such a powerful tool. This has been our heart, our goal, our focus the past months: to bring hope and restoration, dignity and autonomy through creativity to Colonia Palo Chino, to Juárez, to Mexico.

That is why when we heard of Art for the Nations, our ears perked up. This is a nonprofit ministry out of Denver whose entire point of existence is to promote creativity all over the world, in places that a necessary focus on raw survival has stolen value from any creative pursuit. The founder and artist, Lisa Ambler, was inspired to start this program 15 years ago as she sat on a dirt road in Juárez, Mexico, creating art with the local children. Now many of those children have kids of their own. Maybe some of them are here today in our colonia, doing these same projects.

An excerpt from their mission:

We believe that the beauty and hope of our eternal salvation is evident in the world around us and pray that we can teach others to see that promise.

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Art for the Nations, we were able to bring 5 lovingly hand-painted bags filled to the brim with art supplies to our colonia to help these children learn to think creatively. It was wonderful to see their smiles, their excitement, their hope as they created beauty with their own hands. This is our desire, that through efforts like these the children and youth of Juárez will cling to hope, continue to dream and think in new ways about life and their surroundings, and stand up to creatively bring lasting change and essential peace to their home.

Be sure to check out their website, and if you are in town, go check out their beautifully creative boutique! All proceeds go toward helping them send bags all over the world.

The morning after we arrived we found ourselves in the midst of a Vacation Bible School for the local kids that was completely hosted by the youth of Juarez. These same youth have, for the past six months, been using our half-finished community center for weekly worship, celebration, and prayer for their city. These youth are crying out for more, more for themselves and restoration for their city, and they are going after it even when surrounded by dirt, tar paper and chicken wire. They have discovered the truth of the hope of our Good God for this city, and they will not relent. They have not been paralyzed by the fear that so easily entraps the masses, they have not given up after seeing the desperation and despair, hearing daily of the massacre in their hurting city, or seeing the horrifying pictures splattered all over the papers in the streets. They have not given in because they are looking up, they believe there is more for their city, and they believe in something greater that no despair can take down. And so they continue to fight on against this raging war with another kind of ammunition: hope… and water!

Helping Hands is a small group from Peace with Christ Lutheran church in Aurora, Colorado, which recently hosted a gigantic yard sale on their church parking lot. Eighteen families came together compiling heaps of items for the largest yard sale that we have ever seen. All of the proceeds went to support our friends Juan & Carmen who have built an incredible ministry feeding some 400 children at our local elementary school. The deals were smoking and we were thrilled to share in this opportunity to serve families in Palo Chino with our friends and advocates from Helping Hands!

This is their mission (which seriously rocks!)

Our ministry focus will be serving our community as a family: “Families in service together and serving families everywhere.” Our primary goal includes ensuring that the next generation (our kids) understand the importance of serving and are actively involved in as many service activities as possible.

Thanks Helping Hands! (Check out more Helping Hands Service Project photos HERE!)