December 2013 West Texas District Newsletter Article

The CNMC article for the West Texas District Communication Newsletter

On Saturday, December 14, Cactus Nazarene Ministry Center (CNMC) hosted the first official CNMC event – the FREE MARKET. In early November, we received a trailer load of clothes, household items, and toys from Nazarene Border Initiative. This began a dream to provide a Christmas outreach event for the people of Cactus offering clothes, toys, and more for FREE! Many more donations came in and the local YMCA graciously allowed us to use their building to host the FREE MARKET. Colorful advertising posters in four languages were posted around town, and a flyer went home in every school backpack.  

One of our prayers lately has been for God to provide a way for begin building relationships with the Burmese refugees here in Cactus. Well, God had a great plan! The FREE MARKET was scheduled to open at 12:00pm. At 8:30am, we had our first customers—a Burmese family. We allowed the children to pick out a few toys and gave them some cookies. As the mom was leaving, she turned to Jenni, and in broken English said, “You. Me. We work together. I help you.” By 11:00am, we had multiple Burmese families waiting for the doors to open. Once the doors were opened, we were flooded with people—Burmese, Hispanics, and Americans. In the first 30 minutes we had close to 150 people come through the doors and ALL of the toys, Christmas decor, and household items were gone! Throughout the day, we served at least 300 people and gave away nearly everything!

Perhaps the most touching part of the day was when a young Burmese boy by the name of Asura came in barefoot. By the time he left the FREE MARKET, he had on a pair of snow boots. Asura’s feet will be warm this winter thanks to the generous donations received and the love that was shared with everyone, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

A huge THANK YOU to the many volunteers who came from Cactus, Amarillo, Pampa, Dalhart, and even Mineral Wells to help on Friday and Saturday! Relationships were built, needs were met, and the love of God was shared—To God be the Glory!

-- Vito and Jenni Monteblanco, CNMC Directors 

 

Merry Early Christmas!

This past Sunday we were blessed to be able to speak at Dodson Church of the Nazarene in Dodson, TX. When I say that WE were blessed, that's exactly what it was! Part of our "job" is to speak at churches on the district (and surrounding areas) to share about CNMC, but it always ends up being that these churches BLESS US in immeasurable ways!

God had laid it on our hearts to look at this year's Advent curriculum, Celebrate, from NPH (which follows the lectionary) to see what the Scripture passage was for the first Sunday of Advent. Wouldn't you know that the passage provided was the passage that leads into our theme verse for CNMC?!?!?! Coincidence? I think NOT. That's just how awesome God is! So, we brought a sermon on Matthew 24-25 and shared about CNMC, enjoyed Christmas dinner with the church family, and participated in their Hanging of the Greens service. What a powerful day and a great way to bring in the Advent season!

It's typical for churches to take a love offering for us and/or the CNMC. Well, Dodson truly outdid themselves. Not only did they take a very generous love offering for CNMC, but they gave us a personal love offering AND showered our kids with Christmas presents! Every single present the kids received was EXACTLY what they would have chosen for themselves! Oh, AND they donated several items to CNMC! The blessings just kept coming and coming.

Thank you, Dodson Church of the Nazarene, for loving on our family and for supporting CNMC!

Olivia and Eli in front of their table of gifts!

The table of donations for CNMC.

This is just a fun one . . . the kids had never stayed in a hotel like this before. They were so confused! We explained to them that this was the typical hotels that we would stay in when we were kids. It may not have been what the kids are used to, but it was very clean and very friendly!

October/November 2013 West Texas District Newsletter

We’ve been in Cactus for almost two months now and we’ve learned that the old adage, “Blessed are the flexible for they shall bend and not break,” is so true! Each day in Cactus is a new adventure, especially as we get to know the people and the needs. 

Cactus is a town of about 3,100 people. There are 17 known ethnicities and over 20 spoken languages in this small town! The Texas Panhandle has become the number one location in the United States for refugees to settle. The majority of the refugees in Cactus are from Africa and Myanmar. In addition, there are many immigrants from Central America. As you can imagine, this means we have a lot of learning to do when it comes to relating to each culture. 

Through each new adventure, we continue to see God’s hand in the ministry here. For example, we have noticed that many of the Burmese ladies are pregnant. This is a culture that we are not very familiar with, so we felt that providing baby care kits might be one area in which to reach out. This was just one of the stories that we shared with Prairie Point Church of the Nazarene on October 6. After the service, the ladies stepped up and provided CNMC with four boxes full of baby-care supplies and blankets! Just one week later, a neighbor introduced us to a friend of hers who was in need of some legal assistance. The very next morning, the neighbor came to us to ask for help for her friend. Her friend has given birth early that morning to a baby girl. The baby was early and she had nothing ready. We were able to reach out to this family by putting together a care kit for this brand new baby. Thank you, Prairie Point, for your faithfulness in giving. God provides just in time!

We would love to share more stories like this with your congregation. God is definitely alive and working in Cactus! We have one Sunday available to speak in January, and several available in the spring. Please contact us if you’d like to support the ministry of Cactus Nazarene Ministry Center by having us visit your church.

Please be sure to check out the CNMC website at www.cactusministries.org. We have recently updated our needs pages. There you will find more specific needs to your congregation might be able to meet.

We regularly post pictures and updates on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CactusNazarene. Like our Facebook page and keep up-to-date on what is happening at CNMC!