FDC Logo
Building Relationships and Understanding Across Borders
 
 

In Memory of Pastor Rodolfo Angel Navarrete Arrieta

November 14, 1968-December 5, 2014

 

 
December 19, 2014

19 de Diciembre, 2014 

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

In this season of hope and expectation we are a community in grief.
On December 5, we lost Pastor Rodolfo, a great partner in ministry who was serving as the Vice President of our board at the time of his death.  Rodolfo's greatest gift was his love of God, his family, his church, and his community.  His ability to love and to think outside of the box served the ministry of Frontera de Cristo well and his leadership will be missed.

Thembi Henderson-Stephenson, one of FDC's bi-national interns in 2000 who was hosted in the home of Pastor Rodolfo and Sister Lorena wrote:   What a great servant of God.  May God bless his family. They opened up the doors to their home when I was in Agua Prieta and taught me the love of Jesus in the way in which they welcomed me.  This family also did as much as they possible could for the community through the love of Christ.  I am grateful for having known him."

His passion for the unity of the church was not only demonstrated in his ministry with Frontera de Cristo, but also in his service on the Alianza de Pastores in Agua Prieta.  The churches in Agua Prieta had a reputation of being antagonistic toward one another when Pastor Rodolfo arrived in 1999.  One pastor said early in Pastor Rodolfo's ministry here: "The Presbyterians are the only ones to get along with all the churches."  A testimony to Rodolfo's leadership of preaching and living the unity that God desires for us.
At one of three funeral services, Pastor Jose Luis de la Torre of the Centro Evangelistico marveled at how God chose Rodolfo who had a hard voice to understand, had lost a leg due to diabetes, did not have the charismatic gifts of some to be an divine instrument to bring the churches together-- something that the "great preachers" of the city with all their physical capabilities could not do.
On the Sunday before he died, Pastor Rodolfo already battered and drained physically preached on hope.  "We live and die in hope and expectation because we know nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love God in Christ Jesus."
Let us live in hope!


 

Peace,

 

 

        Jocabed Gallegos       and      Mark Adams

      Coordinators

 

 

 

 

 From Seed to Cup Calendars

 

 

Our Just Trade Center has developed our second annual From Seed To Cup Calendar that introduces some of the people who make it possible for coffee to journey from the volcanic lands of Chiapas to cups throughout the US.

 

Order your calendars today online today!  Indicate how many calendars you want in the memo line.  You can also place your order by emailing Trisha.

 

1 to 9 calendars for $10 or 10 or more $7.50 each! 

All proceeds above costs will go toward the development of the new coffee shop (see below)!

Check out some of the professional photos that make up the calendar and "meet" a few of the amazing folks of Caf� Justo!
 

 

        Posada Sin Fronteras

 

Mother and Son Divided by the Wall

FDC, the Migrant Resource Center and CAME Migrant Shelter facilitated the 12th annual Posada Sin Fronteras remembering the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and their search for a place to stay only to be rejected.  Because there was "no room in the inn", Jesus was born in a "manger".  Read Mark's reflections about this strange dwelling for God.

 

Click to see more photos from the Posada Sin Fronteras.     

The Migrant Resource Center: A Place of Encounter

 


 

Brenda Cuellar FDC Bi-national Intern Serving as US Coordinator of Migrant Resource Center

Guillermina is from Mexico with her home in South Carolina. Mark is from South Carolina with his home in Mexico. Their lives intersect at the Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta.  Read a Mission Connections Letter from Mark Adams, our US Coordinator reflecting on this encounter between parents one for whom the border brings worlds together and the other for whom the border tears worlds apart. 


 

__________________________________________________________________________________________
 

We know that most of your communities have populations of folks who will benefit from the Executive Action and others who will not-- for instance, even if they meet all other requirements, if they have not been in the country continuously for five years, they could be disqualified. 

Below are resources that you can use as you continue to inform your audiences on executive actions.

USCIS breakdown of initiatives, who is eligible and how to apply:

http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction

http://www.uscis.gov/es/accionmigratoria 


 

White House Fact Sheet on Executive Action

http://www.whitehouse.gov//the-press-office/2014/11/20/fact-sheet-immigration-accountability-executive-action 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/20/hoja-informativa-acci-n-ejecutiva-de-responsabilidad-por-la-inmigraci-n 


 


 

 

"The First Stone Laid" For Coffee Shop

 

 

 

 


 

Raul Garcia, director of CRREDA, Jocabed Gallegos, Mexican Coordinator of FDC, and Ildefonso Ortiz, Socio of Caf� Justo (not in picture-- he put on the mortar). 


 

As part of the Anniversary Celebrations, FDC together with partner organizations CRREDA drug rehab center and Caf� Justo symbolically began the building of the new coffee shop we are working together to develop. 


 

The new coffee shop will provide:


 

1) an avenue to increase local sales of caf� Justo and spread the economic impact;

2) a safe meeting/hang out space for adolescents and youths as part of FDC's new prevention and intervention ministry;

3) an opportunity at job training/a reintroduction to society for folks from CRREDA;

4) a space to hold community artistic events-- open mic nights, poetry readings, art etc.;

5) a space for CRREDA graduates and other graduates of drug and rehab centers to have AA/NA meetings;

6) a bigger space to receive visiting delegations and to have weekly FDC/Caf� Justo reflections and meetings.


 

While we have not yet raised all the money needed, we have felt called by God to go forward with the construction and trust that the final funds will arrive.  The architect will have the final blueprints for us this coming week.

 

Please consider joining us in the exciting new ministry by giving a year end donation on our secure online donation site or sending a check to Frontera de Cristo Just Trade Center, PO Box 1112, Douglas, AZ 85607.

 

 

  
   
 
Ministry Quick Links









Contact Information

 

Support 

Frontera de Cristo by:

  

1)  Joining us in giving thanks to God for:

  

  --the blessing of our call to witness that Jesus Christ is our peace across the borders that seek to divide us; 

 

2) Praying with us for God's guidance and help in:

  

--Responding to the reality of the impact of drugs on the families and communities of Agua Prieta;

 

 3) Providing Support to the Migrant Resource Center:

 

-The MRC invites YOU to visit or volunteer. Come, learn, and be blessed by our brother and sister migrants.

 

-MRC Donation needs:

 

-Shoelaces

 

-Underwear

 

-Socks

 

-MRC Volunteers commute by bike-but we need helmets and bike lights! Please consider donating to help keep us safe on

the roads.  

 

 

-Financial donations will help pay MRC operating costs, but food items when donations are scarce and keep our bicycles in operating condition.

 

 

3) Donating by clicking the donate now button.

Donate Now