Regalos de Amor (Loredo, Texas and Nuevo Loredo, Taumolipas)

When we arrived in San Angelo, Texas, we never dreamed we’d be entering Mexico early. But when we met with Pastor Tony Garcia on Wednesday night at Calvary Chapel San Angelo, the Lord pricked both of our hearts when he mentioned that he had just completed one segment of Regalos de Amor and was leaving that night to prepare for another give-away. Immediately, Joshua asked if we could join them. And so, our adventure began.

As a bit of back history, Regalos de Amor (Spanish for “Gifts of Love”) is a Christmas shoebox ministry. Many churches send lots of shoeboxes packed tightly into shipping boxes. The shoeboxes are separated into six categories: 3 age groups (2-5, 6-9, and 10-14) for boys and girls. The boxes contain hygiene items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant for older children), puzzles and games and toys, a coloring book with pencils or crayons, and last, a Bible that Regalos de Amor supplies.

Regalos de Amor is held in Nuevo Loredo, Taumolipas, Mexico. This is a border city, and its U.S. neighboring city is Loredo, Texas. We stayed at Loredo Stepping Stone, where Rick and Kim, former missionaries who now run LSS as a missionary support center, graciously hosted us. Stepping Stone is a dormitory for mission teams going to and from Mexico via Nuevo Loredo, Taumolipas, Mexico. For independent missionaries who are traveling through, one of the dorm rooms has been stripped of its bunks and holds a king-sized bed, a beautiful dresser and mirror, and a radio and television. It may sound like your typical hotel, but for missionaries who can rarely afford hotels, it was a little piece of heaven on earth. This is where we stayed, and we realized after one day that it was the first night of privacy that we had experienced in over a month. What a blessing!

Another team arrived the first night from Branson, Missouri, and ranged in ages from young to old – they were a pleasure to be with. We worked together on Friday, checking shoeboxes for inappropriate materials (such as witchcraft games and war toys and inappropriate magazines), and replaced them with simple games and toys and coloring books. We added Bibles to the shoeboxes, and then packed them away for the Saturday distribution.

Friday night, we went as a whole team to Nuevo Loredo, Taumolipas, Mexico. There, we did street witnessing in the park. This was difficult for the 20+ members of the team from Branson, because none of them spoke Spanish. So Spanish speakers, including Joshua and myself, took teams of 6. We passed out tracks and the teams learned phrases like “God Bless You” and “Good Afternoon” in Spanish. Joshua and another man led a young 16-year-old man to the Lord, and prayed with him. My team passed out tracks to everyone we met, going in a circle. Then I informed them that we would go back around where we had walked before, and look for people who seemed interested in the tracks. We prayed for guidance and for the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts. The first young man to witness introduced himself shakily to a man on a bench, and learned quickly that the gentleman could speak English. He did not lead him to the Lord, but they talked a lot about the things of God. Another young man used me as a translator to speak to gentleman on a bench, who was a Mormon. We did not lead that man to the Lord, either, but were able to witness to him about the importance of a relationship with Jesus Christ, who has sent his Holy Spirit to complete the work he began in our hearts. He was not receptive to us, and unfortunately, my limited Spanish prevented us from taking the conversation further. It was a joy to see the students gain an experience in witnessing, and we were very blessed to be there.

After the street witnessing, the students who were with me were very excited about the shoebox handout the next morning. To the chagrin of several very sleepy team members and leaders, they concocted a “wordless skit” (acting out a skit with props so as not to require speaking), and several Spanish kids’ songs for several hours. We finally found our dorm rooms way past midnight … making us very tired, and making our dorm mates very happy.

The Saturday distribution was held outside Nuevo Loredo, Taumolipas, in a landfill where a village had been established. The people were very receptive to us. Again, we split in teams, and walked along the dirt paths calling out “Good Morning!” until someone came out of their home. We informed many people that there were gifts of love at the church, and what time to arrive. By the time we had circled our portion of the village, my team had about 30 children holding our hands, and they were teaching the Americans little Spanish phrases. It was precious.

The distribution went well. We started with the skit that the students had made, called “The Sin Chair.” The premise was that I wrote the words, “¡Cuidado – Pecado!” (Lookout, sin!) on a piece of paper and got the children to say it with me, then laid it on a chair. When a young woman came out to sit on the chair, all the children screamed “¡Cuidado – Pecado!” It was a really great intro to the skit, and one that we hadn’t planned. Once the young woman sat, she was “stuck in sin,” and people representing money, beauty, strength, and the world’s pleasure came out and made hysterical attempts at pulling her out of the chair, followed by a young man holding a Bible. After reading the word silently, she rose from the chair and excitedly realized she was “free of sin!”

Afterwards, we sang Spanish kids songs with the children, then two messages were given: One to the adults, and one to the children. An invitation to salvation was given, followed by prayer. After the church service, everyone filed outside into six lines according to gender and age, and we passed out the gift boxes. The children were delighted!
The next morning, Joshua and I rode back to San Angelo, Texas, with a brother, and tiredly set out for Roswell, New Mexico, the next morning. It was a long weekend, but we were so blessed to enjoy it!