My name is Elizabeth Chan, and one of my favorite stories happened when I went to Culiacan, Mexico, last year on behalf of Global Recordings Network (GRN) to share the story of Jesus.

We divided into groups and went into the camps for migrant workers. I wondered, “What am I going to see in the camps? How are the people going to be motivated to come and hear?”

I was paired up with another senior missionary and we went down the rows, door to door, diagnosing, or identifying, what dialect was spoken by each person.

We encountered a family who was super excited because we had their language. But we just kept moving because at this point we hadn’t finished our diagnosing. We wanted to identify all the languages and dialects needed, to identify who all we could serve.

After about 30 minutes, that eager family came running towards us. They sounded almost desperate. “Have you been to our house yet? I don’t want to miss my CD. I really want my CD in my language. Do you have it yet?”

I said, “No. We are still going down the row. We’ll go and duplicate it for you. But don’t worry, I’ll slip it underneath your door if you’re not there when we return. Don’t worry.”

That just touched my heart because there is such a hunger for the Word. They don’t have anything in their language and they want it so bad, to hear the story of Jesus in their language.

During the diagnosing process, they only heard one story in their language, and they wanted more. That’s why they immediately came back.

Building the Church in Mexico

Last year was my fourth year going to Culiacan, and another thing I saw was the Church in Mexico really stepping up to the plate and getting involved in this project.

I actually got to go to a church that was founded because of this project in Culiacan, and I’m happy to report this church is very healthy.

They have been planting churches in the villages and planting churches around the camps. And every Sunday they sent a group of people into the camps to have a little service or at least a Bible study as a follow up with migrant workers that have heard of the story of Jesus because of GRN.

So this is really encouraging. The nationals are finally seeing how valuable this ministry is and how valuable the Church’s part is, following up with them and coming to disciple them to help the people grow in Jesus.

Culiacan Project 2019 Update

This annual project is happening right now, as you hold this message in your hands. As you can guess, things can change quickly with a project of this scope, but we did want to provide this snapshot for our friends.

Two weeks before the trip begins, the advance team is scheduled to arrive at the Esperanza camp to finish preparations before receiving between 60-80 volunteers to visit the migrant workers in the agricultural fields.

We have the challenge of quickly distributing digital media in more than 120 languages. We hope that each team of 12-15 people who visit the camps will have the necessary digital means to spread the gospel in the language of the day laborers. We use many different forms to try to accommodate everyone, including USB drives, micro-SD cards, donated cell phones, CDs, DVDs, and more.

We also know that many of the day laborers use social networks to be in contact with their families and friends, so we are looking at new ways to distribute GRN recordings socially, as well.

Chucho Loyo | Director

GRN Mexico