Pastor Artemio has been heading up the Baptist mission in the town of Cintalapa, Mexico for 8 years. They started out with the branches of a willow tree as their only roof. Right from the start, Pastor Artemio has had a special affinity for young people. He requested financial and curricular assistance from the humanitarian organization, Compassion International, to help better meet the needs of the growing community at his Baptist church. When the representative from Compassion arrived he was terribly apologetic; but, he explained that without a building the organization could not proceed with the church’s request for sponsorship. Nevertheless, the Compassion representative returned a second time on Children’s Day – a day set aside all over Mexico to celebrate children. When the representative came across 110 beaming children, he was stunned.  He realized that this church may not have had a building, but it surely had love.

Since then, Compassion International has been providing assistance for children’s schooling, food, health care, hygiene training, Bible studies, arts and crafts, carpentry, computer literacy, sporting events and uniforms, amongst other
things in accordance with the program goals.  More than 250 youngsters ranging in age from 3 to 20 years-old and from a broad range of Christian denominations, attend the Compassion program one to three times a week. The objectives the program hopes to instill in the sponsored children are fourfold: commitment to Christ, good health and hygiene practices, motivation and skills to be economically self-supporting and capacity to interact with other people in a healthy and compassionate manner.

The Healing Waters system at the Catholic chapel, Beato Sebastián, provides 25 jugs of free water to the Baptist church every week. This is a significant savings for the program. Pastor Artemio expressed his gratitude and with a sweep of the arm, explained that much of the construction
that they have undertaken is from the money they have saved in water and food costs, thanks to the water donated by Beato Sebastián. Now, the church has both love for the children they serve and a roof over their heads to give them the physical shelter and security they need.