Mexico Mission Ministry

Mexico Mission Ministry

My name is Margaret Padilla, born in Yuma, AZ and now live in California. Mother, a Hispanic woman originally from Oaxaca, MX, and my father, German Irish from Indiana, USA. My father for a time was a deacon in a church before he ran astray. To this day, my uncle from my father’s side is every title you can think of in ministry. He has a church in AZ, ministry work and churches in Africa, and Europe. My grandmother, who has since passed would preach on the Indian reservations, oh how I loved going to the reservations. These were the seeds for my Mexico mission ministry.

So, from my father’s side of the family, I was destined to do ministry work. And for a time as a child, I was considered a mentor in church for the other children and would help teach them. My mother told me that even in elementary school, I would teach the children who did not know English. I helped the teacher teach them.

Struggle

And yet with such history, life was twisted. My father was an improper soul. Not all my childhood memories are grand. By the age of 15, I left home. I had a different view of how life was. Living carefree and yet always associating with the wrong type of people. By the age of 19, I was married and went on to have two lovely children. The marriage did not last, and I went on to my next relationship, which did not last either.

Surrender

Eventually, I was just tired. I was tired of the associations I would make, weary of those who did more harm than good, drained of every right thing going wrong. My brother and mother invited me to go to church as always, and I went. There, I gave my life back to God. I told God I was tired and wanted Him to stop doing all these things to me. If He would stop, He could do with me what He wanted. Yes, I had no shame, blaming God for all my mistakes!

My words were: “I give. I am empty and have no life left in me and am alone.” At that moment, I saw a hand, formed out of a cloud, come down upon me. It embraced me! The hand was so big I fit in the palm, and in that instance, I life filled me. At the same time, I heard a voice say, “You will never be alone because I will always be with you.” Those words to this day have given me such faith in Him.

New Direction

In the midst of all this, I was making the best out of a bad situation in my life. Someone even poisoned me because they were afraid of losing me. That was a close call for me. That person eventually took their own life. My pastor taught me was that my problems are God’s problems; I only need to give them to Him.

One day my pastor went to Asia on business; he ended up taking longer than anticipated. So, I needed a new church. There was a pastor who helped my pastor for a time, so I decided to go to his church. In the long run, I ended up marrying the pastor. Shortly after we married, we started a ministry in Mexico. My husband started preaching to pastors that were in need.

Beginning of Our Mexico Mission Ministry

Then one day, a woman approached and asked me if I could help her feed her children. She showed me a picture with so many children. Then, I realized these were not her biological children. She ran what is called a comedor, a soup kitchen, for children. My heart melted. I told my husband we had to do something for this woman and all these children. At first, he said he was too busy with all the pastors. I persisted, and he said, let’s see what we can do.

We started our ministry with a wagon of food that we walked across the border. We progressed to filling our Pathfinder once a month and crossing the border. I was amazed at how much food we took across the border. Someone donated a 16-passenger van. My husband removed all the seats and filled it with food. We cross every week with it. We have a ministry in Camalu, MX and another in Tijuana, MX. They are not merely soup kitchens. The word of God is taught to the children so they can show their parents. We also take clothes and medicine when possible. My husband preaches the gospel.

Other Ministry Ventures

In addition to this, I shared the word of God online to the people of India and Pakistan. We used a video conference, and I preached on the streets via video cam. They then called me on their cellular phones and took me from house to house to pray for the sick. It was such a fantastic experience.

Then, somehow my Facebook account, where all my contacts were, and all my preaching went through, closed. I couldn’t reopen the account. It was disappointing

Now I want to expand my knowledge and education at Christian Leaders Institute and see where this will lead. I want to see if the drama in our life is the preparation for what is to come. Perhaps I have merely dipped my toe in the water for what is to come.

Mexico Mission Ministry Dream

Our dream is to build a facility in Mexico that will house the homeless pastors, elderly, women, and children. This facility will be a school for the children, a rehabilitation center for the women, and a shelter for the elderly. There the retired pastors will have a purpose again and teach the youth. Before my time ends, I believe this will be a reality. Please keep us in prayer. Our church’s name is Fresh Seed. God bless you all.

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