Posted on December 16, 2010 by Anji

When Maria was sent to prison, her nine-month-old daughter went with her. Peru prison laws permit children under three to remain with their mothers.

Soon, Maria’s baby became deathly ill. With reluctance, Maria sent her daughter to a relative for care and medical treatment. Maria suffered much  from the separation. She began to read the Bible and attend prison church. In her desperation she prayed, “God, you you really exist, heal my daughter and I will know you are the true God.” She had finally opened her heart to Christ. She served six years.

After release, Maria joined CFCI-Peru’s Shalom meetings. CFCI-Peru ministers to women who have been released from prison through Bible studies, pastoral counseling, and teaching on practical topics such as: self esteem, making handcrafts and dental care.

Maria and her husband now visit women in prison to testify to the transforming power of Christ. And yes, God healed Maria’s daughter completely.

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Elsa

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Anji

My name is Elsa and I am a CFCI missionary in San Salvador, El Salvador. I was born and raised here until I was 17 when my family moved to the US.

When in El Salvador, I lived a very affluent life. I am grateful that I never went hungry or had to worry about finding a place to sleep. However, I am also saddened because living this way blinded me to the poverty and brokenness that the majority of El Salvadorians experience. It wasn’t until after I moved to the US that I became aware of the numerous civil wards and severe poverty that El Salvador edured for decades.

In 2009, God opened the eyes of my heart and asked me to return to El Salvador to serve His people there. I joined a team of 10 CFCI missionaries and volunteers (all El Salvadorians) who work in impoverished neighborhoods of San Salvador.

It is my heart’s desire to serve my people with compassion and love so they can experience Christ’s healing touch, freedom, love and grace. That’s why I’m back!

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Palabra, Pan y Pez

Posted on April 6, 2010 by Anji

The Word, Bread, Fish Foundation is giving hope to the poorest communities of Medellin, Colombia. In the Barrio La Cruz, the Foundation is working to expand their Casa Azul or Blue House… which means a place of security in Colombian culture. For 6 years now they have been focusing their efforts on evangelism, education, recreation, culture, financial and material help. This year they are working to expand their ministry in Barrio La Cruz to build a better site for the ministry.

Take a look what Palabra, Pan y Pez is doing in Barrio La Cruz…

Palabra, Pan y Pez

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Colombia Mission Trip

Posted on March 2, 2010 by Anji

Christ For the City International is now opening up a team to Medellin, Colombia.

Palabra, Pan y PezCountry: Medellin, Colombia
Dates: April 8-17, 2010
Cost: $610 plus airfare, covers in-country ground transportation, meals, lodging, travel insurance and debrief. Must have valid passport.

Description: Team members will join a small group from the Christian Life Center Church of Chicago in Medellin, Colombia to work with CFCI missionaries. Team members will work with our ministry Palabra, Pan y Pez (Word, Bread, Fish). The trip will involve construction on our children’s center, where feeding programs and tutoring take place. Participants will also have the opportunity be involved with children’s classes as well as a pastor’s seminar and/or women’s  seminar.

Contact: Anji Stern at (402) 592-8332 or anji@cfci.org for more information

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Haiti Update

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Anji

First, thank you to everyone who has said a prayer and given a dollar to the people of Haiti. They are grateful, very grateful.

The Haitian death toll stands at 230,000 people. There are more than 1.2 million people who are living in spontaneous settlements and more than 460,000 people who have left Port-au-Prince for outlying areas.
-Office for the Coordination fo Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Julio Distributing Supplies

Julio Distributing Supplies

CFCI missionaries Julio and Suzette Volcy have been coordinating the shipment of relief supplies and assisting in food distribution and medical care.  Julio was able to help and minster to 4,000 people through medical treatments, counseling and feeding. They have adopted  the area of Lamotte, a suburb of the capital, to distribute food and set up a medical clinic.

How to help….
Pray for the people in Lamotte and for Julio and Suzette.
Give to CFCI’s Haiti Relief Fund.

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A Missionary’s Life in Costa Rica

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Anji

Sears Family Ministry in Costa Rica from Perception Funding on Vimeo.

Take an inside look a Seth and Andrea’s life as missionaries in Costa Rica. If you would like to support Seth and Andrea or other CFCI missionaries, click here or leave a note of encouragement!

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Haiti Relief

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Anji

In response to the devastating earthquake and after shocks that hit Haiti last week, Christ For the City International (CFCI), is asking people for help by giving to relief aid and by assembling short-term teams to help with reconstruction efforts.

Give.
Through donations given, CFCI is sending immediate relief aid to Haiti through ministry partners that are in the country. CFCI will also be sending later relief aid to help with reconstruction projects in the country. Our Haitian ministry partners have loaded supplies on a Mission Aviation Fellowship plane and are working with a group of first responders in Haiti. You can donate by clicking here and specifying “Haiti Relief Fund.”

Go.
Based on our disaster recovery experience in El Salvador and Peru, there will be a real need of rebuilding 6 months from today. CFCI will be working with the Haitian churches and sending short-term teams to Haiti beginning in the summer months to help with reconstruction efforts. As of now, CFCI is sending missionaries to meet with ministry partners, assess the damage, and help the people of Haiti. After hearing their reports, CFCI will have more information to give to those groups interested in participating in short-term teams in Haiti. Helping Haitians help Haiti and developing local leadership through the Haitian church is in our DNA and will be a critical component of our rebuilding teams.

Our challenge to your church or group is two-fold:

(1) Commit to send a reconstruction team this summer. While we don’t have exact dates, costs, projects or logistics worked out now, Hebrews 11:8 says “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” So, by faith, commit to send a team and we’ll fill in the details as we get more information on how we can best help.

(2) While your congregation’s hearts are now tender for the people of Haiti; take up an offering or raise funds that you can put aside for your summer reconstruction team to use to buy supplies.

Groups interested in forming construction teams can contact Anji Stern: anji@cfci.org or (402) 592-8332.

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Short-term Missions

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Anji

Here is a quote for the week, “If we could point NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope back toward planet earth, we’d observe a steady flow of no less than two million people moving around God’s globe every year on what has come to be called “short-term missions” (Mission Make Magazine, 2009).

As one who sends mission teams out to work with CFCI missionaries this absolutely astounds me! I encourage you, don’t wait for your upcoming mission trip to share Jesus, be Jesus everyday to everyone. Be bold, be brave. Be a life abandoned to Him!

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Urbana Update

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Anji

We had a great time at Urbana this year! We saw students impacted by the harsh reality of the world and by the love of God towards those who live in disparaging situations. We decided to engage college students by telling Helen’s story of hope and letting them write notes to other girls who are in the same circumstances. Helen’s story is as follows…

Click for Larger Picture

Click for Larger Picture

Meet Helen…
In her early teens she was trapped in drugs and prostitution with no way out. Life looked as bleak as it felt until she was rescued from the streets of Costa Rica. She spent 18 months at out RENACER rescue home. If you saw her today, you’d never know her past. Dozens of girls like Helen need to know that someone cares… Even that you care.

Over 300 students wrote notes. They wept. They Prayed. They wrote words of hope, love and encouragement in 6 different languages to the girls at RENACER. That’s not the end though… we are going to translate them into Spanish and send them to the girls of RENCAER. We’ll be posting their responses under “Helen’s Story” on this blog.

So, thank you to those who wrote notes to these girls. They will mean the world to them. I know they will. Keep checking back with us.

In Christ,
Anji for the Christ For the City International Team

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Urbana09

Posted on January 7, 2010 by Anji

Just a couple of days ago we got back from Urbana09. I would say that it was more than a conference… God changed lives there. We are so thankful that we were able to be apart of what God did there and what he is going to do in the lives of the students. If Michael, Yamid, Laura or Mary met you at Urbana, it was a pleasure! We loved talking to each and every one of you!

If you weren’t able to attend, let me fill you a little… Urbana is a mission conference held every 3 years where college students come from every walk of life to gather with one common goal: to change the world for God through missions. Students learn from some of the best teachers about missions, justice, poverty, business as missions, advocacy and the Word of God. Over 5 days, Dec 27-Dec 31, 2009, students eyes were opened, their lives transformed and a cry came forth to GO to the ends of the earth. Check out some pics by Wayne Yuan.

I’ll be filling you in a little more tomorrow about the impact that we saw happen first hand. Praise God!

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