“I’m showing up out of obedience,” shared Kym Satterwhite. “I really don’t have anything to offer.”
Satterwhite is part of the team reaching the Mixtecs – a people group from Mexico who came to the US and struggle to fit into both American and Hispanic cultures – until Odi Mendoza came along.
“I could see a change in Odi’s life from a normal man to a man that really loved God,” shared Odi’s wife, Tayde. After Odi accepted Jesus, he felt God pointing him to reach his own people.
Tayde continued, “When he started studying the Bible, he said ‘here in Richmond there are many from Mexico that are Mixtecs and nobody is telling them about Jesus.'”
But in 2021, Odi died unexpectedly from Covid complications. He left behind his wife and four children … and a new ministry without a leader.
“He was my right hand,” said Ronaldo Muñoz, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Nueva Esperanza in Richmond. He worked closely with Odi to meet needs in the community through the church.
“Since we don’t have our brother with us, we know that these people need the Gospel,” Ronaldo explained. “They need to know Jesus.”
But now their church is not doing it alone. Bethany Place Baptist Church in Richmond is right beside them.
“I provide resources,” Satterwhite shared. “I help with the food, and I help I teach English.”
“We need to build a bridge first,” Ronaldo said. “And that’s what we’re doing right now, we’re building a bridge. I say we’re going to pray for you. Let me share this story from the Bible, and they pay attention.”
“I can see God loves the Mixtecs, too,” said Tayde. “He has not abandoned them. He raised new people to continue bringing the Word to them. God has not forgotten the Mixtecs.”
Thanks to your prayers and gifts through Vision Virginia, your church is a part of reaching the Mixtecs through ministries like Bethany Place Baptist Church.
“We need to actually help them. They’re the ones doing the work,” Satterwhite added. “Tayde, Ronaldo, and Nueva Esperanza, they’re doing the work. We need to come along behind them and beside them and enable them to do what God has gifted them to do.”
