Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ:
I would like to take this time to introduce to you a newly established ministry that I have undertaken in our colonia in Mexico. We continue our work 10 miles outside Tecate, Mexico and have begun working with a group of recovering addicts that have a desire to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
In April of 2011, I met Humberto, who introduced himself as Robert. Over the following months we began to meet regularly. Through this process he gave his life to Christ. At that time he was serving as the director of a rehabilitation center for the organization El Meson. El Meson has five other locations between Tecate, Florido, Ensenada, Rosorito and Tijuana, Mexico. The organization wanted to start a new center in our colonia. A gentleman in Tecate donated land for the use of establishing this center. An adjoining property with housing was also to be used by the members of the rehabilitation center. A verbal agreement was given that free use of the property was permissible for the time span of five years with the condition that the men completed some major construction projects. In compliance with this agreement, the members of the center completed numerous projects.
It was later discovered the owner of the property has a negative reputation for his dealings with people. Beginning in July, the property owner, Miguel, began to raise the subject of possibly selling the property the rehabilitation members were occupying. This caused a major source of instability for the group. During this process I had conversations with Robert. He expressed at that time that he felt God wanted him to remain in this community. Robert directed the center in the fashion of a half-way house. Robert invited some other members in the center to attend church, and they also began to come to Christ. At that I told him if anything should happen at the property of El Meson, I could assist them in relocating to a property of the church, Hosanna. I also expressed an interest in establishing a Christian half-way house in our colonia. I believe this type of ministry is greatly needed.
On September 1st, the founder of El Meson met with the property owner, Miguel. Communication broke down and an agreement was not reached. The men were ordered to immediately leave. The founder of El Meson ordered the men to pack and relocate at one of the other centers. Robert decided in that moment to stay in our colonia. Six of the other men expressed the same sentiment as Robert. At 3:00 in the afternoon, the men began to pack and we moved their belongings to one of my properties. The slept in the House of Prayer that night. The next morning, Friday, I called the mayor of our colonia, George Cortez, who is also a personal friend. I asked if he could stop by my house for a meeting.
George came by that morning. I wanted to find out if the men had any legal recourse to continue occupying the original property. George informed us that there was very little recourse. The founder of El Meson would need to contract a lawyer. When Robert and his men expressed the desire to remain in our colonia, the founder decided to withdraw all support of the group. Due to permits and legal requirements, George informed us to not refer to the group as a rehabilitation center. The group was to be referred to as a retreat center. George volunteered the use of his facilities which included a house equipped with electricity, a kitchen and an outhouse. The men agreed to relocate once again and moved into George’s property that morning. (This house requires some immediate repairs such as replacing all of the broken windows, repairing the leaking roof, and rewiring the faulty electric cables.)
On the following Monday, I met with George to ask him how much time we would have to use the property. He gave us a time frame of 3 to 6 months, depending on the sale of his auto parts business. He assured us a 3 month notice of eviction would be given regardless the circumstances. Once the sale of his business was finalized, he planned to tear down the facility in order to build a tire and mechanic shop. ( Which would never work here in this area.) I asked him if he was willing to sell us the facility. He had offered to sell the property at $18,000 to a friend of his earlier in the year. I asked him what he would take as a down payment and monthly installments. He said $8,000 down payment and $500 per month. To raise $500 per month would be very difficult. I said that over the next six months I plan on raising the entire sum ($18,000) and buy the property. He was surprised, but agreeable. He said that if this is what God wants he is all for it. (George is a Christian and pastors a church in El Florido, Mexico.)
Here I am, needing help to secure this property in order to provide a place to help recovering addicts and alcoholics. A half-way house is a location that the men come to from a rehabilitation center. They are reintegrated into society, having rules and regulations to protect them. This means they have daily meetings, work in the community to help fund living expenses in the house. I have a list of needs besides buying the property.
In 2007, I established a non-profit organization in Mexico which cost $2,500. I had to get caught up on legal documents and I still need to file them with the State and Municipal government. My current paperwork is established through the federal branch of government. That will be added cost totaling approximately $700. This is the time to complete the state and municipal requirements because George, working in the political realm which currently leads the local seat of government, will facilitate my requests being approved very easily. Attached is a comprehensive list of the immediate needs and photographs.
I am looking for champions who will come along side and help to get out the needs that we have. If we get a lot of people to help, there will be no great burden on any one individual. Thank you for your consideration and prayer concerning these needs. Please, continue to lift up this group of men in your prayers.
If you have any further questions or concerns, you can call me at anytime at (619) 756-3004. Please be aware of the fact that we are in Pacific Standard time zone. If I do not answer, please leave a message. I will call you back the same day. My phone has limited signal range in our town, but I check messages regularly and return calls faithfully.
Sincerely,
Arthur E. Hackett, Sr.
LaFamily Ministries & Tecate House of Prayer