International Partnerships: Raquel De Jesus

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Raquel De Jesus

Raquel De Jesus

Raquel began sharing Christ’s compassion for the poor while still a child herself, teaching street children seated on a board between cans. Raquel’s school grew and soon occupied a chicken coop. Heavy cardboard partitions divided the classes. STCH Ministries’ first visit to Raquel’s school was discouraging. Her faith and passion were the only pinpoints of hope. When asked how we could help, Raquel shyly bowed her head, explaining that the rusted tin roof leaked when it rained.

Later, we returned to the Dominican Republic with good news: a donation for a new cement roof! However, the weight of the cement roof required digging huge holes at every corner and at intervals throughout the building to add cement beams and rebar for support. The resulting “collateral” damage to the interior of the school was catastrophic. But God was faithful and through donations and a lot of work by our DR crew and mission teams, a new two-story school was built to replace the rubble.

Raquel envisioned purchasing the termite-ridden shack on the lot next door to expand her capacity to care for preschool children, and space for a computer lab—all things which would allow her to attract more children from families who can pay for their education. God is so good!! By the time our Vision Trip 2017 was over, we had been promised funds to help purchase the lot. God continued to provide, even including computers and office furniture!

Today you will see what God can do with faith, donations, and mission team efforts. Where we saw a chicken coop, or a lot with a termite-ridden house, God always saw a beautiful new school.

Ladies for the Least Special Project Nearing Completion

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Ladies for the Least is a giving society of women who are passionate about impacting children and families in need, those who are among the least. The group raises money for special projects directly benefitting STCH Ministries, projects which are not included in the ministry’s general operating budget.

In April 2018, Ladies for the Least members voted to fund a project at Boothe Campus to revitalize recreational zones and repurpose an underutilized building. The work of the project includes:

  • Renovation of the old library into transitional apartments
  • Creation of a prayer garden and fire pit
  • Renewal of recreational areas for residents and visitors

As a result of the Ladies for the Least vote, the two playgrounds and the basketball court on Boothe Campus have already been enriched with new seating areas and additional safety mulch. A second part of the project will create a prayer garden and fire pit, providing a place for cottage families and visiting mission teams to come together for conversations, s’mores, or a quiet place to think. Finally, the old library-turned-storage-building is being remodeled to add three separate apartments that will house students returning home to Boothe Campus on college breaks.

Mike Perkins, Director of Maintenance at Homes for Children, and his team are working to bring the project to a reality. The playground portion of the plan is complete, and the foundation of the prayer garden has been poured and the bricks laid in the fire pit. The former library is well on it’s way to becoming a refuge for young adults; plumbing is installed and the interior walls are going up. The undertaking is on schedule and should be finished by the end of this year.

Jeny Cortez, Director of Development and curator of Ladies for the Least, describes the purpose as, “A platform to bring together women who have a heart for children and families, as well as educating ladies on the programs and resources that STCH Ministries provides. It is not just about raising money,” she explains. “We are looking to gain their involvement in ways such as: volunteering, promoting within their own networks, and participating in activities.”

The next Ladies for the Least annual luncheon is scheduled for March 30, 2019, in Houston. For more information about how you can attend and become a voting member, please contact Jeny Cortez at jcortez@stchm.org.

Providing Hope and Direction

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STCH Ministries Family Counseling provides hope and direction for individuals, couples, children, and families when they need help sorting through the challenges of life. Kelly Harris, a therapist serving in Corpus Christi, shares with us how God is granting freedom to a client.

I received a note from a client today who has been working with me for just a few sessions now. She wrote, “As you erased those items (from the whiteboard) and talked, it literally felt like you were erasing them from my life. It felt so freeing!” Of course, I had no idea of the impact of that moment, but He did and in this instance, I received a note to let me know.

What a great reminder that I need not offer anything profound as I work with those I serve. Sometimes it’s the smallest action that God uses to touch and change the hearts of people.

The second reminder is that this is His work, not mine! Praise God for the freedom He wants His people to have in our Lord Jesus Christ!

At the time of this writing, our Family Counseling ministry consists of four counseling hubs with seventeen offices operating, for the most part, out of partner churches in each area. Corpus Christi was the original office hub. Earlier this year, this center added a new counseling location and a new therapist to their roster. Kelly came on part time in February 2018 and began serving one day each week in the satellite offices inside Yorktown Baptist Church and Coastal Oaks Church in Rockport.

The response to having a licensed counselor in these two locations has been impressive. In just six months, Kelly’s agenda filled up and by July she transitioned to a full-time schedule, adding an extra day to each location as well as seeing clients in the main Corpus Christi office. Those extra days soon filled with regular clients and both the Yorktown and Rockport locations now have a waiting list.

STCH Family Counseling therapists are professionally trained and offer counseling that is clinically excellent and distinctively Christian. Counseling services are provided regardless of an individual or family’s ability to pay for them. Donations toward services are accepted and appreciated. Learn more at www.STCHM.org/FC.

Family Counseling Up to 17 Locations with New Office

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STCH Ministries opened a new Family Counseling office in Richmond, Texas, making seventeen locations in all. The new office is hosted by Water’s Edge Community Church and provides professional counseling services that are distinctively Christian.

Randy Beck, pastor at Water’s Edge, is optimistic about this new venue for reaching out to the church’s neighborhood.

“We are always looking for ways to show compassionate care for the community. It is great to see families walk through the door of a church – not for worship services but because they are broken and know they need help,” Pastor Beck explains. “STCH therapists share our values and we know the families will be impacted for the Kingdom.”

STCH Ministries has offered counseling for families, couples, and individuals since 1995, and expanded to Houston in September 2016. In the past two years, services in the Houston area have grown to four full-time therapists at five locations. The Family Counseling team has plans to continue reaching out to new areas in metropolitan Houston in the coming years.

Across South Texas, there are also regional Family Counseling hubs in Corpus Christi, Victoria, and San Antonio, with office locations at partner churches in surrounding communities. In addition to private counseling sessions, professional therapists provide training and information to church leaders and their congregations through a variety of seminars and workshops on topics related to the family.

For a complete list of Family Counseling locations, or to seek help for a counseling need, visit www.STCHM.org/FC.

Lessons Learned

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Ashley Beck spent her summer as a STCH Ministries International summer intern in the Dominican Republic. She and four others served together from the base located on the grounds of Iglesia Bautista Quisqueyana (IBQ). The young people worked shoulder to shoulder with teams made up of volunteers from 15 different churches and STCH Ministries staff. The teams engaged in medical, construction, and teaching projects across the island nation.

This year, construction projects were the priority. Four new houses were built over a period of three months. Each new home was for a child sponsored through Samuel’s Fund – a sponsorship program that enables orphans and at-risk children to receive an education, participate in spiritual training, and have other needs met. Ashley blogged about her experiences in the Dominican Republic. Through those journal entries, she reveals some of God’s construction projects inside her life – demolishing incorrect thought processes and revealing His plan for her future.

She candidly communicates about the openness of the Dominican nationals to share their lives and culture to bring one more person to a saving faith in Christ. “I have a new place in my heart for Dominicans,” she wrote, “They love and serve unlike any people I’ve ever met.” She witnessed an unfailing commitment to working hard at every task no matter how menial, by workers of every nationality.

Over the course of her tenure, Ashley identified three major lessons she learned:

    • God works His alterations in each of us on His timetable,
    • Our personal hopes are eclipsed by those God has for us,
    • God is bigger than all of our shortcomings.

Ashley credits God with changing her focus from herself to other people. In the beginning, she was alert to what she would get out of her time overseas. What she realized was God works in each volunteer in every group, while at the same time impacting both believers and non-believers in deeply individual ways. For instance, the girl who came on the family mission trip reluctantly is impacted by the joy she identifies on the faces of children in the orphanage as they welcome friends to church services. She has been impacted by “people who live and breathe every day to make sure one more person will join them in the Kingdom (of God).”

The focus of what she hoped for was remodeled as well. While working on a demolition project, she realized she had been inattentive to the purpose God had for the project. “In life,” she muses, “we can become so distracted by what we hope for that we miss the lessons or better gifts from God.”

Overall, Ashely has come to the conclusion each of us needs to accept: God is greater than our failures. As she grappled with her weaknesses, she noticed the hole she had dug herself into, and the temptation was strong to stop striving. God is faithful to speak to our flaws and He sent friends who encouraged her. “They picked my life apart and tried to find Jesus,” she explains, “but He was hidden underneath my selfish desires.”

She is determined now to continue to fill in those frailties with what she calls “the cement of Jesus – made with a mixture of Bible truths and water from the people in your life.” Ashley has committed to begin “digging into the Word rather than into my hole.” And she invites us to join her.

Growing up as a preacher’s kid (PK) has helped prepare Ashley to understand and accept God’s call on her life to a career in international missions. She has begun her senior year of high school with a clear focus and is submitting college applications to schools where she can pursue biblical studies with a minor in missions.