Brownsville First Presbyterian Church member Andy Combs cuts grass that will be used to feed sheep. Combs and other church members make frequent trips to their sister church in Castillo Brito to help local residents develop skills and vocations that will improve their quality of life.

Local church uses website to educate about mission

It’s a short leap, just a step really, from farming in Brownsville, Tenn., to raising sheep in Mexico.

First Presbyterian Church, Brownsville, made that leap and has recently announced the launch of a new website - http://www.YucatanMission.com – as an extension of its mission work in the Yucatan region of Mexico.

It began eight years ago when First Presbyterian Church joined the ministry of Todd and Maria Luke – he, a lawyer from Chicago and she, a local resident of Xpujil, which is in the state of Campeche in Mexico. The Lukes’ missionary work involves hammock making, bee keeping, cistern building, and farming. Their involvement has the ultimate goal of meeting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the local population.

Each year Brownsville church members and friends travel to Castilla Brito, a small village outside Xpujil, to help their sister church build water cisterns, assist with sewing projects, conduct Vacation Bible School for the local children and, most recently, teach sheep husbandry.

“A couple of years ago,” explains church member Andy Combs, “Todd and I were talking with Fernando Guzman, a deacon in the church at Castilla Brito, and he explained the problems with chili farming, their cash crop, including disease and weather. He thought the answer was to diversify by raising sheep.”

Within six months Guzman, had put feet to prayer and went out and bought a dozen sheep.” Combs has an ag-related background and a passion for mission. He adds, “A local deacon had 40 sheep and another man bought some and, pretty soon, we had three shepherds in the Castilla Brito area.”

Brownsville farmers and agricultural experts in the congregation jumped on board, too. The members find their involvement rewarding and educational. The children of the church heard that the farmers needed good barns, so they raised $5,000 for shepherd loans. As those loans are repaid, a fourth and fifth shepherd may borrow to build a barn.

Life is hard in Castilla Brito. Lack of employment, education, and transportation force people to urban areas like Cancun to find work. “We’re just trying to discourage people in Castilla Brito from saying ‘I’ve got to leave this village and make a living’. If we can make their lives more economically sound, they’ll stay with their families and church in the village.”

Members of First Presbyterian, Brownsville, make up to four Yucatan peninsula trips each year in February, May, August and November. In February 2009, Combs made his 16^th trip. “When you go visit people sixteen times and worship with them every time you visit, you get to love those people. If I can do a little something, it thrills me to death.”

Combs and the congregation of First Presbyterian Church invite others to visit the website, learn more about the mission and join them in their efforts. Agricultural workers with experience in animal health, nutrition, sheep husbandry, and forage management are needed to serve as advisors and co-workers.

For more information about the Yucatan Mission project visit www.yucatanmission.com. Combs can be contacted by e-mail, acombs@aeneas.net, or call 731-780-1800.