About Casa de Esperanza

    Casa de Esperanza or House of Hope is a mission center located in beautiful San Carlos, in the state of Sonora, Mexico with the purpose of encouraging the local Mexican evangelical churches with the help of their brothers and sisters from churches across Canada and the US.

   Every week Casa de Esperanza hosts short term missions teams form the US and Canada. These teams are housed and fed at the mission. Each day, they are taken by the staff into the surrounding communities where they perform various forms of ministry according to their skills and talents. Ministry opportunities include:

·         Construction projects

·         Children's clubs

·         Food hampers

·         Clothing distribution

·         Medical clinics

·         Wheelchair ministry

·         Street ministry

·         Basketball camps for youth

·         Cooking classes

·         Teaching English

·         Assisting at local orphanage

   For more information on Casa de Esperanza, visit their web site: www.koenesministries.com

A Step of Faith

    In 2007 I went with my youth group, powerhouse, to San Carlos Sonora. We were hosted by Casa de Esperanza or House of Hope. This was my first time on a mission trip and I loved it. We went to orphanages and did puppet shows and skits for the kids and did clothes distributions and even painted playground equipment.

    In 2009 my youth group went back on a second trip and I jumped at the opportunity to back a second time. This time while I was there, Brenda, the missionary, asked me if I would consider coming back the following year as an intern. I had already decided at that point to go to the Alaska Bible Institute that fall/ winter.         

   After three years at ABI, this spring I graduated with a diploma in Biblical studies and Christian ministry.

    As soon as I graduated I contacted Brenda to see if I could still intern with Casa de Esperanza. After several months of waiting and praying, I finally got accepted for the position. The timing couldn't have been better. I had waited to hear back from the mission as long as I could and had gotten to the point where I felt that I had to start making decisions on what to do with my winter/ fall months. When I finally heard back from the mission with the news that I had been accepted, it was a day before I was planning on committing to a new job as well as ministry opportunity here in Alaska for the fall/ winter. I believe that the timing was a God thing!

   Right now, I am planning on finishing up the landscaping season here in Homer before going home for a week or so at the end of October. (Yes, grass does grow and we still have to mow it here in AK!) From Michigan, I am currently planning on flying to Bozeman Montana on November 3rd. In Bozeman I will meet up with Art and Brenda Koenes.

    Art and Brenda live in MT where they spend their summers farming. In the fall, they move back to Mexico and run the mission in San Carlos during the winter. When I get to Bozeman, the plan is that I will help them drive their vehicles down to Mexico.

   Please keep me in your prayers as I prepare to head to the mission field. Pray specifically that I will use this next month and a half to prepare myself mentally and spiritually for the challenges that I will face as I take this next step of faith in my journey with Christ.