Oxford Churches Make International Impact in Oaxaca, Mexico

Oxford is a unique place in that churches help to make up a large part of the community.  Through activities and outreach programs for people of all ages, churches of all denominations play a part in many Oxford locals’ lives.  However, churches aren’t just focusing on staying local, they’re going international as well.  
Two Oxford residents, Jeff and Liesa Holeman, have made Oxford their home ever since they attended Ole Miss in the 1980’s.  They’ve served in First Baptist Church Oxford, ministering to youth and college students, taking them all over the world on mission trips.  
Jeff and Liesa are my parents, and we, along with my brother, Jackson, lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for about five years as a missionary family with the International Mission Board, welcoming and assisting groups from Oxford who desired to minister to Oaxacan people.  

Groups and individuals from First Baptist Church, North Oxford Baptist Church, Community Church, the Ole Miss BSU, and more have sacrificed their time, money, and comfort to travel overseas and work with us to minister to the Oaxacan people.  
The work that the churches participate in includes a combination of both humanitarian and religious work.  Medical groups are a great need in Oaxaca, and First Baptist Church has sent many groups to fulfill that need.  These teams travel to villages to give medicine and health advice to families who otherwise wouldn’t have access to health care.  Through this work, families are not only helped physically, but doors are opened for my family to meet people who we likely would not have met otherwise.  

Another aspect of the mission trips includes teaching English classes in Oaxaca. In May of 2014, the Ole Miss BSU sent a group of students, and the team spent some of their time teaching basic English to members of the church my family attended to in Oaxaca.  A lot of Oaxacans were eager to learn English, so this became a way to minister to a wide variety of people of all ages.  Some of the students stayed for the entire summer to work in villages and minister to Oaxacans long-term.

A third ministry in Oaxaca that Oxford has played a large part in has been children’s ministry.  Many teams from different churches have gone to Oaxaca to spend time with children at a children’s home, Casa Hogar.  Casa Hogar takes in children from villages, many of whom are disabled, and cares for them while they attend school.  Groups from Oxford come to complete construction projects, such as painting rooms or cleaning bathrooms, playing with the children and teaching them Bible stories.  My parents try to incorporate a trip or two to Casa Hogar for almost all of the groups. Some groups, such as a group that Community Church sent in March of 2015 and a 2013 group from North Oxford Baptist Church, spend their entire time in Oaxaca working with the children. 
My family is now back living in Oxford full-time, but we are still working together with Oxford churches to send groups and individuals to minister in Oaxaca.  Even short-term trips make an impact that can last a lifetime, both in the lives of Oaxacans and Oxonians.  Through their willingness to sacrifice their time and get a little out of their comfort zones, members of the Oxford community are building bridges between Oxford and the rest of the world.

---

Haylee Holeman is an intern for HottyToddy.com. 
For questions or comments email Hottytoddynews@gmail.com. 
Follow HottyToddy.com on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat @hottytoddynews. Like its Facebook page: If You Love Oxford and Ole Miss…