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Port Rowan, Ont.
Outreach to Mexican Mennonites expanding


We have changed much in 50 years, and so have the Mennonites from Mexico. Mennonites that years ago were not allowed to have a radio in their homes are now setting up a radio station in Mexico to share the gospel with other Mennonites and their Spanish-speaking neighbours.

Mexican Mennonites in Ontario

In the 1920s, many Old Colony Mennonites left southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and moved to Mexico, seeking freedom of education and religion. Since 1954, many of the children of those that moved are coming back to Canada. The first three Mexican Mennonite families that came to Ontario in 1954 settled near Port Rowan. More families have come every year since then to work in the tomato and vegetable crops in the Port Rowan and Aylmer areas. They earn more in two months here than they would in five years in Mexico. At first, most of them came only for the harvest and returned to Mexico for the winter. Now many have purchased homes, farms and businesses and become teachers, school principals and managers in larger businesses.

When invited to church, most of them say that they have been taught to “Continue in what you have learned.” Period. We tell them that there is no period, because the verse (2 Timothy 3:14) says that what we have learned points to the way of salvation. Many hundreds have made a commitment to the Lord, and now desire to tell others what has happened to them.

My wife Lydia and I have been involved with Mexican Mennonites since 1954. I was in business, selling insurance; they would see my filing cabinets and think I was a “government man”. We helped hundreds get their papers in order. Their parents had kept Canadian citizenship in Mexico had never become citizens of Mexico, and we spent much time helping them get Canadian citizenship. We have also served as interpreters in the provincial courts, as some get charged for a variety of things, and many cannot understand the language.

David and Anna Peters

In 1973, the Mennonite Brethren Conference started a mission work in Nuevo Ideal, Durango province, Mexico, which was later left to other denominations in 1982. Bill Thiessen was the minister. One person that came to know the Lord through that ministry was a young man named David Peters, who had slipped away from tradition and was living with his girlfriend Anna. He heard the gospel message and was converted. They married and were baptized.

David and Anna and their family later came to Ontario. They started going to the Mexican Mennonites in the area and teaching them God’s Word. David led many to make a commitment. Each summer, he leads services for the summer workers using the facilities of Waterford Baptist Church. Last year alone, 187 made first-time decisions for the Lord.

Over the last five years, David Peters has also developed a dream “to get the gospel to the Mennonites in Mexico”. There are many wealthy Mennonites in Mexico, as well as many very poor people. Many of them have modern conveniences, such as trucks, station wagons, rubber tires on their tractors, and electricity. Yet, to go there and talk to them is hard, as they do not want anyone in the villages to know that they have talked to an evangelical, even if he is a Mennonite. They are steeped in tradition and afraid to come out of it, but secretly they admit there has to be something that they do not have, and they are hungry for truth.

Peters is convinced that the Lord is calling him to start a radio ministry in Mexico. Most families and many individual children have small radios on which they could listen to the gospel secretly. Peters has been travelling to Mexico several times a year to talk to government agencies, and he now has a permit for a 500-watt FM station which can reach approximately 200,000 people. Land has been purchased, and a broadcast tower and a small storage building have been erected in Dom. Conocido, Guatimpage, Durango. Most of the necessary equipment has been purchased and/or donated, and a broadcasting building will go up as soon as funds are available. The permit calls for helping the people by improving their living standards culturally, financially and spiritually. The station is called “La Voz de la Esperanza” (“The Voice Of Hope”).

There is a great need for programs for the radio station in Low German or Spanish or even in English which can be translated by others. Topics could include:

General Education. Many Mennonites in Mexico have a very limited education, going to school only when the work on the farm is completed and finishing school at 14, but they excel in their studies when they have the opportunity. Agricultural knowledge on the use of fertilizers, greenhouse gardening, irrigation methods, hybrid seeds and animal crossbreeding. Homemaking. Most girls and women are good cooks, but the young want information on modern cookware, microwaves and other appliances. English classes. Family life, health and hygiene. Marketing and bookkeeping to help them sell their produce.

I have personally prepared 52 messages in Low German; they are 25 minutes each and outline God’s plan from creation to the end times.

A fine Christian with broadcasting experience has been found to manage the station. A board has been appointed, and Voice of Hope has received status from the Canadian government as a charitable organization. The address is Voice of Hope, c/o David and Anna Peters, 31 Dalton Road, Delhi, Ont. N4B 1B4; Phone: (519) 582-0742 e-mail nap_@yahoo.com.

 – Jake Reimer

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Last modified November 13, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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