CHUY AND MARIA AVILA | LAREDO, TEXAS
REACHING LAREDO FAMILY BY FAMILY
By Mickey Noah L
aredo—population 300,000—sits on the north bank of the Rio Grande, right across the river
from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The Laredo-Nuevo Laredo metro area has a com- bined population of more than 700,000 American and Mexican citizens. Nuevo Laredo to Laredo is a thoroughfare for an estimated $20 billion drug market operated by drug cartels between Mexico and the U.S. With the drugs come unchecked violence and bloodshed. It’s a mecca of cold-blooded mur- der, drugs and chaos. It’s also where missionaries Chuy and Maria Avila live and serve.
“Laredo is a dangerous place to minister,” says Chuy. “I need prayers and support from my Chris- tian brothers and sisters.” Born into a Catholic family in Juarez, Mexico, Chuy was only five when a missionary came to town to hold a tent revival. “This is the way the gospel came to our family. My mom got saved, my father was saved and I got saved when I was 21. The next year, I was called into the ministry.” In Laredo, Chuy’s “M.O.” has been to go into neighborhoods—he calls them “colonias”—where there is no existing evangelistic work in place.
He begins with block parties and Vacation Bible Schools, and every Laredo family that shows up at a block party receives a free Bible.
He has formed partnerships with local pastors and laypeople, and established a “missionary house”—a
house fully equipped to hold a group of up to 30 people. Spending a week there, they are hosted, taught and discipled by Chuy. The missionary house doubles as a church on Sunday.
“There are only 53 evangelical churches in Laredo,” says Chuy. “To reach just 25 percent of
Through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and prayer, we feel the support. Every morning when I wake up and then walk to the (mission) field in the streets, I do not feel alone.”
ON MISSION • Spring 2011 13
PHOTOS BY JAMES GREGG
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