The Beginning

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If you have not read the first chapter of this series you might want to look it over before continuing here: A Dream Comes True

Chapter 2: The Beginning

As I mentioned in the first chapter, one of the things I noticed during my first months in Mexico was the lack of Christian literature available for children (this was in 1977). At the time I was helping oversee a dormitory in a boy’s orphanage near Monterrey.

At Christmas we went into the city to look for some books to give the boys for Christmas and were horrified to find there was so little to choose from.

Christian Literature Was Always A Part of My Vision

I always had the publishing side of missionary work on my heart. We were constantly receiving visiting speakers at Youth For Christ, and several were from Christian Literature Crusade. Their stories always fascinated and challenged me.

One of the first materials I published was a little magazine for the local Sunday School I was teaching at the time. As well as the magazine, I set to work doing children’s puzzles for my class. A teacher from one of the largest churches in Christchurch, NZ saw them and asked permission to publish these puzzles in their weekly church bulletin.

Confirmation and Direction from the Home Church

So when we saw the need in Mexico, I wrote to the church in NZ that was supporting me at the time sharing what I saw. The secretary who was familiar with what I was working on before I left New Zealand, immediately replied with an article she had seen in the Women’s Aglow magazine. It was about a children’s magazine that was being published in Florida. Bread for Children was the magazine, and the author (Anna Lee Carlton) shared her vision to start publishing in Mexico.

At the time I was working with a lady who had been in Argentina for many years and so of course her spanish was very good, while mine was still in the beginning stages. We contacted Anna Lee, director of Bread For Children, and were flown over to Florida to meet the team there. The few days with Anna Lee, her husband and the staff sealed the next step in my adventures on this side of the world.

We returned to South Texas (the base for going in and out of Mexico), packed and returned to Florida. We were to prepare the first issue of Bread for Children in spanish which was to be translated as “Pan Para Los Hijos”.

One of the first things we noticed was the absence of illustrations in the magazine. We commented on this and mentioned that Mexican children need visuals. (All children do actually, but we were preparing Pan Para Los Hijos).

Who Was To Do the Needed Illustrations?

Anna Lee was fine with that, but who was to do the drawings? So far my drawing skills had been limited to copying or at least adapting a sketch from an existing one. But there was no point of reference for any sketches that were needed now.

However I volunteered and sat down with a pencil to see what I could do.

Immediately my mind was filled with images of the scenes at the boy’s orphanage near Monterrey. I had something to copy and adapt!

A very big surprise was awaiting me in Cuernavaca where we were to be sent to print the first volume of Pan Para Los Hijos (Look for this surprise in next article, to be published on Thursday, Jan 8th, 2009).

Tags: Anna Lee Carlton, Bread For Children, children, Christchurch, Florida, magazine, Mexico, missionary, Monterrey, New Zealand, Pan Para Los Hijos, published, spanish, Sunday School, Youth For Christ