These are exciting times for the Monzón family. At the time of this writing, Lymarie, Zacharias and Jenny were in Luna Park, Coney Island, New York celebrating Lymarie’s birthday with family, one final time, before wrapping up a pretty intense weekend.

This past Saturday morning, Lymarie returned from her weeklong class trip to Chicago and was shuttled straight to her orchestra concert at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery. She diligently raised hundreds of dollars selling chocolate bars and candy for her trip. We’re extremely grateful that she was able to learn so much about Chicago and that she had an incredible time. We couldn’t be prouder of her.

This is the time of year when we begin to fundraise for our annual trip to Lily of the Valley Orphanage in Baja California, Tijuana, Mexico. For the last two years, Lymarie has accompanied me to serve the children, staff and community of Tijuana. Last year, under the leadership of Thrive Collective , we had the privilege of helping to paint a giant mural at a local school. The mural galvanized the orphanage and the community and it was a great way to serve Tijuana in a very tangible way. The year before that Lymarie and I served on a team that rehabbed bunk beds, which have been being used at the orphanage for over twenty-five years. We sanded, primed and repainted dozens of bed frames and also a few sets of lockers. From what I understand, for some of the children, these lockers would represent the first private place that they had to store their few belonging safely. Over the course of both trips, Lymarie has worked extremely hard. But it wasn’t all work. She has also been intentional about fostering relationships with the children of Lily of the Valley and simply just having fun with them as kids.



This year, I will not be able to head to Lily of the Valley with Lymarie as we originally planned. I was nominated to the Philos Leadership Institute , which is a graduate level seminar. To that end, I will be taking a month long trip to Poland, Israel and Jordan to get a deeper understanding of how, as a Christian, I can better critically engage the current conditions in the Holy Land. This trip is fully funded and honestly, it is a trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, the dates overlap with the dates for the missions trip. That said, while I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land, I am sad that I will not be able to join Lymarie this year in Mexico as this has become a highlight of our year. Thankfully, my sister Katrina has agreed to take the trip with Lymarie and I couldn’t be more thankful. Katrina is a elementary school educator and has volunteered at a school for underserved children in the Dominican Republic in the past. She has also served our local community for a term as a district leader. Having personally experienced the transformative nature of Lily of the Valley, I’m excited for her to get a chance to tap into the love that exudes from the children and staff at the orphanage.

To those ends, we ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us this year in two ways. First, we ask that you would add our family, this trip, and my trip to the Holy Land to your prayer list. We would also ask that you would consider making a financial contribution. No donation is to small; or large! 

You can make secure online donations here through Go Fund Me. 

If you would prefer, checks and money orders can be sent to: Christian F. Monzón, c/o AGM, P.O. Box 20340, NY, NY 10009.

Thank you in advance for partnering with us. We are thankful for a community who love, pray for and support us generously in this endeavor year after year.

Also, if you know someone who has a heart for missions, please share this page with them. Thanks again for your support. 

Sincerely,

The Monzón Family

P.S. 

Check out the Thank You Video from our 2015 trip to LotV.