Alejandro Torres Gonzalez (Alex)Alex Gonzalez is from central Vera Cruz and has lived in Juarez 12 or 13 years. Visitors to Amigos en Cristo Ministries in Juarez know that many of our ministries in Juarez would not be possible without Alex’s calling and passion. He was born “in the heroic city of Cordoba, Veracruz on December 8, 1960.” He went to primary and secondary school in New Veracruz, and preparatory school and university in the city of Cordoba.
He is the son of farmers who grew coffee, sugar cane, oranges, bananas, chilies, and squash. He studied agriculture with the hope of increasing crop yield. He worked in the sugar refineries and in the warehouses of a Mexican government program that distributed commodities to the needy. He was able to use his degree as an agronomy engineer in his last job in the experimental field of sugar cane. He resigned in 1998 because he said his age no longer enabled him to continue in his vocation. In February 1990, he left Cordoba and came to Juarez to work in the Maquillage Factories. But then he said he was heartbroken when he realized how little he was to earn under the contract. Ignoring his training and because of his age, the company hired him as a general worker. At that point, he really wanted to return to his homeland. “I remember that year of desperation when I told my wife we should return to out homeland.” But since he had traveled with two other friends, he decided to stay. He said “and in that moment I thought: I will stay in this city and hope that God will help me from now on. We didn't’t have a house. We only rented and in those days God sent a person to tell us that a man was selling his house. I went to visit him to see if he was really selling it and I bought it.” The industry’s collapse led to his volunteering first and now to a fruitful career with Amigos en Cristo. In this ministry, he is using his expertise but as a new creation in Christ. Pastor Misael met Alex when he was a volunteer teaching in an Open School. Since that time, Alex has come to know Jesus as his savior and has experienced a radical change in his life. He is a loving and patient teacher for students from the streets rejected from the government schools, poor, and with little chance of gaining preparation for life. He also oversees gardens at both community centers that provide fresh produce for the meals served to the children in the programs. On the staff mission trip to Ocosingo in the summer 2012, Alex taught gardening techniques to the Lacandon tribal leaders. Besides providing a classroom experience, Alex showed them how to prepare the soil in a plot of ground, provided them seeds to get them going on their own garden, and prayed with them. Alex and his wife Maria have two children, both university students. “…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6) |