The YPM USA and Mexico Board members met earlier this month for our annual onsite Board retreat in Leona Vicario. As usual, the best part was spending time with Wilian and Erly, as well as seeing all the progress being made on the YPM and IYPM campuses and the area communities.
YPMUSA BOARD UPDATES
We welcomed two new Board members to the group, Emmy Soyka and Ted Thode. Read more about them below:
- Rev. Ted Thode is currently a Parish Associate at First Presbyterian Church of Birmingham, Michigan. As a Parish Associate, Ted assists with leading worship and the youth. He and his wife, Erica, have three young daughters. Ted became a Parish Associate at FPC in January 2016. Before coming to Michigan, Ted served as a pastor at the First Presbyterian Church of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, from 2011 to 2013. Ted graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2011. Ted runs a small e-commerce business when he's not volunteering at FPC. Ted joined the board for YPM in April 2024. He is excited to be part of the board and looks forward to working with YPM.
- Emmy Soyka started on the Board in late 2024 and first learned about YPM when Willian and Erly presented to her church. Emmy’s professional career is in international affairs and nonprofit management and it was all sparked by service trips to Temuco, Chile, and Las Maravillas, Mexico, in high school and college. Just like YPM’s trips, working alongside the Mapuche and Maya people brought God’s light alive for Emmy and she is so excited to reconnect with that passion working with YPM.
Emmy, with her background in non-profit leadership, plans to make sure the Board is following proper procedures and then led us through some exercises to improve our efficiency as a non-profit organization.
In addition to catching up with old and new friends, the Board met with Remijio, the IYPM school administrator, Jacinto, the accountant for YPM and IYPM, and Ricardo, the director of IYPM. Each of them shared the projects that they are working on and general information about the state of YPM Mexico and IYPM.
NEW MINISTERIAL PROJECT
In addition to all the work going on in and around the base and IYPM, a big project that Ricardo spoke about is a new ministerial project that will get the IYPM theology program more closely involved with area churches. The initiative is focused on the lay members of the churches, so they can learn various skills to support their home churches based on the following principles: 1) return to the bible, and 2) reorient the idea of reformed theology. Within the new program, there are 3 certifications: 1) teaching others, 2) preaching the bible, 3) biblical counseling.
INSTITUTO YPM
The Board visited classrooms of all 3 levels of the high school program. We had a chance to talk with them and they had a chance to ask us questions (they are all learning and quite proficient in English). It was an amazing experience and was very special for our group. The senior music class even sang us a song in English that they've been working on! Wilian showed us the (almost finished) new classrooms and bathrooms in the second building. They are almost ready to use. Want to know how you can help finishing these classrooms become a REALITY? See the note in blue in the last paragraph! Wilian also shared plans about where he would like the auditorium to go.
JOIN US!
We’ve already had two mission work groups in Leona this year and are ready to get more on the 2025 schedule. Here’s the link to contact us to get your group on the schedule or ask any questions.
If you or your group cannot join us on a trip this year, here are a few other ways you can help. Any amount designated toward these projects will go a long way to helping local kids get an excellent education and a better future!
1. Provide funds to help furnish one of the 3 classrooms. This will include desks, chairs, white board, projector and air conditioning. The estimated cost is $4000/classroom.
2. The bathrooms are roughed in but there are no fixtures or partitions. Also, this building will require a separate septic system. The estimated cost for the septic system is $10,000 and the estimate to finish the bathrooms is $20,000.
3. Please continue to pray for the continued success of IYPM both the High School and University. The High School will graduate the first class of students that are the first class to receive their entire high school education at IYPM. There will be a graduation ceremony in late June.
Thank you for your continued love, prayers and support!
YPM USA Board of Directors