“There was a boy named Yael,” recalls Dianne Hernández, a dental surgery student at Montemorelos University, in Mexico. “He told me that in his neighborhood there were many children interested in hearing Bible stories and that he would like us to go and do something there.”

It was 2021.

That first visit quickly became an improvised activity with about 15 children—and, that same day, a mission project began without knowing how far it would go.

What followed was not immediate or spectacular, Hernández said, but it was steady.

As the group began meeting on Saturday afternoons, Misael Castro, a professor in the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation at Montemorelos University, was also looking for a place to carry out mission work. The Azahares neighborhood proved especially receptive and soon became the gathering point. Together with students, university friends, and Hernández’s family, members of what was then a branch congregation, the project began to take shape.

“We started with a small Bible school for children,” Castro explained. “Every Sabbath more came. We began with just a few, and there were times when as many as 80 children attended, most of them not Adventist.”

Forming new relationships

The impact soon extended beyond the weekly meetings. Parents who noticed changes in their children’s behavior began to get involved. From there came Bible studies, spiritual support, and new community relationships. What had begun as a children’s activity grew into something broader: senior adults from the Los Años Dorados nursing home, entire families, and children who took took a leap of faith.

Over time, that sustained effort resulted in the formal organization of the Azahares Seventh-day Adventist Church—now just over a year old as an established congregation, with a church building currently under construction.

One element has remained constant in this story: the involvement of the university community, school officials said. Students, employees, and alumni of Montemorelos University—architects, teachers, and campus ministries, have contributed time, expertise, and service.

“During the semester, students from the JAM Kids ministry, architecture alumni, and other members of the university support us,” Castro said. “What motivates me is seeing people’s openness and their genuine interest.”

For Hernández, working with children continues to be the heart of the mission. “Children’s hearts are very fertile ground,” she said. “They are like sponges. Our goal is that one day they will all be in the kingdom of heaven.”

Over the past five years, activities have expanded to include vacation Bible schools, evangelistic campaigns, rallies, sports tournaments, and educational programs for parents and children.

A second project emerges

From Azahares, a second outreach soon followed.

In the Infonavit neighborhood in Los Nogales housing development, the mission began with a visit to a girl who had recently moved there. It was July 2021.

Eunises Ruiz, who works in Montemorelos University’s accounting department, recalls the first meetings: five or six children, three teachers, Bible stories, songs, and simple activities.

The group grew. A Pathfinder Club was organized, even meeting under the shade of a tree, and parents began to get involved. By 2024, the project was organized as the Jeriel branch group, with a permanent meeting place and its first evangelistic campaign. In 2025, the ministry was formally organized as a Sabbath School.

As in Azahares, students and employees from different academic areas on campus joined consistently, forming an interdisciplinary team focused on service.

That collective spirit became especially visible in December 2025, when Montemorelos University launched a campuswide toy drive. The invitation went out to all university employees, encouraging them to bring a new, wrapped gift to the staff Christmas dinner.

The response exceeded expectations with 131 gifts were collected. Fifty were distributed to the Jeriel branch, and 82 to the Azahares project.

“We didn’t have the resources to organize a Christmas program,” Hernández admitted. Thanks to the donations, volunteers organized a celebration with parents and children, featuring a short play, carols, crafts, and time for community fellowship.

“Seeing the happiness on the children’s faces filled my heart,” said Daniel Hernández, a medical student at Montemorelos University and youth leader at the Azahares Church. “Each child took home the message that Christmas reminds us that the Savior came to give us salvation.”

Beyond numbers or activities, organizers said the projects reflect a shared conviction within the university community that mission is not limited to formal campus spaces. It is lived, practiced, and naturally extended into nearby neighborhoods.

“Serving God with the talents He has given us is the most important thing,” said Ruiz. “Spending ourselves in His service is truly knowing how to live.”

It is a sentiment echoed by employees, students, and alumni who have chosen to respond to real needs with practical acts of compassion, campus officials said.

Five years after that first improvised Bible school, the story continues to be written every Sabbath—in every activity and in every child who finds a place of care, learning, and hope, they said. What began with one child now continues to transform entire communities.

Lisandra Vicente and Brenda Cerón contributed to this article. The original article was published on the Inter-American Division news site.