Guillermo Paxton's Blog - Posts Tagged "light-of-the-village"

I could not ask for anything better to come out of my writing than this- John Eads of Light of the Village mission, was inspired to do take his missionary work to Juarez and build homes for the impoverished there. He told me that THE PLAZA inspired him to do this. What an honor it is to know that something so positive and good came out of my writing. I originally wrote The Plaza to help people to understand the horrors of living in the war zone that became Juarez during President Calderon's drug war. John and Dolores Eads took it to heart (huge hearts at that) and began taking his wonderful team of young people from his mission in Alabama all the way to the war-torn streets of Juarez to provide homes to people who otherwise would probably never be able to have one. Thank you, Light of the Village!Guillermo Paxton
The Plaza

This story is too amazing for even a fiction writer to have made up. Four years ago, through our alumni connection in Facebook, John Eads, founder of the Light of the Village mission in Prichard, Alabama, read my book, The Plaza (about the drug war in Mexico, particularly in Juarez). He was inspired through the kids at the church to begin a mission in Juarez. Since then, every year they have gone to Juarez to build houses and do other missionary work. These kids are from an extremely violent and impoverished neighborhood where John and his wife, Dolores, have spent the last fifteen years working. Kids in these types of neighborhoods are taught to survive, not to be selfless. But the influence of good people doing selfless things for them has taught them to want to do that for others.
Several weeks ago I contacted John and Dolores because I was inspired (once again through our connection with Facebook) to write about the Light of the Village, and I made plans to travel to Alabama to begin interviewing the residents. A client of mine, Jeff Parkerson, (from my 9-5 job) invited me to a veteran's business networking meeting, which just happened to be a few days before my Alabama trip. It was there that I met with Daren Martin, a best-selling author as well, and we briefly discussed our prospective projects. He then connected me with his brother, Craig Martin, who just happened to be producing a pilot TV show called Good All Over. The show is about people who make significant sacrifices to do missionary work in remote and dangerous locations. John and I spoke with Craig Martin and Earl Bridges and the wheels began to turn. The following day, while interviewing a few of the kids from the church, a young man that had also been a part of the church off and on over the years was shot, and it was all recorded in my interview. Craig and Earl headed down to Alabama a few days later and have now made a video for their pilot program.
https://youtu.be/Js0RrapM25o