This Spanish word captures the essence of what we do and what we are about as it describes the relationship we are building with our donors and the communities we serve.
We seek to provide people with an opportunity to discover their sweet spot in cross-cultural service for their own development and with an international impact by preparing in advance and working with others through our programs, which include short-term service trips.
We facilitate learning opportunities for local Canadian faith communities, private schools, individuals or families to make a difference in the world by growing in compassion, helping without hurting, and developing their Global responsibility through understanding and engaging current world issues for the eradication of poverty.
We work with national leaders in community outreach, leadership development & poverty alleviation by coming alongside to encourage, equip with resources, and celebrate their efforts in bringing transformation to disadvantaged communities.
There are 400 million Spanish speakers in the world today. Hispanics are the second largest ethnic group in the world, after Mandarin, and ahead of English by a narrow margin. The Spanish language ranks in the top ten as a second learned language. This people group represents 21 countries in five different regions of the world: North, Central & South America, Caribbean, Europe (Spain) and Africa (Equatorial Guinea). The growth of Hispanics in the US is considerable, 57 million and18% of the total population, surpassing the population of most Spanish speaking countries.
Oto & Liz Perez, founders of NEXO, immigrated to Canada as children with their respective families who settled in the Greater Toronto area. Oto’s family from Cuba in 1980 and Liz came with her family from Colombia in 1973. They have been married for 30 years and in full time ministry for over 25 years serving in missions, pastoring, praise & worship, and leading a Bible School. Over the last decade, Oto has been involved internationally in Latin America and has served 8 years on Koinonia Christian Fellowship’s pastoral team overseeing Outreach. They are passionate about facilitating international connections for the advancement of the Gospel in words and actions through intergenerational, international and interdependent relationships as an expression of the Global Church on mission in the 21st Century.
In 2010, Oto and Liz registered NEXO as a non-profit organization to administer the short-term service trips and different projects and programs they lead in countries like Dominican Republic, Cuba and Colombia. They are proud of their Latino heritage and are most at home celebrating the growing cultural diversity around the world by understanding differences and similarities. They see God’s love for all people, and desire to bridge the gaps to create meaningful relationships and life transformation.
Both hold degrees from local universities, Liz in the arts and English fields (currently working on a Master of Arts In Intercultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary), and Oto in the cross-cultural and divinity fields (Master of Divinity at McMaster University).