Mexico Missions Trip Report

(There are many more pictures from the trip on the Photo Gallery page of this website.)

On June 22, 23 high school students and 9 adults left for a 10 day trip to the Baja of Mexico.  We flew to San Diego, then rented vans to drive about 200 miles south of the border to a little town called San Quintin.  We partnered with Mexican Medical missionaries at Clinica La Esperanza.

 

The following is taken from http://djernst.blogspot.com that we used to update friends and family back home during the trip.

 

I'm sorry I haven't been able to write anything since we've been down here. Finding some extra time to sit down and do this is hard. I'll try to give you an idea of what our days have been like. Everyone is working hard and seems to be really enjoying the experiences, even the 3 hour church service last night!

 

Our morning begins at 7 with breakfast. Lisa and Debbie have been doing an amazing job and are keeping us nourished. Mark D, Mark H, Jen, Abby, Nan and Beka have all been helping out at meals with serving and cleaning. After breakfast we have a few minutes to shower (a bit more about showers later), brush teeth, get dressed for work projects, etc... then from 8:00 to 8:30 we have set aside the time to have devotions. It's pretty cool to walk around the place and see everybody spending time with God.

 

We've all been going through a study of God's attributes. At 8:30 we meet in the chapel for a time of worship and sharing about our experiences. I wish you could all hear the things we're hearing about what God seems to be doing in hearts. At 9:00 one of the missionaries shares a challenge from the Word.

 

About 9:45 or so we head out for work projects. First, 2 kids are picked (or they volunteer) to clean the bathrooms. They are rewarded for their willingness to do this job by getting to go first at lunch. Then the rest of the group is divided up in to the other work projects of the day. Here are some of the things we've been working on: plumbing and digging for an irrigation system for some tree wells; hauling rocks and mixing cement and pouring a foundation for Victor's house (Victor is a sweet brother in Christ that the group has loved getting to know); lots of painting, and other some other various jobs. 

 

At 12:30 we have lunch and then there's a little break before our VBS prep meeting at 2:00. We leave for VBS about 2:45 for a small community called "Casitas" (little houses). We are done with VBS around 4:30, then we head back and have a few minutes to clean up a bit before supper at 5:15. Monday and Tuesday after supper we met at 7:15 for film ministry, where we go to a camp, set up a large screen and projector and show a Christian "pelicula". We get home sometime betwee 9:00 and 10:00, have a snack, relax a little bit, then head to bed. With days like these, no one has been arguing with me when I've announced it's time to get to bed!

 

A little more about VBS. It's in a newer kind of migrant camp. This community is made up of very small block homes that workers can buy along with the help of the government. Better conditions than the traditional camps that were made of corrugated iron. Families can build on to their houses and are required to stay in the house for 5 years before then can sell it. Our VBS is at a small church in this community. When we arrive we pull out soccer balls and jump ropes and bubbles and nail polish and start playing "in the street". This has to be one of the dustiest places I've ever seen.

 

After we play for half an hour, we head into the small church for the program. Our song team leads some singing then a local believer and shares the Bible lesson. After that we do a craft, then it's time to clean up and head home. It doesn't look quite like VBS at WHBC, but the Mexican children are excited to be there and our kids are excited as well. Today is our last day of VBS, but film ministry tonight I think is at Casitas, so we may get a chance to see the kids one last time. Today we were allowed to bring one camera to VBS, so we do have pictures of that part of the trip to share at a later time.

 

Now some random thoughts. Most have tried the fish tacos and like them. We went to a flea market in town on Sunday. We had a traditional meal of beans, rice and enchiladas prepared by ladies of the church on Tuesday night.  A couple kids have gotten sick, but nothing major and it hasn't kept them out of commission for more than a few hours. Everyone has enjoyed getting to know the missionary staff and the local believers. Pastor Junior said last night in church that the group from Ohio is always one of his favorites. We have celebrated the birthdays of Wes, Lisa, Travis and Tyler this week with cake last night. We'll round out the complete experience with a pinata tomorrow night. Because of the water shortage, we only get showers every other day. So we have set up a schedule where half of the team showers one day, the other half the next. The rumor is that one of the guys sold one of his showers for a fish taco. Don't know what that says more about...the shower or the taco!

 

Things are going well and we are getting a lot accomplished. Wednesday is probably the hardest day and we are past that, so I think we're getting a little of our steam back. Thanks for praying and we'll see you in just a few days.

 

 

 

On Saturday we made it safely back to San Diego and had a smooth trip back to Columbus on Sunday.  We arrived back at church around 7:00pm and were happy to be home after a successful yet tiring trip.

 

Thank you for the part you had in supporting our trip.  God used you to not only provide the financial resources for our trip, but we couldn’t have done it without being covered in prayer by friends and family back home.  Everyone worked hard and we were thanked many times by the missionaries for our ministry there.

 

We had our share of challenges to overcome on this trip.  Some of them were minor and some not so minor, but God really showed up in the tough times, and we are seeing Him continue the work He started in our lives back in Mexico.  Please pray that our whole youth group will be unified and encouraged as we grow to be the people God wants us to be.