Vicente Guerrero MEXICO

August 4th-12 2007

Sunrise Baptist Church

Mission Trip

28 total

(20 High School youth 8 Adults)

This is the mission in Mexico where we stayed. This particular building is the visitors center where all 28 of us roomed. This mission is an orphanage but has many buildings and outreach opportunities happening on a daily basis. Of course the orphanage which is several houses, each holding 10-12 kids living with 2 house parents who watch over them 24/7. There is a church, a kitchen, a bible college on the campus, an orchard holding 2000 macadamia nut tress, and a nut shop to harvest them. There is a metal works shop which manufactures wheelchairs for handicapped people in the community, a daycare which cares for children in the community, there is a fire station at the mission, a sewing center, and a warehouse full of "things" and food where people in the community can come and get the things that they need.

This is our group. A Beautiful group. These people worked so hard, and served the Lord with amazing attitudes. Every day we woke up early and had breakfast at7 o'clock sharp. We only had 15 minutes to eat our food, so you were not late and you ate quick or you received nothing. Then there was Sala. Church every morning, where we praised God in both English and Spanish and heard the Word of God. I could get used to Sala every day here at home. It was so wonderful. After Sala we received our work projects. I worked with Miles every day on the construction team building a block cement wall building a room that will be used for a laundry facility. It was hard work. It was not too warm but the sun was hot when it was out. The ground is very dirty -very dusty- and dry.

We got a break every day at 11 to eat a snack and remember to drink water...lots of water. Then back to work until 1 = LUNCHTIME. Lunch was the main meal of the day. We got a half of an hour to eat! YEAH! And it was usually really good food too. Then back to work until dinner time unless you had child evangelism. The child evangelism vans went out three times a week and we got to play with kids in these little villages and they were told a Bible story by a 'teacher" and then we handed out milk and peanut butter. The kids had so much fun and we enjoyed them.

CHILD EVANGELISM

After dinner on Monday night we got to House Sit for the kids in the orphanage. The orphange is broken up into small "houses" with 6-12 kids in each house. Each house has a set of "house parents" who are the sole care givers and "parentes" for these kids. Each of us was assigned to a house for the evening and we got to basically babysit the kids while the house parents got to go out to dinner together. This was really the ONLY times that the house paretns ever got to get out of the house. So they really appreciated us doing this, but we were thrilled to spend the evening in these houses. The kids were so fun. I volunteered to house sit for a lttle girl named Chabella. She was diagnosed with Autism. That being basically my major in college i was thrilled to be there with her. Chabella was 7 years old and loves balls. Bouncy balls were her favorite thing in the world. We colored and blew bubbles and played with balls all evening long. She was sucha joy. Chabella I found out was born and left at the dump. The mission found her and the blood trail of the mother and took Chabella after they found the mother was obviously not in the position to care for her.
See signed too. So i got to tell her she was beautiful and that Jesus loved her and I did too. By the end of the evening she signed it all back to me. I got an "i love you"! She knew "beautiful" and "good girl" and I was thrilled to be able to communicate with SOMEONE from the mission because i did not know Spanish at all, and that was a small frustration for me. I desperately wanted to communicate with the kids. Chabella i could sign to. I could not have been more thrilled.

Adult evangelism

This happened twice a week in the evenings. Us girls had to wear long skirts and pull back our hair out of respect for their culture and keep the lice from attaching themselves to our hair. Adult Evangelism was my favorite part of the entire trip. Here we went deep into migrant
camps.

Sometimes 30-41 minutes off of the main road and way up into the mountains. These remote areas you can imagine were pretty bumpy in the vans, but the scenery was spectacular. The dry, desolate looking landscape was breathtaking. Through hundreds of tomato plant fields and strawberry plantations we finally would come to a clearing of tangled up metal shacks. A camp. These camps were crawling with people living in ruins in appeared. The kids would come running. They knew that love and attention had arrived when the white vans pull up. New faces every week, they did not care. They grabbed you and hugged you with all their might. These little ones were covered in dirt, tattered clothes, lice, and very few of them had shoes. –NONE OF US MINDED how dirty or lice ridden they were. These precious children had us by the heart. Their smiley faces did not care if we knew the language. A few of them were not smiley…a little shy and standoffish. Very downcast and sad. These ones all were filled with hope by the time we left. One of these was a little girl. Stephanie. I fell in love with Stephanie. This precious child just wanted to be held and swung around and around and around. She smiled when I handed her a small toy. We gave out a few gifts of toys to the kids. They had fun. We had fun.

In this time, the children were invited to watch a movie about Jesus. Then the adults were invited to watch a movie about Jesus. These were very moving times. Very emotional. Afterwards many came forward to be prayed for and accepted Christ. It was absolutely incredible how many raised their hands and wanted Jesus to save them. It was so neat to see this and be a part of it.

It happens often that a migrant worker will take a woman and have several children with her, then when the work is done, he will move on to another camp for work and find another woman and have many more children. There is potential for there to be 5 or 6 different families to one man. Sometimes they send money to help support them, but most often not, that is why he moved on because he figured they were a lost cause. He could not help them. Thus the woman left behind must work to feed all those children. So the babies are left at home all from dawn to dusk on their own and in charge of caring for each other.

None of us wanted to go back to the mission. I wanted to smuggle these children home with me. It was difficult to watch them hurting, suffering without nutrition, and the attention of loved ones. I cried when I left.

This trip to Mexico was amazing. We learned so much here. God is working. He worked here in our lives. WE learned how thankful we are for what we have. How blessed we are that we have running water. I learned that the mission once had a river next to it (several years ago) and their well was always full. Now that the water has dried up there is not reason for them to have water at all, and no one can find the water source. A few people told me that they belibelieveus fills up their water tank every day. How cool is that? It taught us that God really does look after and takes care of all. One can argue that these kids seem to be forgotten but they are not. God brings people to the mission to look after them and make sure that they are getting food, and toys, and it brings laughter. It taught me to be quieter. To listen. To slow down to be able to look for and therefore see what God is doing in my life and in the world surrounding me. The people we met at the mission rely on God for absolutely EVERYTHING they have and EVERY NEED. A need comes up, they pray, and the Lord provides. EVERY TIME!!! It was incredible and life changing. This was an experience I will never forget.


Miles and I at the airport in San Diego. We are on our way home. We left a piece of our hearts there in Mexico. WE are not sure what that means for our future, but we know that we will return. Long term/short term is the question. Much thought and prayer are going into searching for God's will in regards to this mission, and our involvment there. This is an amazing place. God is at work here, it is so evident, and so amazing to see. It was an honor and a priviledge to serve here in Mexico.