Thewholestory

Mission Trip to Mexico, The Story

My mission trip to Mexico was awesome. We left early Saturday morning, and after prayer for protection and a good trip, we were on our way. We spent Saturday night on the bus, and kept driving through the night. Sunday afternoon, we arrived in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Here we spent the night at the Comfort Inn so that we would be nice and refreshed for when we got into Juarez. It was nice to sleep in a bed rather than on a bus seat. Plus we then got to go for a swim before bed, which was nice and relaxing. Monday morning we were up again bright and early, and back on the road. We got to Juarez, and to the orphanage mid afternoon on Monday.

Morning wake up was normally 7:00 for breakfast at 7:30, and a time of devotion shortly there after. We took turns on who was going to share with us each day. After devotions we would go off to our separate job sites. Most of my time was spent at John Walkers orphanage, also known as "The Ranch". I mostly worked with the kids in the orphanage, but this is also where the guys spent most of there construction time. There were 13 boys and 15 girls at the orphanage, including 4 children that belonged to Carman and John Walker, the couple that own the orphanage. Some had been there a long time, so they even spoke english which made it easier to communicate with the kids. I helped teach the kids there lessons in the mornings. They had a teacher come in twice a week and teach them, and then leave them with enough lessons to work at until he came back the next day. Of course, there was time for playing out side as well, that is, once there lessons were done. It was a blessing to work with the kids and teach them.

I became quite close to a little boy named Leonardo. He had a little brother that was with him at the orphanage as well named Edgar. On one of the days that I was there, it just so happened that his family came to visit him at the Orphanage. When we think of Orphanages here in Canada, or in the United States, we think of kids that have no parents, no family that would love them and care for them. This little boy took my hand, and introduced me to his mom, his older brother, and his older sister. For me...that was hard. To have his family there, to visit him...to hae lunch with him...and then to get up, and leave him there again. Him not knowing when, or if they will come to see him again. I found out later, that in Mexico, and countries like that...people have kids, and just can't afford them. So they put them in these orphanages to be taken care of. It was good for the kids in this orphanage, because they became Christians, and hopefully, one day, will be able to lead there family memebers to Christ. The sadness in his face was undiscribable as once again his family vehical pulled away without him in it.

In the afternoons I also got to try my hand at a little construction work. It was a lot of fun...I got to drill holes for the electrical in the building we were fixing up at the orphanage, and I even swung a hammer to build shelves for the people at the orphanage. We built them, and painted them. Working with wood in Mexico was not an easy task either. It is very dry, and very bowed and would split very easily. But the cupboards looked great, and they were so excited to have them put up in there kitchen.

The evenings were spent either attending church services, or playing with the kids at the orphanage. We also spent some time just relaxing at the base playing dutch blitz, crib, or foozeball. The churches in Mexico were unlike anything I had ever seen before, or since for that matter. The are so alive for God, so on fire for God, they are so in love with God, that it is absolutly amazing. It makes you examine your own life. How in times when we feel so down, that we just can't imagine getting up and worshiping God. These people in these countries have next to nothing, and they praise and worship God for what they do have, and don't worry about what they COULD have. They have barely enough money to live on, but they give there tithes and there offerings, with a cheerful heart, and a great big smile. I was in awe of what God is doing in these peoples lives, and how much of His love he pours down on them, and how much they love Him.

On Saturday we spent the morning working, and in the afternoon we went to the Market Place...and boy was that fun. Bartering with the Mexicans was one of the best parts...that's for sure. I got a lot of great souvenirs to help me remember the trip. That evening we got a chance to sample some real mexican food at a real
mexican restaurant. There was entertainment galore, and we even got to participate, and see rooster fights. All the women even got balloon animals made for them too.

On Sunday we attended the biggest church I have ever seen in my whole entire life. It was a church of 5500 people. To try and describe the sight that I saw there would be impossible, but you could feel God in that place so powerfully, and see the excitment in each of there spirits. We got to sing songs in Mexican as well, which was lots of fun, they had power point overheads so that we could read along with them as they sang. The neatest part was when they sang a song that we recongnize the tune for in english, and we would sing in english what they were singing in Spanish.

As sunday ended, and Monday began, I began to realize that quickly our time here in Mexico was coming to an end. There was only three days left in Mexico before we packed up to leave on Thursday. The last three days however were the longest days of the trip, but somehow seemed to go the fastest. We tried the best that we could to finish up all of the work that we could before we had to leave. So the last three days we worked till well past supper time. At the end of the three days, we felt very satisfied, and had a huge sence of accomplishment as we left. It touched me so much to see the thankfullness in the kids faces, as well as John Walker and his wifes faces for all the work that we accomplished while we were there. It was greatly appreciated, and there thankfullness, and God Bless you that they gave us was more payment than any monetary payment.

I am sure that there are bits and peices of my trip that I missed, even though I tried to mention every little thing that happened. It was AWESOME, and I would do it again in an instant.