Our flight landed on Friday night at about 9:45 PM from our mission trip to the City of Children in Ensenada, Mexico. It was phenomenal! I had a blast while I was there. Special thanks to Lance Malone, Brian Lea, and the folks from Tennessee who planned and prepared everything for the trip. I feel blessed to have served along side you all and look forward to serving together in the future!
We flew out on Saturday morning July 3rd on the first flight to San Diego, California. After making a quick layover stop in Albuquerque we were on our way to San Diego. I’ve never been to San Diego before and was shocked when I stepped off the plane (in my shorts and t-shirt) to 68 degree weather! I couldn’t believe it! 68 degrees in the middle of the day in July! We loaded up our stuff on the charter bus and went to Seaport Village for lunch. Seaport Village was a neat area with boardwalk, shopping, and restaurants. After spending a couple of hours there we went back to the airport to pick up our friends from Tennessee. Once we got them loaded up, we headed for the border.
I don’t know if you’ve ever crossed the US/Mexico border before on a charter bus or not, but our experience went like this. We pulled up (in the bus lane – praise God for the bus lane) and one person from our bus had to get out and push a button that triggered either a red light or a green light. If we were to get a green light, then the whole bus would pass through – no questions asked. If we were to get a red light, then EVERYONE would have to get off the bus, get their luggage, and go through the line one at a time pushing the button. If you got a green light you could walk through to Mexico. If you got a red light, they searched EVERYTHING you had with you.
We got a red light.
So we all got off the bus, grabbed a bag, and one at a time pushed the button and crossed the border. A few of us had to have our luggage checked, but it was no big deal. About 15 minutes later we were on our way to Ensenada and the City of Children!
Once we arrived to the City of Children and unloaded, we were served a delicious dinner of fish and shrimp tacos Baja style. They were amazing! We finished the day with a bilingual devo with the teens from the City of Children and it was awesome. The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and had a worship service with the children. Lance Malone preached the sermon and he did a fantastic job (especially since he was asked the night before if he’d preach). Later that day was spent touring the facilities, playing with the kids, and getting ready for work week.
Monday started our work week – and boy was it work. Our group was split into four work groups and each group was assigned a daily task. One task was called City Work – on that day we did manual labor work for the City of Children (dig holes, pour concrete and set poles in the ground for a tarp to go over a slap of concrete). Another task was Kitchen Patrol duties & Babies – on that day we served food at all the meals, prepared the food, and cleaned the dining hall. We also spent time with the babies and toddlers that day. Another task was Outside Work – on that day we went out, into Ensenada, and did manual labor for the Church in Colonia 89 (namely pour concrete). The last task was Outside Benevolence – on that day we spent the morning visiting the homes of the folks who attend the church at Colonia 89. It was a very humbling experience. After we were done with that, we spent some time in Ensenada eating lunch and shopping in the tourist district.
For four days we rotated through these four tasks, and we each were able to serve in all four ways. It was very exciting, humbling, and rewarding.
One thing that changed my life while we were on this mission trip was seeing the poverty that these people live in. I can’t even do it justice to try and describe it to you. I don’t mean any disrespect, but if you’ve ever seen District 9 – the area of Colonia 89 reminded me of District 9. What amazed me and changed my perspective was the joy and peace that those people have in their one room house. They live in spaces as small as 20 x 20…that’s it! One side has beds and the other side has a sink and a table, and they’re as happy as they can be.
