Mexico '08

I've had a couple days of rest so I am a bit more coherent. I would love to share with you all about our amazing mission trip to Mexico. It was good. Good good good. God is good.

We left Saturday March 22nd and drove down to San Diego. I was in charge of transportation for the trip and luckily everything went well for the ride down. We crashed at a church that night and then woke up Sunday morning to cross the border. Once we crossed, we drove to our tent area. The rest of the day was spent setting up camp. Yeah for wind and tarps and tents and porta-potties and unloading equipment and setting up the kitchen area and tables and chairs and making a campfire and assigning students to tents and unloading luggage and sleeping bags and making our campsite as homey as possible.

Monday was the first day of building. Since we had over 100 people on the trip, we split them into 5 teams, with the goal that each team would build a house. It was great because AMOR (the organization we work with) got us work sites that were close to each other. (in previous years we've been split up) So here was a typical day:

wake up at 6
breakfast, pack a lunch
drive to work sites
work from 8-5
drive back to campsite
dinner, leader meeting
campfire with everyone to talk about the day
hang-out time, bed


It was so fun to walk around to all the sites each day and see the students working SO hard. And smiling! And laughing! They were giving up their spring break to be in the hot sun (praise for no rain!), live in dirt, get sweaty and filthy and hungry, doing hard labor...and loving it! I was so encouraged.

Yes, there were definitely times of frustration and stress. But then I watched as the leaders of each team would stop everyone's work and they'd all just grab hands and pray. Love it love it love it.

Here are some of my highlights from the trip:

* camp fire time (I loved hearing stories from the day)

* the girls in my tent

* car rides to and from the work site (our favorite songs were "This is Why I'm Hot" by MIMS, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi)

* the families (our site's family was a mom and dad - Sergio and Elvira, and they had 3 kids - Valeria, Sergio Jr. and little Cesar who was almost two years old)

* hangin’ with college students (and high school students, too) Because of all the prep that went into the trip, I hadn't spent time with students in a long time and I missed it! It was so nice to be away from home and get quality time with them.

* the kids in the village

* seeing everyone working so hard and having the greatest attitudes

* poop stories (it wouldn't be a church trip without them)

* giving the keys to the family on the last day


So overall, when people ask me about the trip, my response holds words like "soooo good" or "it was so cool to see the students grow closer to God and to each other" or "awesome!" or "it's so great to see God at work in Tijuana" or "best year yet!" All are true.

The only bad part of the trip for me was the second-to-last day. We packed up camp early Friday morning and set out to cross the border back into Cali. First, I got separated from our group and got lost on the road. Scary. Then we had to wait for 2-3 hours to cross the border. Then, when we stopped for lunch, I got a call saying one of our vans broke down 10 miles behind us. Eek.

Long story short, I went to pick up the stranded students (the driver would stay there until the car was fixed) while everyone else headed for our little motel in Anaheim. When I got there, I got chewed out by one of our adult leaders. Then I went BACK to our lunch spot to pick up a couple more students. And then I got my first ticket. Arg. All I was thinking about was how behind we were, all I wanted to do was get to the motel, it's the end of the week, I'm fried, I'm done, etc. I went through an intersection at a yellow light but got caught behind backed-up cars and end of blocking the intersection. Crap! Got pulled over, tried not to cry, all of this happened with 6 students in the car.

Then we hit 3 hours of Friday afternoon traffic. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot and the students scrambled out, I burst into tears. I was so DONE, ya know? Since I was in charge of transportation, I felt responsible for the stuff that happened. (although I couldn't help the wait at the border, the traffic, or the car breaking down)

So I just stayed in the car (when I should have been in the all-group meeting) and cried and thought and prayed and cried some more. After awhile, a friend of mine (Amy) climbed into the passenger seat and sat with me. After I shared with her about the day, she and I talked about freakin' Satan. We had just experienced an amazing week in Mexico, watching God at work in the lives of these students. No injuries, no problems, no sickness...just a purely awesome week of serving God. And I felt like Satan wanted to bring me down and make me forget about all that had happened. And it was true! I was so focused on all the horrible things that had happened that day. It was souring the whole week's experience.

It was so good to put things in perspective. We also talked about how good it was that both the break-down AND my ticket hadn't occurred until AFTER we crosed the border. They both happened in San Diego. If they had to happen at all, I am thankful they did not happen in Mexico.

Anyway, I could go into it more, but it really helped to talk with Amy. The rest of my evening was w-a-y better. I went up to my room, took a shower, and then got to have dinner with best friend Elissa and her hubby Mike. Then Saturday we packed up and headed home. I almost fell asleep 4 times at the wheel. Good times.

So since then I have been sleeping, sleeping, sometimes eating and seeing roomates and friends, but mostly sleeping. This trip wipes me out more than any other trip. But. It. Is. So. Worth. It. Next Sunday night is our "Celebrate Mexico" night where we all come together for a night of stories, pictures, a video, awards, re-connecting, etc.

It will be so good to see everyone again. You get very used to waking up and living life with 109 other people all day every day. It's a bit strange to come back to real life and not have that around you.

So anyway, thanks for reading my long post. Great trip. Still reflecting. God is good.