Trip Highlights from Spring, 2007
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The Mexico trip was wonderful! With 29 people from VGBC and 3 from neighboring churches, by God’s grace we were able to complete the mission you sent us on in Juarez, Mexico. We built two houses, and distributed 50 Spanish New Testaments, 50 evangelistic packets which also include a New Testament, a coloring book, and crayons, and gave away 25 Frisbees with the message of salvation in Spanish printed on them.
We left on Sunday, March 25 and traveled to the Glorieta Conference Center. We spent the night there and left early the next morning for El Paso. We arrived in El Paso in the early afternoon, and after some final logistics headed across the border with our two Casas por Cristo leaders, Ryan de la Pena and Mike Galvin. Ryan’s parents are members of VGBC. Ryan is full time with Casas and has built several houses. Mike lives in Woodland Park and volunteers two weeks each year with Casas. We were glad to have both of them as our leaders this year.
By the time we crossed over on Monday, got our tools, and arrived at the church we were staying at in Juarez, we didn’t have time to hit the job site. We moved the pews out of the way and all spread out in the large single room of the church. We were anxiously waiting the next day when the real work would begin.
We had a hearty breakfast and headed to the job sites early Tuesday. During work days we break into two teams for the two houses. One of the teams found their site fairly level and were well on their way to pouring their slab by mid-morning. By the way, pouring the slab means mixing the water, gravel, sand, and cement in a small electric mixer. The other team found the ground less than level (some would say this is a great understatement). They worked nearly all day at digging out the hard, rocky ground until it was perfectly level. At the end of the first day, both teams had their foundations poured (22 ft by 11 ft) and had their walls built.
One of the teams arrived back at the church a couple of hours before the other and they were able to eat dinner first. The eating area is small, forcing groups to eat in shifts anyway, so this worked out well. The other team arrived and they were worn out. It had been a long fight with the foundation and that had sapped a lot of energy. The team that had arrived earlier graciously served the group that got in later. All the second group had to do was to wash their hands and sit down as the other group waited on them hand and foot. What we found is that we really were ONE team building two houses. There wasn’t any rivalry or competition between the two groups. We weren’t there for ourselves and we knew it. The church was having services so it was a bit later before we could clean up and have devotions. We didn’t invade the church services as we were filthy and would have made it awfully crowded, but it sure sounded like they were having a great time praising the Lord.
Once the church services were over we were able to set up the room for our sleeping arrangements again. If you wanted to get clean, and we all did, you had to be prepared for a cold shower. Some would swear the water was turning to ice crystals as it hit the shower floor. There was no need to put a time limit on showers! When we settled in for the evening we had a worship time together. We started off with awesome music and followed that with a devotional time given by one of the team members. Each night God prepared the words we needed. It is wonderful how energized and encouraged you get from a time of worship with the Creator.
We were up early on Wednesday, ate a rib sticking breakfast and headed out to the site. We begin each day at the worksite with a word of prayer. Team members prepared lunches early in the morning, and also provided a snack with an encouraging scripture verse. We’re in the groove now and we set all the walls, made and installed the roof, wired the electrical, put up the black board and chicken wire, and insulated the walls and ceiling of the house. It really takes shape on day two.
We finished our houses on Thursday by stuccoing the exterior and sheet rocking the interior. It is wonderful to see what God has accomplished through us in only three days, but nothing quite compares to the joy of turning the keys of the completed house over to the family. There is a dedication period where we give the family the keys, a Spanish Bible with the plan of salvation and several encouraging verses listed in the front flap. We were also able to write a note and sign the Bibles as well. Finally, we presented the families with the gifts you had provided for us to take there. This is a truly moving time and you’ll even see the men in your group tearing up. For those men who don’t like to admit to crying, there’s enough dust blowing around it’s easy to say you just had some dust in your eye. The devotion time that evening was special as several shared how God was working in their lives on this trip.
Friday morning the team went down the street to a nearby park and passed out the Bibles, Evangelical packets, Frisbees, and small toys. They had passed everything out in a couple of hours and decided they needed twice as much for the next trip. Next trip? I’ll get to that in a minute. Friday afternoon we spent an hour at an indoor market and then crossed the border back into the U.S. We spent the night in an El Paso Church and started home early Saturday morning.
God willing, we are hoping this will be a mission opportunity you will want to send VGBC teams on each year. We worked hard, exerting all our energy for three hard days while enduring cold showers, less than sanitary conditions (check out pictures of the bathroom situations at the worksites) and slept on the hard floor in many cases. Most of us were out of our comfort zone, many working with people they had seen at church, but didn’t really know, taking vacation days from work, or spending their Spring break time, and then paying for the privilege. Would we do it again? Absolutely!! So why did we do it? Because of how richly God blessed us in doing so.
God sent each of us on mission to do His work and we were blessed with being able to be a part of the work He is doing in Juarez. It is such a great environment for God to work on you. There are very few distractions to your fellowship with God. There is no finer honor than being there and turning over the keys to the homes you all have helped purchased through giving as God has led you. Thank you so much for following God’s will and making this mission trip possible. God honored it and it was, by His grace, successful!
