2023 Mexico Missions Trip

 

Friday August 4th we left for Mexico. My parents, my Uncle Chuck, my brother, my friend Isaiah, and I all set off for a nice 13 hour road trip. We stopped at the base of the Grapevine the first night and then made it to San Diego the following afternoon. After getting some ice cream in town we promptly fell asleep awaiting our nice long drive the following morning. After a short little hassle with vans and fitting all the people we were on the road and ready for a 6 hour road trip. We got there, settled down and right out to eat tacos. Monday we got to the build site, met the family, and started building. With so many people (I think around 34) we made excellent progress. We got to finish up on Monday a little early so we could all shower before dinner. After dinner on the base we (naturally) went to go eat tacos. At night it didn't get very cool, but it was manageable especially since we brought some fans to get some circulation in our room. the following day was pretty much the same process. We got the walls up on Monday and then Tuesday we we got the roof on, with most of the roofing started.

Tuesday night we went to a church just down the road and fed everyone there hotdogs. Then, while the church was in service we played with all the kids so they didn't have to sit through the "boring" church service. That was the day I got dehydrated. Wednesday I woke up throwing-up and decided to not go to the work site but rest instead. The rest of the team was productive and got a lot of the trim done, and windows put in. My dad was on front-door-duty, so he framed out and hung the front door. That night the rest of the group went to another local church. Some people got up and spoke (with a translator) and my brother got up and sang a worship song in Spanish! It was another nice night of outreach. By Thursday I was feeling better, and I wanted to be there for the handing the keys over to the family. We were doing finishing touches to the interior of the house, and making sure it was all clean for the family. It was so nice to finally be able to give them a solid house to live in, especially when they were living in a glorified cardboard box before. Needless to say, they were very appreciative and their two kids were quite excited to have their own beds! I forgot to mention, but all of this is at no cost to the family. The only stipulation is that they own the land we're building on otherwise if they're renting it, the person who owns it will just kick them off and take the house. Thursday came to close with Tacos as per usual, and Friday opened up with going to a local coffee shop. Then we got to go into an outdoor market, my friends and I got matching bracelets and Isaiah also got a nice Mexico hat. Friday afternoon we all went to the beach which was nice.

The beach is very similar to Oregon beaches in terms of Water temperature and sand type. It is very flat very much unlike the Oregon coast though. Saturday morning we packed up and headed north. We couldn't get through Tijuana because of long lines at the border, so we went to Tecate instead. After making back into the states we had to help unpack the mission leader who was moving to Hawai'i to start a new mission there. Then we said our goodbyes to the rest of the groups and set off north. We didn't make it far, just north of the Grapevine before we stopped for the night. Sunday we finished the drive home, and got to take scenic HWY 99 (thanks Uncle Chuck!) It was a long trip, and not always full of highlights. However, it was so fulfilling and it was so nice to be able to give a family something that will last for generations. I'm definitely going to try and go back next year.