|
Mexico Family Mission Trip 2006
The Mexico family mission trip was a great experience for our entire group. Our group was led by Alice Wash and consisted of the Telfer family (George, Melody, Curtiss, Chandler and Ali), Tom Cunningham and his daughter, Mackenzie, and our family (Gene, Allen, Brian, Rob and Jack Barnes).
The trip took us to Valle Hermosa, Mexico, which is right over the border, one hour south of Harlingen, Texas. Louise, the CUPS coordinator for the area, met us at the airport, loaded her truck with our bags and escorted us to Valle Hermosa.
CUPS, which stands for Communidades Unidas Por Salud means Communities United for Health. It is an organization that uses volunteer labor to assist border communities in Mexico. CUPS and its volunteers have worked alongside Mexican community volunteers to better their neighborhoods with health clinics, churches, potable water systems and other services.
Our goal was to finish out a room addition for a school for handicapped students in the community. This was a perfect project for our group, which included 6 adults and 7 children ranging in age from 9 – 15. The first morning on the job, we met Julio and Fidencio, the CUPS construction managers in Valle Hermosa. They took us to the warehouse where we loaded supplies onto their truck. We drove over to the school, and began work right away!
For the next several days, we measured, cut and nailed in the rafters, hung sheetrock, mudded, sanded, painted and hung the interior walls. It was very gratifying to watch the process evolve and see the room beginning to take shape. The building is a bright white with green trim. Our kids learned a great deal about what goes into the building of a room, as did we!
The kids took breaks and made friends with the neighborhood children, many of which were on spring break that week as well. They played soccer, kickball and cards. The language barrier didn't seem to matter at all to them!
Alice planned dinner for us at different local restaurants each night. The consensus was that the guacamole was excellent! We also made several visits to a popular ice cream parlor in town and watched in wonder as the locals ate corn on the cob rolled in mayonnaise and sprinkled with cheese!
We concluded the week with a birthday party for several of the kids complete with a tres leche cake and a piñata stuffed with candy.
The trip opened our eyes to the poverty that so many people live with in our world. We were glad to be able to serve in some small way. God calls us to put our faith into action and sometimes that is hard to do in our busy lives. Going on a mission trip lets you completely get away from your daily routine. No cell phones, carpools or computers! To focus on doing something for someone else for a week was a welcome change in our lives! We will look forward to being a part of other mission work in the future.
—Gene Barnes
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
