In October of 2016, our local church took a mission trip to Rio Bravo, Mexico. This is a ministry our church has been involved in for many years .. long before I began attending it. My interest in being a part of this was due to my being a nurse, but it turned out there was not enough medical professionals to go, thus this particular trip would be a construction ministry.

Why did I want to be a part of a mission trip? Well, through my Christian walk seeking to know God better through his word, through my relationships with others, and through sharing my love of Him to others, it just made perfect sense to me to someday go on at least one church mission trip! Over the years in my small little world of being a Christian and being involved in church work in a myriad of capacities, although that certainly filled my heart with the Holy Spirit, I wanted to know what it’s like for someone not in my perfect little “Christianity Bubble”, someone in another country less fortunate than myself, to experience God. To be able to extend the hand of Jesus Christ, so to speak, to those whose world is less perfect than even those in our country.

We don’t have to search far to find the mission needs in OUR country. As we look around on a daily basis we see homelessness, the hungry, the poor, the sick, and the emotionally disturbed. I always thought this was primarily a problem in large cities such as Chicago or New York City, but I’ve found it to be prevalent even in smaller cities, such as the one in which I reside.

Here’s what I found: in many ways, what I saw in Mexico, well some seemed to have lives much better than our homeless and our military veterans. I saw people – children and adults – that were dirty and appeared a little hungry. But I also saw children and adults that were not. There was a grandmother selling cactus and her grandchildren appeared “dusty”, as in perhaps they had walked the dirty, unpaved roads to come to the church we were working at in order to find someone who would buy the cactus, in order for her to make a little money. And then there were those that were probably cleaner and harder working, with a lifestyle better than many of the poor and/or average citizen in America.

 

We stayed at a Methodist-affiliated facility, Manos Juntas. Manos Juntas means Hands joined together. Pastor Ruben pastors the Methodist Church there, and Willie Berman, a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, facilitates the mission work with The Louisiana Annual conference, The Texas Annual Conference and The West Ohio Annual Conference, all of whom support this mission.

 

Our trip to Mexico began at 6 am with a prayer gathering at Pineville Methodist before eleven of us boarded the bus for a long drive to McAllen, Texas. There we met Willie and we were transferred to vans to be driven through border control on to Rio Bravo. After arriving at the facility where we would reside for four nights, we were greeted with a wonderful Mexican meal prepared by the staff. The living quarters were up to par with our American standards … air-conditioning and private bathrooms. Each morning we gathered for coffee and a devotional and then the staff prepared a warm breakfast. There was another mission team staying with us, a medical mission team from St Paul’s Methodist church (Monroe, Louisiana).

We worked daily from 8 am to 3 pm. The work on this particular trip involved laying floor tile, painting, installing windows and stuccoing an outside wall. The facility being worked on by our team was a Ronald McDonald house called Casa Luz de Esperanza, which means Light of Hope. It will provide a place to stay for families of very ill children at the nearby State Children’s Hospital.

 

Although I was not physically able to participate in the construction, I was able to spend time working with the children that came daily. A church friend of mine and I sat and colored with them and played with them. I had taken a huge back of Mardi Gras beads and they loved them! On the last day we threw frisbees with them. Everyone had a wonderful time interacting with the kids. Also, there was a pastor named Pastor Nena and on the last day she brought children to the church. As they sat coloring a picture with a lamb and a praying child, Pastor Nina began speaking to them in Spanish. At first we had no idea what she was telling them and then suddenly we began to realize, based on the hand motions and baaing sounds she was making, that she was telling The Parable of the Lost Lamb (Matthew 18:10-14).

 

 

 

Because of my limitations with arthritis in my knees, I was initially discouraged that I was not able to be very effective with the manual labor of the construction part of the mission. Pastor Ed, though, explained to me that to carry water bottles to our mission team as the labored in the heat, to place bandaids on cut fingers and to show love to the little children were just as important to God’s work.

 

I had come to Mexico with a heavy heart as the morning we left for our trip I received word from a dear friend that her only child, 27 years, old had died the night before. I was also very anxious and worried about my brother and many dear friends in Florida as they were preparing for a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane. But here’s the wonderful and beautiful thing about our awesome God. Working on a mission trip in Mexico, seeing those bright, innocent faces of those children, who found joy in coloring a picture of the lost lamb … and playing with Mardi Gras beads, calmed and quieted my anxious soul. Watching my fellow church friends building a Ronald McDonald House for the families of very ill children made me feel very proud of those men who left their jobs and families in order to give their time and physical strength in doing Gods work. It was very moving to be with like minded church friends serving God … each in our own ways, but together as One in Christ.

 

On our last evening we prepared a Louisiana meal of jambalaya for all of the Mexican staff and their families who we had worked with during our trip. Following the meal, we all sat around the piano singing hymns. Singing How Great Thou Art – our Mexican friends in Spanish, while at the same time we were singing it in English ,nearly brought me to tears. The melody and mixing of two languages at the same time all of us singing praises to our Heavenly Father? Wow. Indescribable.

 

And we finally departed for home early Sunday morning. As we crossed through border control back on American soil, I thought of how only a language barrier and a few military men at a border checkpoint is all that separated us from our Mexico missionaries. You see we have so much in common. We have THE most important thing in common … the common goal of serving God and loving one another. And let me tell you my friends, there is absolutely nothing that can come between those with the common goal of serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As the dawn was breaking, our team gathered in the parking lot in McAllen, Texas before boarding our church bus for home. Pastor Ed provided the elements of communion and we gathered in a circle and served each other. I will never view communion as any more Holy than I did that day. I would encourage all who feel drawn to do mission work to do so at least once in your lifetime, if you are physically able. You won’t regret it. I promise.

 

I’d like to close with these words … “Lord, open our eyes that we may see you, in our brothers and sisters. Lord, open our ears that we may hear the cries of the hungry, the cold, the frightened, the oppressed. Lord, open our hearts that we may love each other as you love us. Renew in us your spirit. Lord, free us and make us One” Amen.