Saturday, May 10, 2008

March Mexico Trip

Over spring break this year Susan and I went with the teens of Fairmount Christian Church and helped to build a home for a family in Ensenada, Mexico. Three teams went, each one building one home each for the outreach program called Yugo. After we got back we held a banquet for those who had supported the teams financially, and a few people shared a few thoughts about their experiences on the trip. I was privileged to be one of them, and here is the text of what I said, along with some pictures to illustrate it:



What I learned in Mexico


I learned that a house does not have to be built by a team of professional designers and outfitted with the latest Sears appliances in order to be an Extreme Home Makeover. The house we built in Mexico was built by teens and adults, all amateurs except for one professional foreman. It has three small rooms, no bathroom, no kitchen, in fact no plumbing of any kind. The only furniture is a bunk bed; the only light comes from the windows. And yet no family on Extreme Home Makeover has been more grateful for a new home than was Maribel Perez, her son, and her sisters.

The Perez "House" before We Came


The Perez House Now


I learned that tacos in Mexico are as good as the ones in Texas, and that the burritos in Mexico are HUGE. I learned that “elote” is a kind of sweet corn flour, and that it makes very tasty tamales. I learned what ceviche is and that I enjoy eating it. Maribel’s father made a batch of it and offered it to the team on Thursday afternoon as a “thank you” for his daughter’s new home. I was touched by the fact that none of the other family and friends who had gathered for the dedication of the home ate any of it until all of the team members had eaten their fill.





I learned that Christ dwells in the hearts of the Fairmount teens. I knew before we left for Mexico that the teens who come to 2:42 have a good grounding in the knowledge of Christ, but in Mexico I saw firsthand the qualities of Christ exhibited in sacrifices for others, in compassion for the oppressed, in hard work done for no other reason than because it would help a family in need. Patricia wore a shirt one day while we were in Ensenada that said, “They will know we are Christians by our t-shirts.” I had to chuckle at the wry wit of that statement, but as I see it the sun-burned ears and blistered hands of these teens proclaim that they are Christians louder than any clever slogan or logo on any t-shirt.





I went on this trip to get to know the teens better, and I did, and when I did, I saw Christ living in them more clearly than ever before.




If you would like to see more pictures of the trip, visit our PhotoShow site.

To view a video of Maribel Perez posted by Yugo before the trip, visit their blog page.

1 Comments:

Blogger Jeremy and Melody said...

This is Melody from EOC. I am so sorry we didn't get back to you sooner about the comment you left! I hadn't noticed there was a comment until now.

The GPS coordinates are (more or less)31 degrees 42'13 N by 116 degrees 32'57 W.

You can send mail to me and I will try to translate it.
Melody Gonzalez
4492 Camino de la Plaza, PMB 918 San Ysidro, CA 92173.
We will make every effort to make sure it gets to her. Please include a note saying who it is for, as I will probably forget!

Glad you had a good time here serving God. Hope we'll see you again next year!

7:09 PM  

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