Mission Trip to Tijuana: Day 1: Sunday

This morning I woke up, got ready to attend a church service, went to a prayer meeting, ate breakfast and left the ranch along with the others on the team.

At the ranch before Church

Palm Tree Picture!

After several large speed bumps, some windy turns, and skinny cows, we arrived in the community where the church was located. Upon arriving, we drove past several familiar places for those who have come in years past in addition to seeing horses wandering the street.

Los Caballos

Some of the kids we met.

When we arrived at the orphanage, we helped unload materials from the vans and assisted in the setting up of a tent which we would use for shade. While doing this, I noticed 3 girls standing off to the side talking to one another near their family. A bit unsure of what to say to them, I asked some of my friends from church to come with me and talk to them. With the little Spanish I knew, I began asking them questions and formulating sentences. With the help of some friends, we spoke about Disney Princesses and their family and gave high fives "altos cinco". Afterwards, I saw several people over by where clothes and things were set up to give to people. With curiosity in mind, I wander over there and see a line of kids on one side and a line of people on the mission trip on the other. We went down the line of kids asking what is your name and how old are you in Spanish, giving them high fives, and making them laugh by making a silly face. That was so much fun and after a while more and more kids came over and wanted to see what was going on, so it was a great way to meet them!

A short while later, the church service began we began walking to the tent with the chairs set up. One little girl walked by me looked up at me and smiled, I took her hand and walked with her to the chairs where there were not many seats next to each other so I sat behind her. After a little bit, I looked off to the side and saw several kids sitting on steps off to the side. When looking over there, I thought to myself maybe they want to come over here with us. I am not sure how I got the courage, but I know that it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with God. I walked over to the group of kids on the stairs during the service and said; "Vaminos, esta aqui." After motioning towards the tent, the kids followed me and sat down for a while. Instead of going back to my seat, I sat on the ground with the kids. Several people offered me their seats, but I wanted to sit with the kids. During the service, the kids ran back and forth between sitting down and playing. As the pastor was speaking about Fathers and the Heavenly Father, I was full of joy as I listened to the message and heard the kids laughter in the background. After the message, they asked people from Huron Hills and the community we were in to share something about their faith and hearing friends speak and hearing about how God has helped them grow in faith and about how God has been with them in Mexico for many years was wonderful. Worship was incredibly awesome as well! There were 2 bands, some people from our church and then people from the communities who all did a fantastic job! I loved singing, even though I did not know a lot of the Spanish songs, I did my best to follow along and I had some help from new friends I made that day. After worship, I heard a cry from a kid, I looked over and a little girl was crying in a little tree house. I looked around to see if any of her family was there then I walked over and asked "que paso" for what's going on or what's happening, and she said she was afraid to get down. I said abrazo (hug) and helped her down. She looked up at me and said thank you with a big smile on her face. That moment, I felt so full of joy and I was glad that I did not just continue listening to the church service instead of taking time to look for those who were off to the side. I feel that God definitely helped me do that more often throughout the week and it is something I want to do more of, helping those who are off to the side and quiet, conversing with them and helping them down from a tree house.

Before the service

Some of the kids I met

Barbara, Eric, and the Pastor from la iglesia

One of the girls who I got to know, she knew a little bit of English
and helped me with my basic Spanish!

After worship was over, the pastor asked all of those who were from Huron Hills

to come up so that we could be recognized and people could know who we are. We were asked to sing a song for them, so we sang Open the Eyes of My Heart in English and in Spanish. For the Spanish version, I stopped singing for a moment and listened as we all sang together with those in the congregation. I was reminded of how we are all God's children and how he loves us all the same, that we are all one in Christ Jesus like it says in Galatians 3:28.

"For there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Holy Bible ESV