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Mexico Mission
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2006
2005
Mexico Mission
2004
Mexico Map
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The 2005 Journey  -  watch the slideshow

 

In November of 2005 we took part in an amazing opportunity to build a simple home for a needy family in Mexico. A group of 10 from our church in St. Louis flew to Phoenix and joined nearly 300 others at a large church in Mesa, Arizona. After a day of preparations and packing, a convoy of more than 25 vans and trailers drove about six hours to the small town of Puerto Peƒasco on the northern tip of the Gulf of California in Mexico.

 

Our home for 4 days and 3 nights was a tent and sleeping bags in the desert just outside of town. Our large group joined three others to form a tent city of several acres, including a food tent, latrines, showers, and a campfire area where we ate meals and each evening enjoyed a time of worship and getting to know each other.

 

The homes are built on the outskirts of town where there are dirt roads, no streetlights, no garbage collection, and no mail service. Running water and electricity are only beginning to be brought into some of the homes in the area. Our family this year was blessed to have a well and pump and electricity – at least most of the day.

 

Designed for a team of 12-15 people to complete in about 2-1/2 days, the home and the material is measured exactly so that there is little waste – but also no room for mistakes or modifications. When completed, the home measures 11’ x 22’ with two bedrooms, two windows, one door, a concrete slab floor and a stucco-exterior. A simple design yet palatial to this family and the others we met.

 

The days were sunny, dry, and a very pleasant 80o – about perfect for the work in front of us. The nights cooled down to the upper 40s, but we stayed warm enough in the sleeping bags and tent. Out in the clear air of the desert, the sunsets and sunrises were just spectacular! And the scenery is so different, of course, from Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, and Florida.

 

Since most of us had not done anything like this in quite a while – if ever – it was a learning experience for everyone! In an effort to fit in with the local conditions and standards of the people in the community, we did all of the construction work by hand – no power tools or heavy equipment! – from mixing and pouring concrete, to cutting and nailing lumber, to the roofing and stucco. It was the hardest work we’ve done in a long time, but very satisfying. The family we worked for was wonderful, and so appreciative of their new home. Other local families were coming by to ask if we could build them a home as well! Maybe next year. Will we go again? Kitty says maybe … Greg is already planning on it (do you want to be part of the team in 2006?).

Mexico Crew
Click on the picture to see the video

You can watch a video slideshow of our 2005 Mexico Mission Trip by clicking on this photo of the team and our family. This project is facilitated by Amor Ministries; their website is www.amor.org.

 

Thanks you to everyone who made this trip a reality for us by your financial support, by loaning us tents, bags, tools, etc., and by praying for us and this mission. Together we blessed a family with a better home than they might otherwise have.

 

The background music on the video slideshow is
"I Go To The Rock" (Aaron & Jeoffrey -1995)
and "He Reigns" (The Newsboys - 2003)
May God bless all of us for
our parts in this mission!

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