Ensenada 2008 Report

 

Our 08 summer trips were some of the best ever!  We had 34 people on the combo trip, 28 on Trip I and 18 on Trip II for a total of 80.  This meant we had 62 people at the hotel the first week and 52 the second week.  These are good numbers for us to work with and we were able to provide assistance with VBS at 24 churches, run 3 sports camps, build three houses, put additions and improvements on two more existing houses and  roofs on one house and one large church.

 

The churches we served were almost entirely mission churches or emerging ones and the children were from both the church and the community.  As always, they enjoyed our songs, crafts, games, puppet shows and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  We were blessed to have been given several CASES of M & Ms by Ed Hultgren from the Rural Compassion ministry.  These were a great treat for the kids and were often used as a reward for learning memory verses or answering Bible questions correctly.

 

We held a large sewing class at Iglesia Prinicpe de Paz  about a dozen ladies, some sewing for the first time.  The ladies were each given a machine from those donated to us by Family Sewing in Wyoming, MI.

 

Carol Schuitema led another health and fitness class at the church, teaching people how to monitor their blood pressure, heart rate and the proper use of good diet and exercise. 

 

We like to think of our ministry in Ensenada as helping to build lives.  Pastor Ernesto shared with us how he was once a naughty, dirty, poor little niqo who was introduced to Jesus as the home of a neighbor during a gospel presentation.  We often dont know the impact of our ministry, but we do know that children, teens, and even some parents, are hearing the gospel message.  Most of us are not equipped to speak this message in Spanish, but we know and pray that our actions and expressions of love with help to convey it.

 

Lives are being built within our participants, too.  Each year we hear testimonies as to how being in this community has impacted our teens, sometimes even our adults.  Many of our teens consider it a sacrifice to live without their cell phones, computers and I-pods for a week or two.  But, often, when they see the living conditions of some of the Mexican people, they realize how much they have and how little they have actually sacrificed. Many Mexican adults earn $70 a week.  The cost of food and other items is quite comparable to ours in the states, so they struggle to provide basic needs for their families. 

 

Some of us have been studying Spanish a bit more intensely this last year and I think it has paid off.  We were able to converse on a little deeper level than previously.  We also learned that we still have a long way to go and need much more practice in making conversation.  We really appreciate those young people who have taken Spanish in school and who arent afraid to try it.  Sometimes we also have a good laugh as I did when I complimented a young Mexican girl on her English, saying something like, Tu ingles es bueno.  She replied, You dont have to speak Spanish to me  Im visiting from California.

 

Each year, our relationships with the local church people grow deeper.  I feel we learn a great deal from each other.  We try to do things THEIR way, not the way were accustomed to or the way that seems best to us.  This is what we strive to teach our participants, both student and adult.  Our friends in Ensenada live there 52 weeks of the year and we just visit for two of those weeks.  We want to be the support system, not the controls.  I believe that, as we continue to minister in this way, the Lord will bless our endeavors.  To Him be the glory!