Ministry Day 9 – Wednesday – Final Blog It’s hard to believe that this was our last day doing our program and service projects. This trip has gone by so fast. This morning we started by doing a home makeover for a family that goes to Pastor Miguel’s church. People were painting everywhere – inside and outside – making sure every corner got painted in the limited time we had there. We had such a great time meeting and talking with the people of Pastor Miguel’s church. It was s

Ministry Day 8 – Tuesday This morning we had to wake up early again to go to an orphanage. After eating breakfast we had a nice, air conditioned ride to the orphanage. At the orphanage we spent the morning doing our program. I love doing the program. It’s one of my favourite things about this mission’s trip. I had expected the orphanage to be more run down and the kids not very well cared for, but instead the home was really nice and the kids were very healthy. During our pro

Ministry Day 7 – Monday On the 27th of July 2015, A fence was painted Because the walls were tainted. And gladly no one fainted. We also moved sand All across the land To make a path, And then had a bath (shower). Before the bath, we went to the ocean. Your kids did not apply lotion. Some people got burnt, But we all learnt To wear sun lotion When we're serving near the ocean. In the ocean we went for a swim. Thankfully, no one lost a limb. It was rather not grim. We also ha

Ministry Day 6 – Sunday Our Sunday we went to Pastor Miguel’s church in Mérida. Giorgio translated the sermon for us. It was about how the church is not just a place or a group of people. It’s a family. I didn’t just hear this, but felt it in the way we were accepted and welcomed as brothers and sisters in Christ by the people there. They sang the songs in English, as well as in Spanish. They were friendly, despite the language barrier. We spent the rest of the afternoon shop

Ministry Day 5 – Saturday Today we had the opportunity to visit a juvenile boy’s home and it was so amazing. We got to run through our program and hang out with them afterward. For me, however, it was hard because of the language barrier. All I wanted to do was be able to talk, explain, and have conversations because I thought that is what I needed to do for them to understand God’s love. Being on this trip has made me realize how big God is, because of how little I can commu

Ministry Day 4 – Friday The main event for today was helping out with a work project at Gamma’s “Camp John 3:16”. It was hard work as we built up the foundation for a second building that will house camp leaders. We did cement work, that is, once they got the cement mixer working! It was a classic scene of guys huddled around a small gasoline engine trying to get it to run. But they had success, thanks to an international display of ingenuity and persistence! All in a day’s w

Ministry Day 3 – Thursday Hi all! Today was a super cool experience with each team member getting an opportunity to serve. First thing today, we served at the senior’s home in Mérida, where there were around 20-30 people living there. We helped serve them by preparing a pancake breakfast. We cooked tons of pancakes on the barbeque and then gave them to the seniors for their breakfast. It was so awesome to see how something I view as so small (after the thousands of pancake br

Ministry Day 2 – Wednesday Today for our cultural day, our team explored a historic site called Dzibilchaltún – ruins from an ancient civilization with architecture ranging from ancient Mayan temples and village squares [stadiums], to little huts that the Maya people used to live in. We visited the museum, which had a collection of artifacts discovered by archaeologists, as well as many hieroglyphics written by the Maya people. Personally, I didn’t understand what the symbols

Ministry Day 1 – Tuesday What an exciting start to a mission trip. After a rude alarm and an essential cup of coffee, I led the team in a daily devotion using the well-known scripture passage John 13, where we read about the astonishing Jesus and his radical acts of servanthood. Unpacking a few points I had learned about this text, I encouraged and challenged everyone to grab this time on our mission trip to demonstrate love by serving one another, especially with those in th