Hola! On Saturday night, we had the privilege of hearing the testimony of a local pastor named Miguel. Someone that Gary and Joanne work closely with here in Progresso. He told us how he came to know Christ through witnessing an incredible miracle in his family, and therefore promising to spend the rest of his life serving God. It was an incredibly moving story, that had me choked up pretty much the whole time. But the most impactful part of it all was getting to attend his c

This morning after a devotional by Julia and a wonderful breakfast, a group of orphans came over to the base. We all had a child or teen that we were assigned to for the morning and I was with a wonderful kid named José. When the kids first got here we spent a little bit of time trying to get to know them but it was difficult because of the language barrier between us. José and I were paired up with Dayton and his partner Issac to head down to the beach. At the beach we built

Today our team started off the day bright and early planting trees at camp John 3:16. It was amazing to see how God had blessed them with the land. Originally they only wanted a little bit of land but God gave them 24 acres and extremely fertile soil. There we planted trees of all kinds like avocados, mangos, limes and mandarins. We learned that in less than 2 years these trees would grow up and yield fruit that they would use to sell and raise funds to further expand their c

This evening at our program with a church in Merida, the pieces of the puzzle all started to fall into place for me. I preface this by saying I was adamant about not going on this trip when it was first proposed last summer. I doubted I would be useful for the cause or it would be useful for me. Begrudgingly I make a last minute decision to come anyways. Zaccheus is the basis of our ministry this week and the message of prioritizing and being intentional with your actions is

Today we headed to Flamboyanes, a small village near Progreso, to play floor hockey and basketball and do our program for the local kids. It was amazing to see how welcoming they were the second we walked through the door. They were so friendly to me despite my terrible Spanish and they were so excited to play floor hockey. We then headed back to the base for an extremely appreciated swim and siesta. Then we headed to a church in Merida where we played Tiger Tail games and pa

We were out the door bright and early this morning headed to, Dzibilchaltun, the ruins of an ancient Mayan civilization. After loading into our 15 seater van, we enjoyed a (not-at-all-sweaty-and-cramped) 20 minute bus ride to our destination. We saw tons of neat temples, houses and artifacts before heading to my favorite spot, the cenote. A cenote is a water hole with an underground connected system. This specific one was about 50 meters?? in diameter and of varying depths. T

Day 2 - July 22, 2019 Hola Amigos! This morning we did a scavenger hunt around the main street and centre of Progreso! So interesting seeing such a different but beautiful culture. The people are friendly, and very willing to try and answer any questions you have, even when you can't speak Spanish ( I can say "hola", and "gracias" pretty well, if I do say so myself). This afternoon we prepared for our program by rehearsing songs, dramas, a puppet play, a memory verse and a Dr

Day 1 - July 21 Hey there! Thanks for following our short term missions trip! Today is our first day here in Mexico. We left Calgary at 1am and we arrived at the base around 3:30 pm today. We had two very safe flights and we are happy to be here! Following our arrival, base orientation, and a settle in time, Gary and Joanne made us a delicious dinner of fajitas! We are so thankful for their hospitality and welcoming us to their base. This evening we did a cultural orien