Mexico. What comes to mind? Beautiful beaches? Cruises? Stories from the media? Kidnappings and drug trafficking? After my week-long missions trip with CPC High School and Ventana, all I can think of is Porvenir. Flexico. A different way of life. We were working in a small town called Porvenir, which was about half an hour away from Ensenada—the tourist town. It was great to live right in the heart of the community in which we were working. I loved it. We could step outside of our dorm room and see citizens of Porvenir. Normal people going on with their everyday lives. To me, that was unique. I had anticipated us being somewhat isolated from the people of the town and only coming in contact with them during our actual service projects. I was pleasantly surprised. I had also expected a cramped, dirty city-like place with trash all over the place, but I was surprised at how spread out and open Porvenir is. We had to walk to get everywhere. It's not that the distances to and from each place were far, it's just that my first thought at seven in the morning was never "YAY! I get to walk 12 blocks to get breakfast!" We got used to it though, and ultimately it was nice that everything was so close. The main Ventana campus was centralized so that the Gregorio's amazing taco stand, the boys' and girls' dorms, and the soccer field were all nearby. Such close proximity combined with no vehicular transportation made for some good group bonding.Not only did we get to know each other better on this trip, but the Ventana leaders, who take part in a nine-month gap year program including a month in the spring where they host several weeks of Camp Ventana, were amazing. Since they were so close in age to most of us (since they were all taking a gap year, they were about 19), they were easily approachable and we could talk to them comfortably. After having spent about 7 months in solitude—just them and God—they were very insightful and were unafraid to share their wisdom with each of us. Our speakers each night were quite passionate about the missions field. While at times it seemed like a sales pitch for long-term missions, it was refreshing to hear a message about purposes in life rather than just reading from the Scripture (not discounting the Bible at all, just saying that it was a refreshing perspective on our Walk).
Our service projects each day were fantastic. Some people worked the Tball clinic everyday, while others, like me, worked on a different project each day. Monday was Casa Gabriel day. An orphanage in Ensenada for those with HIV/AIDS or those who have disorders such as cerebral palsy or Down syndrome. It was very difficult for me to interact with some of these people. Not all of them were children. Because of their various developmental disorders, 24-year-olds looked nine. A 4-year old looked one. These people who were just happy to see you often could not express their gratitude. I found it challenging to continue to entertain and even just be around those who are incoherent and cannot respond to you. Granted, some of the girls were coherent and had gorgeous smiles in response to you, but the majority of times I felt somewhat unappreciated. Fortunately, on Tuesday, I realized it wasn’t all about me. My group and I were scheduled to do yard work at Consuelo’s house. A widow, and member of the local church, Consuelo was a very sweet, kind woman. She had a massive yard, which had been overrun with weeds for a while. It was our job to clear all of the weeds and haul them away to the local dumping ground. Those who had worked on Monday had already gotten a massive pile of clippings and weeds and placed it in the front of Consuelo’s yard. We got started at about 9, and by noon, the pile had increased twofold. We cleared practically every single weed though, and it was motivating to look back and constantly see the progress we were making. To make time fly, Rob entertained us with his perspective on Twilight—the book AND the movie. Sure, it was sunny. It was hot. The manual labor was exhausting. I had fun though. I wasn’t clearing weeds for myself. I was serving someone. Being God’s servant. Helping someone else, in the name of Christ. To top it all off, Consuelo made us HOMEMADE TORTILLAS. And it is so, so true that homemade food is the absolute best. They were from the heart, just like our service. Sure we were disgustingly gross, sweaty, and dirty, but it was totally worth it.
Wednesday was mural painting at the kindergarten. The weather was cooler and the work less back-breaking, but it was still fun. All of the murals turned out beautifully. On Thursday, we cleaned the center divide of the main street. Shoveling dirt never lasted so long. Who knew that they had painted lines on the road? We progressed very well though, and ended up clearing the entire center divide as well as parts of the gutters on the sides of the streets. It was a little bit hard to stay motivated, but people definitely were appreciative. One woman even stopped and started helping us. I was amazed at that. Another person drove by, saw us working hard, and dropped off bottles of Coca-Cola for us all. (By the way, Coke in Mexico is amazingly delicious, since they make it with raw sugar, instead of the nasty processed stuff in America. We drove back, exhausted, on Friday into Ensenada for some shopping. While some groups actually purchased things, my group just wanted to get out of there. It was hard to think about shopping for useless junk (Ensenada IS a tourist town) after just having served for a straight week. We basically relaxed on the van ride back. There were some intense card games and a lot of sleeping (at least in my more mellow van, compared to the other two vans with apparently were a little bit louder than mine).
Overall, this trip to Mexico was a huge reminder that everything I do isn’t for me. In this performance-based society, achievements are everything. Want to go to college? Get good grades. Score well on the SAT. Play sports? It’s all about winning and performing well. What did I get out of Mexico? A change of perspective. A change of outlook on life. We are God’s servants. Everything we do is for His glory. For His kingdom. As sung by Chris Tomlin, “Not to us, but to Your name be the glory.”
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