Mexico 09

Ok so truthfully we planned a Spring Break Mexico Trip and it was hit with a lot of opposition and support....in the end it was a great trip with no issues but tons of opportunities to see students BE THE CHURCH.

We built a home in 4 days, yep from foundation to the stucco on the outside. We endured a lot more rain than these students are used to [I wish there was more :) ]. We had a coyote sneak into camp night 1 and sniff my feet [i didn't sleep in a tent]. We interacted with complete strangers and battled a severe language barrier. Through it all I was able to sit back and see my students have a new life experience.

Three highlights for me were:

1. Seeing students understand what 'the rest of the world lives with'. For most of these students they had never seen how other people live other than their own backyard or a small parts of California. As soon as we got over the border it was eye opening and jaw dropping for many students and that was a great shock for them.
2. We had some great evening conversations that definitely were sparked from the hard day's work, the compassion from our students interacting with other kids & also taking a deeper look at the final days of Christ.
3. Memories. I don't care how many trips i go on there are always memories that are created that will never be forgotten. Youth ministry is amazing when i get to literally watch Jesus move in the life of a student and they make a choice to live closer to God's heart.

PS. I was the only person to get hurt the whole week by slamming my nose with a cat claw nail puller...yep it hurt and yep it bled for ever!