Recapping the rest of our week in Mexico

One of the most important aspects of any type of trip is the processing and reflection that takes place after the trip is done. I already started to do a little of that in my last blog post on the church we found in the shanty town we visited in Tijuana. But, before doing too much more reflection on this blog, I want to briefly recap what the rest of our week in Mexico looked like.

Wednesday: on Wednesday we saw so many answers to our prayers (and yours!). Lisa’s rest day (Tuesday) proved to be just what the doctor ordered, as she was up and ready to join us for our build. Cami’s strained wrist was basically back to normal. And, for once, it felt like we had our full team on the work site. Good thing too, because Wednesdays are when the interns of Caravan have their “staff dinner”, which means they leave their build sites early to get back to the dorm for dinner, devotions, and a planning meeting.

Despite not having an intern for the last part of the day, it seemed like all of the “learning-the-hard-way” we had done on Monday and Tuesday paid off. The build was smooth. And, it was fun to see every team member find their groove. In fact, we finished so early we had a chance to pay a visit to Mariscos a local seafood restaurant for some delicious fish/shrimp tacos and and then to El Michoacan an ice cream and popsicle stand. Because the staff of Caravan was “off” for the evening, we didn’t have an evening session, which was made for a really relaxing evening. Happy conversations, lively debates, and laughter punctuated our extended time together.

Thursday: this day was our final build day. For once, we had a job site that was closer to the dorms. All of our other job sites were over 30 minutes away (without traffic). But, this job site was mere minutes away. The other thing that marked this job site was kids. Lots of them.

When we pulled up to the house we were greeted by three generations of women: a grandma, her daughter-in-law, and four adorable little girls (9, 7, 3, and 2). But that was just when we pulled up. Within an hour, two additional ladies and their kids (cousins of the four little girls) showed up. Before we knew it our job site was swarming with eight little girls ranging from toddlers to an 11-year-old.

Now, this might seem like a small thing, but it was actually a huge answer to prayer. The two youngest members of our team had been soldiering along in our construction work day after day after day. But, they had been hoping for some little kids to engage with. They had even planned ahead and made bracelets and scrunchies back in the states to give away. But, none of our previous job sites had provided the opportunity they were hoping for. Well, on this last day, the Lord provided! To look down from the roof and see team members throwing kids in the air, tickling them, and painting with them was one of the sweetest sights in the world.

(For more on Friday’s trip to the shanty town, see my previous blog post.)

Observations

Let me end with a few brief observations on the second half of our time in Mexico:

• Prayer. We know many people were praying for Lisa’s back and Cami’s wrist. The ability for Lisa and Cami to serve at more of a normal capacity on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday was a huge answer to prayer.
• Health. Pastor Wescott commented during our last team time that this was one of the healthiest teams he had brought to Mexico. No major stomach issues. No major injuries from the job sites. No severe dehydration. This was a grace from God; another answered prayer.
• Unity. One of the most striking things about this trip was how much we enjoyed being with one another as a team. This was evident on the job site as we served with one another. This was evident in van rides and during meals as conversations were both filled with laughter, but also with truly encouraging conversations. And, this was evident during our nightly team times. The discussions about God’s Word were exceptionally rich. And, this is all within the context of a team that hadn’t spent more than an hour together before flying to Mexico and a team that was widely diverse in terms of age.