What did you do for Thanksgiving this year?
We decided as a family that we wanted to give because we have been so blessed already. We spent the week of Thanksgiving with a team of 45 people from Rock Creek Church on a mission with IFM to help the people of Juarez, Mexico (more pictures from the trip can be viewed here).
It is disturbing and amazing to see the living conditions of the people there.Many of them live in "pallet homes" made from shipping pallets, cardboard boxes, and any other material they can find. Water is delivered once a day for 10 pesos, and is stored in a plastic barrel at the corner of their property. Sometimes they have to sleep in their cars because the wind blows so hard, or because of the cold. Of course, you can also expect to see a fair amount of lice because of the unclean conditions. They were also heavily impacted by the extreme flooding earlier this summer.
Our schedule on the trip was very full: Saturday: travel by bus to the House of Cornelius base in Fabens, TX.
Sunday: indoor and outdoor mercados in Juarez, Mexico
Monday: food and ministry to the people of La Colonia Granjas del Desierto
Tuesday: food, medical, health fair and ministry to the people of La Colonia Granjas del Desierto
Wednesday: Brother Ray's Feeding Center in Juarez, Mexico (pictured is Jenny, Ray's widow)
Thursday: Thanksgiving and day of rest at House of Cornelius
Friday: ministry, puppets, tea party and Christmas gifts at an Orfanatorio (orphanage) near Colonia Granjas de Desierto
Saturday: leave for home
The scary part, is that they were relying on my Spanish to get us across the border for 4 of the days! (Yo hablo un poquito español!) We made it across each of the days, though.
Elvia, translated for us on two of the days. She is such a neat lady.
We made a great friend, Eric, who also works at the Feeding Center.
He taught us a great song:
Si tuvieras fe como un grano de mostaza,
Eso lo dice El Señor
Si tuvieras fe como un grano de mostaza,
Eso lo dice El Señor
Tú le dirías, a la montaña “muévete”, “muévete”
Tú le dirías, a la montaña “muévete”, “muévete”
Y esa montaña se moverá, se moverá, se moverá
Y esa montaña se moverá, se moverá, se moverá
Y esa montaña se moverá, se moverá, se moverá
Y esa montaña se moverá, se moverá, se moverá
Translated, it means "If you have faith like a grain of mustard, this says the Lord: If you say to the mountain, "Move", the mountain will move"
For me, this trip has been very moving indeed.
Categories: General
