So it's that time...the end of the trip. Nobody wants it to end. (although if it didn't, I wouldn't be able to see my wife soooooo, ALMOST nobody wants it to end. You get the idea.)
Packing up is never fun. We moved through the usual routine gather, stuff, roll, stuff, garbage, stuff, sweep, carefully put it into a dust-pan because if you try to stuff that it'll just fly all over and make a bigger mess. Our coordinator, Olivia, came to say hasta luego (until we meet again) and warn of the problems of coming back to our country and our homes and how different things will be. Being aware of differences in cultures and experiences is a large part of avoiding conflict.
We rolled out of the ranch at about 10 and stopped in Ensenada to eat and do some shopping. The kids got experience in haggling and several look like they belong in Mexico due to their new clothing. It's quite a sight. I'm not sure when we got to the end of the line at the border but I do know that we were in line crawling inches at a time for about 3 hours. Waiting, inching, waiting, inching, waiting, inching, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, footing. (I don't really think that's a word but you get the idea.) Finally, several churros, a package of tortillas, and a plaster lion later, we were at the front of the line. The border patrol wondered why I was driving a car full of things when there were only two people in the car. I explained that I was hauling things for the two cars behind me and that we had been on a mission trip. She let us through and we were in the United States again. A wonderful family welcomed us home and fed us pizza. Again, most of us got pizza. (Did I mention before that I picked a really lousy time to start watching what I eat?)
After that welcome we moved over to the church where we are spending the night before coming home. The same church, by the way, that allowed us to stay on the way into Mexico. Apparently we didn't do anything horrible the first time since they let us stay here again. But there is a difference. Last time we stayed over Sunday into Monday. This time we are staying Saturday into Sunday. And people start arriving at 7 so we need to be rolling by 6:45! I'm going to be a tired guy in the morning.
Before I sack out for the night I want to tell you about our tradition and a little bit about our debrief. It's tradition on our trips to have prayer partners. Since you have prayer partners, it's just makes sense that the partners should exchange gifts. (naturally...right?) We gathered and gave each other gifts that meant something to their partner and took shape over the week. We had dolls made of clothespins, buckets full of crafts, a medal for great driving, a last place trophy (for being the last people to finish prayer time), and someone even wrote a song! Aside from the fact that the dolls looked like voodoo dolls it was a great time.
Our debrief was a time where we talked about where we saw God's Kingdom moving this week. There were so many things I'll just try to outline them.
God's Kingdom moved:
in the faces of the children we worked with.
in the relationships built.
in needs being met.
in feeling a sense of belonging.
in worship.
in bonds strengthening.
with laughter.
with tears.
with joyful connections.
with sorrowful goodbyes.
and
in the progress of the church.
I encourage you to find one of these kids and ask them where they felt God moving. It's really wonderful.
Ok, it's time for me to go to bed, about an hour ago, so I will sign off for now. Thank you for following along and thank you for your prayers and support.
Some of you we will see tomorrow afternoon.
Until then!
Packing up is never fun. We moved through the usual routine gather, stuff, roll, stuff, garbage, stuff, sweep, carefully put it into a dust-pan because if you try to stuff that it'll just fly all over and make a bigger mess. Our coordinator, Olivia, came to say hasta luego (until we meet again) and warn of the problems of coming back to our country and our homes and how different things will be. Being aware of differences in cultures and experiences is a large part of avoiding conflict.
We rolled out of the ranch at about 10 and stopped in Ensenada to eat and do some shopping. The kids got experience in haggling and several look like they belong in Mexico due to their new clothing. It's quite a sight. I'm not sure when we got to the end of the line at the border but I do know that we were in line crawling inches at a time for about 3 hours. Waiting, inching, waiting, inching, waiting, inching, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, footing. (I don't really think that's a word but you get the idea.) Finally, several churros, a package of tortillas, and a plaster lion later, we were at the front of the line. The border patrol wondered why I was driving a car full of things when there were only two people in the car. I explained that I was hauling things for the two cars behind me and that we had been on a mission trip. She let us through and we were in the United States again. A wonderful family welcomed us home and fed us pizza. Again, most of us got pizza. (Did I mention before that I picked a really lousy time to start watching what I eat?)
After that welcome we moved over to the church where we are spending the night before coming home. The same church, by the way, that allowed us to stay on the way into Mexico. Apparently we didn't do anything horrible the first time since they let us stay here again. But there is a difference. Last time we stayed over Sunday into Monday. This time we are staying Saturday into Sunday. And people start arriving at 7 so we need to be rolling by 6:45! I'm going to be a tired guy in the morning.
Before I sack out for the night I want to tell you about our tradition and a little bit about our debrief. It's tradition on our trips to have prayer partners. Since you have prayer partners, it's just makes sense that the partners should exchange gifts. (naturally...right?) We gathered and gave each other gifts that meant something to their partner and took shape over the week. We had dolls made of clothespins, buckets full of crafts, a medal for great driving, a last place trophy (for being the last people to finish prayer time), and someone even wrote a song! Aside from the fact that the dolls looked like voodoo dolls it was a great time.
Our debrief was a time where we talked about where we saw God's Kingdom moving this week. There were so many things I'll just try to outline them.
God's Kingdom moved:
in the faces of the children we worked with.
in the relationships built.
in needs being met.
in feeling a sense of belonging.
in worship.
in bonds strengthening.
with laughter.
with tears.
with joyful connections.
with sorrowful goodbyes.
and
in the progress of the church.
I encourage you to find one of these kids and ask them where they felt God moving. It's really wonderful.
Ok, it's time for me to go to bed, about an hour ago, so I will sign off for now. Thank you for following along and thank you for your prayers and support.
Some of you we will see tomorrow afternoon.
Until then!
Welcome home! I has been a pleasure to follow you on the Mission trip blog and support you in prayer.
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