Thankful for a first!

So my friend J is thankful for a new experience in her life, a short term mission trip to Mexico. See what she has to say.

I went on a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico in October , 2010 with a group from church. I had no idea what to expect . . . but was looking forward to what God was going to do there with us!!! We took children from a very small orphanage to a local zoo. The language barrier made things interesting as I know very little Spanish!! But love knows no  language barriers . .  we got to love on them, buy them treats and watch their faces light up!! They REALLY touched my heart!!! They just soaked up the hugs you gave them!!! I saw where they lived with so little . . .  yet they were so happy!!!  I realized how materialistic we are!! Their meals were NOTHING like the meals I served  the children in my daycare!!! The one day we were there, it was 10:30 and they hadn't had breakfast yet!! But every little face greeted us with a smile!!

    On a very rainy day, we went to visit and share at a tiny church. The path (not road or street!!) to the church was very muddy and rough. The church was no bigger than maybe 15 ft wide by 23 ft long, seating was old movie theatre seats bolted down, no doors on doorways, "window" boarded over and lighting consisted of 4 hanging light bulbs!!!!

The pastor was embarrassed at the small crowd ( 7 people other than our group of 11!) due to heavy rains that day . ..  most of his parishoners walked .  . they had no vehicles!! Our pastor preached that night - most of them came  forward for prayer. One gentlemen there, who spoke good English, told us he slept in the front of the church at night - his bed, a mattress behind the chairs!! He was so  happy to know that Christ was his savior!!! The praise band - a gentlemen playing an old, cracked guitar that was out of tune and missing strings!! He played that guitar like it was a fine instrument - especially when Pastor was praying over him . . . he all of a sudden started to play his guitar with an unequalled passion for God!!! The Holy Spirit was definitely in that building . .despite the fact that  it didn't look even remotely like a church from the outside!!!  I had the opportunity to pray with parishioners there  that night. God got me outside of my comfort zone!!! We didn't understand each other at all  .  . . . but one couldn't help but feel the zeal each one had for worshipping God!!!

     I came to truly love the Mexican people!!! You saw where they lived, how little they had and yet they welcomed  us Americans with open arms and wanted us to pray for them. It was good to be immersed in their culture .. to see who the Mexican people truly are .. . especially when you usually hear only negative stereotypical labels for them in America! We had a common bond - we had the same God!! We had the same desire to worship God and to know God better. This was just the first few days of an awesome, eye opening and life changing visit with the people of Tijuana.