Juarez, Mexico Spring Break!

Colleen Quick

13 years ago

I’m full of joy and contentment right now. Our spring break just ended, and words cannot express the greatness of our trip to Juarez, Mexico. Our group consisted of 13 Hope students, 6 Moody Bible Institute students, and 8 adults from my home church in Springfield, IL. We all grew very close during our short time together in Mexico. During the week we built on a second story to an orphanage, played with kids, painted, and stained playground equipment. We went on this mission trip with Amigos en Cristo, a non-profit organization my dad started in 2008.

We arrived in El Paso, Texas on Saturday evening then drove across the boarder to Juarez. On Sunday morning we attended two church services. During the first service the pastor asked the college students to sing a song in English for them, and we sang, “Here I am to Worship”. The people enjoyed listening to us sing, and it was awesome to listen to them sing to familiar worship songs in Spanish. On Sunday afternoon we ate lunch at a roadside stand called Munchies. The authentic Mexican food tasted absolutely incredible. After we stuffed our stomachs, we headed to the orphanage to start a bit of the construction. We had terrible weather that day; it was really windy and cold. The next day we had rain, wind, sleet, hail, snow, and sun all within 12 hours. However, we did not let the weather hinder our construction work.

Our typical day consisted of waking up around 7:30. We worked from about 8:30 to noon. Then at noon we drove to one of Amigos en Cristo’s community centers for lunch. After lunch we worked again at the orphanage till around 6 p.m. In the evening we ate dinner sang, heard a devotional, and shared about our experiences at the other Amigos en Cristo’s community center. After we finished at the community center, we took our showers then hung out together as a group. I really enjoyed getting to know the people in our group. We made a lot of good memories together both at the jobsite and back at where we stayed.

I enjoyed working at an orphanage, because anytime we couldn’t do anything for construction we could play with the kids. I loved playing soccer with the kids and running around with them. The kids at the orphanage seemed so content and grateful with their radiant smiles and contagious laughter.

All in all, this mission trip opened my eyes to realize how grateful I need to be for the many blessings in my life. God is so good and continues to amaze me. The people in Mexico and all over the world worship the same God even though our circumstances may differ; God loves all of His children.

The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere. -Isaiah 61:11