Goodbye Yadira: we wanted to make a special post aside from leaving to give a huge thanks and shout out to our best friend in Mexicali, Yadira. She worked as hard as any other member of the team in lugging equipment, being a translator, and helping us build relationships for the sake of Christ. She slept in tents with us, woke up early with us, stayed in the heat with us, ran our Vbs program with us and was totally and entirely a part of our team. Her heart is incredibly big and was SUCH a blessing this year. We can’t imagine what the year would have been like without her! It was incredibly hard saying goodbye to her, but God has got her in His hands. Until next year, we love you Yadira!
Going through our last day was filled with many emotions. We were excited to be finishing strong after a hugely successful week, but understandably sad that we were saying goodbye. The men at Refugio were as sweet as ever, singing songs and dancing With us. Some of them understood that we wouldn’t be coming back- that was hard for both them and us. Lots of tears were shed, but we know that God would continue to be present there. The church site was no different. Pastor Pedro’s wife invited us over for lunch- she made dozens of burritos for us in her home! We had an option between chorizo and potatoes or a spicy pork burrito. Both were incredible! We were joined by Amy, Joe, Kelly, the kids, and nurse Nikki too! It was fun for the family to have a house filled with people! After our vbs program, we had a piñata celebration with the younger kids. This is always a highlight of the week for them, many were asking if we were going to do it again! The teens also had a surprise for us- a full on water fight complete with water balloons, buckets, water bottles, and anything else that could hold any water! It was very clear that we were as loved by them as they were by us. It was hard to say goodbye, but we know that God will continue to bless us both and we hope that our relationships will continue to grow as well! We’re Sad to be leaving, but excited to be home!
We had a FULL van! That’s right folks we pick up 3 extra members Ben, Josh, and John it was so fun. I will never forget the jokes been made that day anf I’ll never be able to listen it I like me better the same way. I also cried ton because it was the last day of ministry at the sites. We got a group picture at the autism center and had yet another water fight at the park. I live Mexico but I miss all of you so much.
After waking up early to pack up camp we had an amazing breakfast of French toast. After that we had an awesome worship. Thank you pastor Evan. Then we had commuion with the other Michigan churches Then we packed up and headed to the border. We dropped Yadira and said a really sad goodbye. I cried a lot! Then we sat for 45 minutes at the border but our border crossing agent was the best and talked to me about my Birkenstocks. Then we drove a “long” 50 minutes and now we’re eating pizza and of course drinking water. We showered and we’re about to swim can wait to see you guys on Saturday.
Day 3 was better than the rest! Everyone at Refugio was in a better mood, which made everything so much easier! Matt and Cody went to visit the prison to play basketball and volleyball with some of the men there. The inmates won the volleyball games, but our boys bested them at basketball! The men at Refugio noticed their absence- one of the men who loves basketball was asking where Matt was. We also gave the men some fruit today- I think that was their favorite part! When we got to the church site we walked the streets looking for kids and inviting them to the church, but the pastor’s wife came with two separate loads of kids giving us around 20 kids for the day! Amy, Kelli, and joe, the kids and Nurse Nikki also joined us at the church and park. It turns out Joe is quite the soccer player! The kids enjoyed playing with some of the local kids on the play set. We’ve been invited to have lunch with the pastors family tomorrow, we’re looking forward to that!
The wind was crazy today, so we had to drop our tents for fear of dirt getting all over in them or them blowing away, and we had to have students hold the music stands for worship, but tomorrow looks like it will be more calm!
