This is an account of my mission trip to Tampico, Mexico. I'm only like 6 months late writing it, but better late than never right? This is an account from my memory as the emails I sent while there all mysteriously disappeared.
We (A group from the church I attend, Boyd Baptist Church) left in two 15 seat passenger vans early Saturday July 5 for Tampico, Mexico. Just in case you didn't read the Iquitos, Peru blog or just didn't make the connection, this is 4 days after arriving home from the Iquitos trip. Also on this journey is Tabitha Moore (
http://tabithastruths.blogspot.com/) whom was also on the Iquitos trip. We spent a sizable amount of time planning for this trip. 2 days in a van takes careful planning to prevent hysteria. A mixture of movies, music and food did the trick, though there were some "iffy" moments.
We spent the first night at a church in McAllen, Texas. We got up early the next morning and crossed the border into Reynosa, Mexico. This was a quite uneventful experience having already dealt with customs in Peru. We and all our belongings crossed safely and successfully into Mexico.
Now, for those of you who have yet to travel through Mexico there are a few things you need to know. First, bathrooms are not free. People standing at the door with their hand out want money. Now, this is not really that bad. It only costs about 3 pesos (30 cents) and for the most part meant that your bathroom experience would be clean, have toilet paper and soap. Second, pay close attention to the traffic signs! If you are not travelling with a local or at least with someone who speaks the language, don't just agree with the officer. He may be trying to take your license, or worse. Third, don't take pictures of the Fedaralies! This will result in a severe talking to, or worse. Fourth, when choosing lodging a hotel is a good place, a motel can be rented by the hour. I will expand more on this soon.
For the most part the trip there was good. Only a few minor hitches. Lots of stops to switch drivers and stretch and a few to sample roadside cuisine.
We arrived at El Peridiso hotel/motel in the late afternoon on Sunday. We split up our rooms and unloaded the vans. We soon noticed something strange. Each room had a parking space between it and the next room. Convenient! Wait, the parking spaces on one side of the hotel/motel have curtains? This we later found out was the motel side. This side can be rented out by the hour. Now your catching on, the curtain is for privacy! If you don't want someone to know you are at the motel you probably shouldn't be there.
Well, all that aside, our rooms were nice. We did have a lizard lovingly named Petey. It seems if you name the critters in your room they are less frightening, more like pets. Petey liked to screech late at night to let you know he was still there, otherwise he mostly liked to remain anonymous.
We got settled in then loaded back up to go to the church we would be working at for the next 4 days. When we got there we were welcomed by some of the ladies of the church who so graciously made us dinner. From now on know that they cooked all of our meals and that they consisted of beans, eggs and tortillas. Now, this was not a bad thing. The tortillas were made fresh about 4 blocks down from the church. They were awesome! The eggs would be scrambled, sometimes with meat and sometimes without. They were always very tasty. The black beans were always kind of mashed/re fried. Also extremely tasty! I have never eaten such simple food over and over without getting tired of it, but I enjoyed every bit of it. Most meals had some kind of wonderful homemade salsa in a range from mild to FIRE! Wahoo! Bring on the fire!
After dinner we went to the next building and had a worship service. It is so amazing to go to a foreign country and watch people worship our God! He is the same here, there and everywhere. These people worship in a building the size of our youth room, but they poured out praise as much (probably more) than the biggest richest church in America. Brother Lyn preached and Brother Sammy Garcia (from a Spanish church in Denison, Texas) translated. We left that night physically exhausted but spiritually revived.
The next morning and the next 4 days basically consisted of the same routine with only minor variances. We began each morning with a meeting to pray and talk about the day. Then we loaded up on the van and headed to the church. When we arrived we sat down to breakfast. After breakfast we split up and went to work. Part of us did construction on the parsonage and the other part held VBS for the local children. I will tell in more detail about the two projects after I finish telling the daily routine. Around noon we all came back together to enjoy lunch and relax. VBS was only until noon so after lunch they would return back to the hotel to prepare for the next days lessons. There was a pastors conference after lunch held by Lyn and Sammy. The construction crew went back to constructing after lunch. Around 5 everyone left at the church would load up to go to the hotel to change and get the VBS workers. After a very brief break we would all load up again to go back to the church for dinner and the nightly revival service. After service we would return to the hotel, but not before a stop at a neighboring gas station for snacks. We didn't arrive back at the hotel until around 9. Then it was time for shower and bed!
I will tell you quickly about VBS, because i did not participate in it i don't have a lot to tell. They had a lot of kids show up! During breaks I waked around and checked out what they were doing. They had crafts, music and games. The workers had just as much fun as the children. I know a lot of lives were changed through that ministry.
Now I will tell you about the construction side of the trip. When we arrived we found a concrete block shell for the parsonage. No floor, windows, roof, doors, water or electricity. While we were there we and some hired local workers and volunteers came together to pour the floor, install the windows, run electricity and out on the roof. I personally mostly participated in pouring the floor. There were three giant piles when we arrived, rock, washed sand and bags of cement. Now this is not like when we do concrete projects at home. There is no cement truck backing up to pour out the fresh mixed up concrete. Nor do you just open up bags of "Redi Mix" and add water. You shovel 6 wheelbarrows full of rock into a circle. Then you shovel 6 wheelbarrows full of washed sand in the middle of that. Then you open 1 1/2 to 2 bags of cement and mix it with the sand. Finally you draw water out of a bucket and pour on the pile until there is enough. Now for the really hard part. Take your shovel and begin mixing kind of like a batter. Work slowly from the outside in. If you go too fast all the water will run out. Now, after tedious mixing shovel it back into the wheelbarrows for transportation. Now, I truly enjoyed every minute of this, but I don't think I have ever worked so hard in my life!
The pastor and his family were so wonderful and gracious. They insisted on moving in their furniture before we left so we could see the fruits of our labor. Even though it wasn't all finished! They had been living with another family in a very cramped space. This was such a blessing to them it made me feel guilty for the nice home I have. We could truly all do with a lot less than what we have.
I made friends with a precious little black and white cat. She was so skinny and poor we all felt so sorry for her. I went to the market one day and bought her some food. Her belly got so fat! She finally started to purr when she was held. I thought about sneaking her home in my suitcase, but knew it was too risky.
The last day we where there we went to the beach. It was OK, I'm glad we went, but it was not as amazing as I had hoped. The water was real choppy and muddy. I did have some great pineapple and coconut there. It was a great place to shop. You were surrounded by merchants with all kinds of merchandise. We had been to the tourist market before the beach, but the beach was much better. And yes, Wal-Mart is everywhere!
I know there were many lives changed that week. Both the locals and us. This has helped to push our church in a more missions minded direction. There are already two more trips to Tampico planned for this year. My hope is that different people will attend and be able to experience what we experienced.
The following are some miscellaneous photos.
These people are "squatting" hoping to acquire this land for themselves.
The local trash drop off.
A vine growing on the fence of the church.
Sign on the fence telling of the VBS and revival.
Bush at the hotel.
This is one of my favorites. I would like to see this a little more in the states. This is a trash can cover at the hotel!
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