My Mission Mexico Experience.
If you have ever contemplated on going on the Mission Mexico trip, I definitely recommend
that you do. Seeing and hearing what goes on in El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico will change you
life. I know it will, because it changed mine.
At the beginning of the year I really wanted to be a part of Mission Mexico because I was
very interested in the pictures that Arlan showed during services and the meanings behind them. The
pictures and stories really caught my attention, I really wanted to be a part of that.
Once I signed up, I just couldn’t wait for the Saturday when we all had to meet at 4:00 in the
morning to catch our flight. I must say that it was a great morning!
The plane ride was long. I just couldn’t wait to get off and set foot in Texas. Also because
we all wanted to meet and ask Arlan, who was already in Texas, who sent the mysterious yet delicious
cookies to Andrew’s front door? It was a mystery throughout the whole week.
When we got to Texas I didn’t really know what to expect. Was it going to be like a desert?
Yes. Super warm? Yes. Sunny? Yes. My dream had come true! We were greeted at the airport by
Arlan and our guide for the week, Sam who worked at Cristo Rey. Sam was one of the nicest people
We all loaded up into a big, grey, almost breaking down van and headed to the Cristo Rey
Church. That van grew on all of our hearts quite fast throughout the week for it was our main
Cristo Rey was our home stay for the week. We were greeted with smiles and open arms.
They even gave us rooms with 2 huge bunk-beds that held three beds in each room. Since Jessica and
I were the only girls we had a lot of room to put our things, but the boy’s room was almost packed. I
rubbed it in their faces the whole week. Cristo Rey also gave us our own personal kitchen where we
could munch on snacks anytime we wanted.
Cristo Rey usually prepared all of our meals for us. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. But for
supper that Sunday night, we went over to Donna Lupe’s house and met the pastors and family of El
Buane Pastor, a church in Juarez that we usually send all of our supplies to.
Donna Lupe is one of the pastors along with Pedro and Juan, who are brothers. She made a
wonderful supper and dessert. It was a lot of fun spending the night with all of El Buane Pastor.
That night when we got back to Cristo Rey, we were all very tired from the plane ride. So
Arlan did a quick yet meaningful devotion relating to meeting El Buane Pastor that night, and then
The next day we had our first work day. We woke up bright and early and went to take down
the burnings of an old building at Ysleta Lutheran Mission Church. We had to take down burnt
pieces of wood from the ceiling.
All of us thought that this was going to take forever, but then we turned around and saw
Arlan. He took out only five or so nails, then took a saw and cut the wood in certain places and then
he just yanked the whole ceiling down! He’s a natural at this sort of thing.
After we took down the ceiling, we had to power wash the walls to try and get most of the
ash off. I didn’t really feel like getting ash spayed in my face, so I just ended up taking the pictures
and letting Noah, Andrew and Topher do all the work. Topher was an expert at power washing.
The next day was the moving day with Cristo Rey. They had all their extra supplies in an
upstairs of another church that they just moved into a few months earlier, but now the church didn’t
want them to have their supplies in their church at all. So we became the super heroes and helped
It was super hard. The boxes were heavy and the stairs were steep. I wasn’t really fond of
lifting heavy things, and I don’t think anyone else was either. It looked like it was going to be a long
We were getting pretty close to getting one room cleaned out and the trailer full when we
came across three air conditioners. They were super heavy and when we were putting one into the
trailer, Sam caught his thumb and cut it open pretty bad. He had to go to the hospital and get
After the trailer was filled, Arlan, Fernando, Jessica and I went to a storage facility and
emptied the trailer. Fernando is the husband of Rosemary, who is the pastor of Cristo Rey. He is this
short little man who can carry 500 pounds basically by himself. He’s a beast!
The Moving day I believe all of us could say was the longest, hardest, and most tiring day of
them all. So much for being super heroes, right?
The next we were asked by Jaun Delios, who is the assistant pastor at Cristo Rey, to come
and help his brother in law paint his trailer. His name was Roody and he was the funniest and nicest
man ever. We painted his family’s trailer on the outside and on the inside. It took a long time, but it
For lunch, Roody’s wife made us an amazing lunch and awesome dessert. Then after we
finished painting, Roody told us about his past. He used to be a pretty bad man, and even his wife
kicked him out of the house. He became part of one of the most dangerous gangs in the world. He
was basically ruining his life, but all of a sudden he decided to change up his act. He went back to his
wife and asked her to take him back, which she did, and he never went back to his gang again.
He is a very strong believer in God because of how he got away, since it was basically
impossible. If you tried to leave that gang, they would come after you and kill you, but God is
watching over Roody. It was a very meaningful story for all of us knowing that we were basically
talking to a man who shouldn’t even be alive.
Thursday was a sightseeing day; we went to the place called the Annunction House and took
a tour through it. The Annunction House’s purpose is to be able to take care of illegal immigrants
and give them a place to stay while they try to get their life put together. It really hit a spot in my
heart because I would love to be a part of that and help people who need to start new lives.
Later that day we went to the border fence and talked to some families who were members
of Cristo Rey. The families told us their stories on how they came to America but then got deported.
They were sad stories. I wish places like Juarez could be peaceful so then people wouldn’t have to try
illegal things to keep their family safe and give their families a better living. It’s just all so sad.
Friday was our last day. We went back to YLM and painted the newly power- washed walls
white. It went very fast because we all wanted to get back to Cristo Rey and say good bye to Sam,
Ann, Rosemary and Fernando. It was very sad but happy at the same time.
Ann was a worker at Cristo Rey like Sam was. She was in charge of the after school
programs. Kids would come to Cristo Rey after school so they would have a place to go while their
parents were still working. Ann gave them snack time, play time, homework time, then play time
The after school program was my favorite part because I met a little boy named Philippe and
we played chess together all the time. He was my favorite and I didn’t even get to say good-bye to
him properly. I miss him a lot and can’t wait to go see him and play chess again next year.
Friday night was also our last night with the family from El Buane Pastor. Lupe, who is
Pastor Pedro’s wife, made us an amazing supper. And we all shared our favorite parts of the trip with
them. It was really sad to say good bye to them, too, because we got to know all the kids that were
It was all a very amazing and life changing experience. I would recommend it to everyone.
Pastor Pedro made me promise him that I would come back next year, so I guess I have to keep my