Photo credit: Alex Morden 

Another year of preparing, planning and going to Mexicali, Mexico has come and gone. Country Bible sent its first group there in 1994, when a small amount of people went down and shared the gospel in parks, churches and schoolyards with puppets. Since then the teams have gotten larger and we have been partnering with the same four sites for many years now; building relationships, encouraging people, and spreading the good news! This year 43 people answered the call to "GO", serving in the areas of Vacation Bible School, Construction, Womens Ministry, and in support roles.

Although planning this years trip began last year, the teams started meeting on a weekly basis the first part of January. Meetings consisted of learning the VBS material, songs, preparing crafts, learning about the culture that we would be moving in to for a week and trip specifics. Our VBS theme this year was "Living God's Unshakable Truth" with daily themes being: "God is Real", "Jesus is God's Son", "Jesus is the Only Way", "The Bible is God's Word", & "My Actions Show What I Believe".

On Friday, April 7th, 14 students and adults loaded up on an RV and left to make the long drive to Mexico, the next day the rest of the team boarded an airplane and flew in to San Diego where we filed in to vans and drove across the boarder to our home for the week. Early Sunday morning the real work began. After a hearty breakfast and our first chapel session with Pastor Brad, we went to our sites and began doing what we had been preparing for since January.

Our days consisted of puppets, singing, Bible story/lesson, crafts, group time with questions and 'live it' sections to really hammer home the content that was taught that day. We had time to play with the kids and build those relationships even more. At the Solidaridad church, a group of constructions workers worked tirelessly to build an addition on to the church that is home to a new church library and education center. The ladies there had a time each day to get together and have a women's study that was written and lead by Maureen Stahr. Every evening except Monday, we had an evening service that we attended at one of the churches we partner with. These were full of joyful music, great teaching and lots of thanksgiving.

For two of these evenings, my group had the opportunity to take a few of the older kids from the Fundacion Emanuel orphanage with us to the services. It was a blessing to see them be so happy and enjoy the evening out with us. One of the girls gave me a sweet note on the last day that "thanked me for inviting her to go with us and sharing happy moments".

After a full and exhausting week we crossed the boarder and spent Friday debriefing and relaxing in El Centro, CA. At the hotel meeting room a group lunch was enjoyed and the last chapel session was given by Pastor Brad. The teams split up one last time to rehash the lessons learned from the week and the RV prepared for the journey back to Nebraska. On Saturday, the rest of us boarded a plane and got ready to spend Easter with our families.

THANK YOU seems a bit inadequate to everyone who PRAYED for our trip and GAVE towards our trip so we could GO and spread the GOOD NEWS!