Mexico Mission Update

We have only been in Mexico for three days but it has felt like a lifetime for us. Our first week will be spent serving with a church in Monterrey, San Andres, where we have already been welcomed with incredible hospitality by their pastor, Martín, and many others. Those of us who served on last year’s Mexico mission team were grateful to see familiar faces. The students inserted themselves into the work and were unafraid of what was to come, regardless of whether they were part of last year’s mission or not. Our days at San Andres are filled with laughter and smiles as we play with the children. Even in the frustration of the language barrier we are still giving it our all, whether that is playing soccer with a bottle cap, painting on paper plates, climbing up trees, or simply being humbly taught by a child the language of their people. The kids do not know most of the people on our team but they are giving themselves fully and joyfully over to us and are welcomed guides in our new surroundings. It is our hope that we can continue to do the same for them.

While at San Andres, we have had the privilege of attending one of their church services. Martín was our preacher and he did the service in both English and Spanish. It was beautiful to see the ways in which our team participated in the liturgy. Many of us read prayers in Spanish and one of our teammates even helped serve communion.

Martín preached on John 14 in which Jesus preaches those who love Him will keep His word. During the service he asked us a question: If you saw Jesus Christ walking down the mountain with his cross would you help him? If we truly love God with all of our heart then we will care for his people well, every person of every place and status. In Christ we know everyone we meet has His image in them, and we are together with all people, one Body, one family. I pray that my team continues to see Christ in Mexico’s people, for they are our brothers and sisters in Christ and our mission is for them.

Though it would be more than understandable for the people of Mexico to be hesitant toward we North Americans, they have instead been warmly hospitable to us. Our brothers and sisters here have invited us into their homes and to share meals at their tables. Even more generously, they have trusted us with the safety of their children. I pray that in return we can care for them well and honor them as they honor us with trust and respect. I pray that while we are here we can embody a faithful, fully-Christlike alternative to the ambivalence, fear, and hostility that too often characterizes North Americans’ disposition toward our Mexican neighbors. I pray that we can love them in the ways that Christ loves us. I pray that when we see Christ carrying his cross down a mountain we will go and help.

Dios te bendiga (God bless you)

From the Wesley’s Mission team