Me with the pastor of Unidos in Cristo, on the roof of the church. You can see one of the kids had sneaked up there with us. In addition to manual labor, we ran a Vacation Bible School for kids and went with church members to visit neighbors, pray with them, and do some neighborhood evangelism.
It's amazing, the spirit of these people. I know that sounds like a very cliche thing to say after visiting and loving another culture, but it's true. You can see under our feet the new roofing on the church. In addition to helping keep the fire going to keep the tar hot, I got to help refill the hot tar bucket and hook it up to a rope to be hoisted up by the guys who were doing the roofing. Probably the hardest job of all actually turned out to be breaking up a huge hunk of wrapped tar into pieces to be put into the large drum in which it would heat up to become liquid. It was hot and sunny that day and the tar was viscous enough that it was not easy to break off pieces. They just kept wanting to stick together!
One of the guys working on the roof had worked in America for a while and knew a decent amount of English. I was even more eager to practice my Spanish. I remember the first time we stopped after getting inside Mexico. We were many miles inside the country, south of Ensenada, and we stopped at a Pemex (state-owned) gas station. I successfully communicated with the gas station attendant in broken Spanish, with some English mixed in. What a thrill it was; he actually understood me! I think I've found something new to love: speaking foreign languages. It's pretty cool as a hobby, but even more thrilling as a way to share God's love with more people.
The inside of Unidos in Cristo's building.
The church had only recently acquired some land and put up a small building, and they were excited and proud of it. It was explained to me that in Mexico, there just isn't the lending system we have in the United States. If you want to build a house, you might save some money, put down a foundation, save some money, put up three walls, save some money, put on a basic roof, save some money, put on some shingles, etc. There are many more unfinished-looking buildings there. Of course, in a place where rain is rare and the weather is warm year-round, I suppose there is less need to protect people from the elements.
We moved some bags of concrete into this humble, dirt-floor building, along with some other supplies. Though we didn't get to the floor while we were there, by now, they may have poured the concrete floor. One of the cool things about the organization Missions to Mexico and the Fink family who runs it is how they have groups participate in work projects. The Finks don't come in and run the show. The short-term mission groups don't come in and run the show. We all work alongside the Mexican Christians, and they are actually directing the projects. The same applies to visitation and neighborhood evangelism outreaches. Therefore, the arrival of these enthusiastic Americans doesn't have to be some kind of flash-in-the-pan experience with the love of God. By partnering with the local church, we can be more confident that God's work goes on after we leave, and the community sees more that the church is working and serving them, not just the visiting Americans.
This is especially appropriate since the Mexican Christians gave us as much or more than we gave them, through their hospitality, their love, their values, their hard work, their peace, and the all-around example of how they lived out their walk with Jesus.
Unidos in Cristo reminds me that you don't need a fancy building--you don't even need a floor--to worship God with passion.
