I got back yesterday with my daughter from our annual trip to Mexico with the high school youth group from my church. This was my third year and each time it is different, and each time it has been an amazing experience. I am never more tired, dirty and fulfilled then during this week. We camp in an area provided by the sponsor - Amor Ministries - but have no running water, electricity, flush toilets or showers. You can imagine what it is like to take 27 middle class kids out of the South Orange County bubble and expose them to what life is like for a majority of the world. If you based your imagination on the image of teenagers on television then you would imagine a nightmare. It was anything but. Every year I am impressed by the quality of these young people. They spent the time digging trenches and leveling ground and sawing wood and hammering nails and mixing cement and framing walls and applying stucco and playing with the neighborhood kids. They did it all with very little complaining and with a sense of purpose that was admirable. It was truly an honor to be working alongside with them.
We have two major goals - one is to build a house in 4 days using nothing but hand tools. The other is to let the family know that God loves them and we are there to provide tangible evidence of that love. I can only imagine what goes through the mind of the family to see three vans pull up, a group of noisy, boisterous teenagers pour out, and in a few days, transform their life. I can't think of a better way to spend a week and coming back to my regular job seems so trivial in comparison.
