Category: Field Notes

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#2015MexTour

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Part of the team with Pastor Felix (rear) in a remote Oaxacan Cave

What is a short term mission trip about, anyway?

Is it about unusual food and eating routines, trying to get comfortable in a bed that's not your own, and endless hours on the road?  No. That's not what it's about…. These things are, however, the cost of entry.

I think our perception of the purpose of mission trips change, as we change, and as we have more experiences with them.  I know this is the case in my life.  I often say my first ten short term trips were mainly for my benefit, and it wasn't until after the first ten that I began to have something to offer those I was going to see.  While there is nothing magic about the number ten, the idea is that your capacity for contribution grows through experience.  Some, without this understand, give up before they have developed a contribution beyond themselves.  This is sad, and sadly, it's unnecessary. Continue reading “#2015MexTour”

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Juarez Field Notes

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West Bound on Interstate 20

We were briefly in Juarez, out to the remote mountains of Chihuahua, and back to Juarez, with breakneck speed.  Or so it seemed…  Vince Corcoran and I joined up with the guys at CasaTriunfo for their annual men's conference, held at El Rancho, four plus hours due west of town.  As a man, it was great to be among men, and can be high level motivation for starting a men's ministry! Continue reading “Juarez Field Notes”

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The Valley

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Jason and Me

A little over a week ago Jason Reeves and I visited the Hernandez family at the EV Matamoros location, which lies between Matamoros and Reynosa, Mexico. This is just over the river, and is a part of the Rio Grande Valley that extends on both sides of the border for some distance. This border, like most, I imagine, is a murky, backwater area that doesn’t belong culturally to either nation. It is something other. In my experience, it’s not a quality representative of either, and not one you’d choose.

Our trip down and back was quick. We left on a Friday, drove the +/- 9 hours and arrived late Friday, just to turn it around on Sunday and do the same. Early departure, late afternoon arrival.

While we were there we were privileged to meet some long time friends of Don Elias and Doña Flora who were in visiting from Oaxaca. These friends were there at their wedding in the 80s and they have stayed in touch ever since. Probably no surprise that this couple also run an orphanage, or “Casa Hogar” as it is often called in Latin America. Actually, they have two, which are in the remote regions of mountainous Oaxaca where the Hernandez family got their start over 30 years ago. It was great to meet them. Hoping to stop by and see them on our Central South Mexico Tour happening next month. Continue reading “The Valley”

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Invigorated and Alive, by Danielle Barnett

Hard at work!
Hard at work!

You know how one of the first things most people do when they consider traveling internationally is to check their passport? Well, apparently, I'm not most people…lil ol' me somehow overlooked the fact that my stamp of approval for leaving the country had expired two years earlier… until it hit me at 2 am two days before my flight…oops. Well, thankfully I have a really big, awesome God who likes to help me out when I overlook the obvious, and in the matter of 24 hours, I had myself a brand new, shiny passport (after spending a few extra hundred dollars and dragging my very splendid, accommodating parents to Philly at 5 am – thanks Mom and Dad!). So with all that trouble to get there, there must be something good in store for this trip, right? Why yes, yes there was. Continue reading “Invigorated and Alive, by Danielle Barnett”