Mexico Mission Project
Adult Groups:
One major project for 2009 is the camp chapel at Nuevo Amanecer near Tecate. There are several cabins that need to be reroofed and painted. There are also windows and screens to install plus other minor repairs to be made. Other projects will work on maintenance and improvements at local churches as needed.
Youth Groups:
For summer 2009, there are a few projects to be completed that were started last year. We’ll be continuing with our community work with particular focus on establishing running water in homes, installing bathrooms, and providing/improving electrical service to homes. Bathroom facilities at Mahanaim Church will be completed and the entire church campus will need to be re-wired.
One of the most important things that we do is establishing running water supplies to homes. Something we take for granted is often unavailable in the San Quintin Valley where the water supply is always a problem. Most homes still use buckets to draw their water from 50 gallon drums or underground cisterns. We custom design a water system that provides water to the kitchen and bathrooms.
Many homes use outhouses. In many cases we can build bathroom facilities that include sanitary facilities, a wash basin and a shower.
We also provide safe electrical service to homes, many of which are using long extension cords to bring power from a neighbor’s house.
Many homes need a new roof, too. We generally find ourselves roofing several houses in the course of the summer.
This summer, we expect to build a social hall at the Methodist Church in Colonet
Backroad to the Border
(Capo II)Backroad to the Border, into the dusty heart
Of a place called Jaramillo and the work we’ve got to start
Is it painting or the plaster that the pastor says he needs
Or will we find a greater meaning in this place for you and me?
Five cars out on a road trip; good souls, but strangers still.
The call: to fix three churches, in towns, so small, like San Quintin.
The cock crows twice a minute to start the subdued morning
We count the highway miles by the red Tecate signs
There’s work enough for plenty as the dirty kids draw near
They think our cars are full of treasure, just not the tools we need right here.
Up on the roof, I need your help to get things done,
Now and then, I think, you might just need me too…
Open my eyes, open my heart, some lessons of God, you try to impart;
One last night as one, in the church at Colonet,
A week of work away I don’t regret.
I’ve seen you torn and tarred and tattered, my dear and dirty friend,
I see determination, each day until the end.
You rose to every challenge, you helped each friend in need,
You showed God’s love in every thoughtful deed.
Five cars will go back home now; good souls, no strangers here.
We came for different reasons; we built, together, and we grew…
© 2005, Steven Frasher, August 10-12, 2005, Jaramillo, B.C., México
