Every February I go to Mexico with a team and we help out at a daycare center for single parents. Here is a recap of the best week of my life.
If you know me, you know I LOVE Mexico and this trip is what I look forward to every year. I love building relationships with the kids and practicing my spanish (and eating tortillas).
crazy boys I spent the week playing with 
Casa de Luz “house of light” is a daycare center where single parents can leave their kids for the day to play and learn and get fed while going to earn money. We always have the best time and I love dancing and hanging out with these sweet ones. I usually spend time with the 5 year olds since that’s about my spanish level but I’ve been going for the past 6 years now and love seeing the youth I have grown up with.
One thing that impacted me on the trip this year was how many and silly our first world problems are.
Every year on the Saturday, we go into the community with the local church, La Hermosa, and deliver hampers to families we see have needs. One of the homes my group went to was a simple room made of plywood and a blanket as a door. One lady from the church through a translator told us that she had invited this family to church this past week (and they came!) and noticed she was alone with 4 kids under 8 years old. Her husband is in the drug trade and her 15 year old son moved out because he couldn’t stand the living conditions anymore. When it rains, this family piles into a car sitting on their little square of property without wheels to stay dry because their roof wouldn’t hold.
They were not home when we went, and we normally would not leave bins of food and supplies but we saw the need and prayed over the home. As I went inside to drop off the hampers, I saw one twin bed they all shared on a dirt floor that had used diapers scattered around it. For meals, they told us this family relied on people from the church to share a loaf of bread or their leftovers. I was so awestruck as I am used to taking seconds and thirds and snacking whenever I am hungry. This family had no fridge. No washing machine. No pantry. It was a single room with a mattress on top of dirt and bugs and everything gets wet when it rains.
The city turned the water off one of the days we were there as I was about to hop in after a long day and I was upset I had to go to bed “dirty” (I had already showered and washed my hair that morning). I learned so much and was reminded at how blessed we are to live in Canada or any first world country. The fact that we dropped off a simple bin of granola bars, cereal boxes, eggs and oranges would last them a month rather than a week here made me realize how selfish we are to always be filling ourselves up and not go hungry. Hungry to help others. Hungry to open our eyes and realize that even in our own communities there are single parents and people who are homeless that need helping.
I found this post from my trip in 2017 and it’s so fun to look back on pictures and memories and seeing how everyone is growing and new things I have learned. I cannot wait to go back next year and continue to make friends and watch the kids grow older and mature.
Have you ever been on a missions trip? I want to hear stories! xx Marley
