What Comes After The House?

At the end of August we took a mission team to Ensenada, Mexico. Previously, our mission teams to Mexico have always built houses. But this trip was different. We focused on outreach projects to an entire community, one where we had built homes before and where we knew the residents. We have always looked at house builds as a first step in creating relationships that would lead to long term community transformation. Our partnership with Pastor Felipe is allowing us to take the next step as we come alongside him in meeting the most urgent needs of his community. 

So if we weren’t building houses…what did we do? 

School Backpacks and Lunch Outreach

Every Saturday, Pastor Felipe, his wife Raquel, and volunteers from the church give a meal to nearly 100 kids in the village. It is an incredible blessing to the many families who cannot afford to feed their children 3 meals a day. The team loved being part of this outreach and serving lunch to the kids and the families. To make this outreach even more impactful, we donated a nearly new Blackstone griddle. It will stay with Pastor Felipe and his church for Saturday morning pancake breakfasts and every other food outreach they do!

After the meal, Pastor Felipe and Raquel passed out backpacks to every single child. They had chosen, labeled and tagged each bag with intention. Then they called each child up by name to receive their special bag full of school supplies. Your incredible generosity made this possible. You helped 100 kids start the school year prepared, loved and full of hope. 

Art Therapy Class Outreach

In the afternoon, the team worked with indigenous women and their children. We split into two groups. The men led more than 80 kids through a Bible lesson on Daniel in the Lion’s Den, where they learned they don’t need to be afraid because God is always with them. Meanwhile, the women taught an art therapy class to 40 ladies in the village. It was a really sweet time focused on reminding the women that they are loved, seen and worthy.  There was also a little time for the guys to play soccer in the street with some of the kids, and we ended by feeding everyone with 150 tortas and punch that we had prepared.

The US team was also able to spend lunch and dinner with all our key national leaders who are passionate about helping their community in different ways. They have such amazing dreams. Dave is in regular conversation with them so The Global Mission can come alongside and support them. It’s such an exciting time. We can’t wait to see what God continues to do in Ensenada, Mexico!

What about house builds? 

We love working with YUGO and Hands of Mercy to build homes for the most vulnerable in Mexico and we plan to do more in the future. However, a house build trip is most successful when a church sponsors it. A church sponsor commits to paying for the house and promoting the trip to its congregants. The Global Mission helps with fundraising, providing promotional materials, doing cross cultural mission training, and handling all of the trip logistics. If your church is interested in a house build trip, let us know! We are already starting to plan for 2027 and would love to get your church trip on the calendar. Visit our trip planning page to get started!