To Mexico We Go

 Early Saturday morning Mark took Haleigh and me to the airport.  We shuffled through all the necessary steps to check bags and get boarded as our trip was about to begin.  This would be the first step for Haleigh into her dream of being a missionary.

We arrived in Mexico without any travel bumps~ so thankful!

After a tour of the Back2Back campus and a meeting to talk us through what to expect over the next week, we settled in and had some ice breaker games to meet the other groups on campus and enjoyed a nice dinner.

Sunday morning we attended church.  The sermon was translated for us and several times the pastor thanked us for coming and challenged his congregation to help those in their community that we had traveled from another country to help.  

(This vision of local support has been a prayer for the Back2Back staff for a while now.)

That challenge was touching yet stirred some thoughts in me.  Why do we travel to Mexico to help orphans when there are several right here at home who need help also?  Not that it is wrong to help those in Mexico but why am I not helping more here at home?   This is a thought we continue to chew on.

After church we went back to campus where a couple of the orphanages' children came for a pool party and cookout.  We served up several burgers, played soccer and splashed in the pool with many kiddos.  Giving these kids a chance to just be kids who were having fun.

 A bit later in the afternoon we had this wild snack bar for the kids.  Think of a Sweet Frog type yogurt shop here in the states.  Now take out the frozen yogurt and put in every type of junk food treat you can think of... popcorn, potato chips, mango, pineapple, peanuts, with a squirt of lime juice, then these fruit chews with chili powder coating, gummy worms (sweet and sour), then if all this mixture wasn't enough it is then covered in a sweet and sour salsa juice.

The kids were so excited about this!!! They would circle back around for cup after cup with their sticky little faces smiling from ear to ear!

The start to the trip was a slower pace as we became familiar with the mission at hand and got to know our team a little better.  Monday morning the routine of playing in the morning and working hard in the afternoon would start, ready or not...