~Mexico Missions Trip - Day 1~

Jordan and I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip last week with ten other members of our church.  What a great time we had... we both would go back in a minute!

We left our house Saturday, August 2... at 12:45 am!  Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.  We had a 3 hour drive to the airport, a 3 hour flight,a short layover and a 2 hour flight ending in El Paso, Texas.

We got some breakfast at the airport.

Waiting for our first flight... not even a hint of sunlight yet

My first flight seat mates... now the sun is shinning!

We met a young man, Raule, who was traveling alone.  We promised his Spanish speaking mom that we would make sure he was taken care of for both flights and the layover.  He was a very nice young man... and now he knows how much Jesus loves him!

Look at the air moving over the wing!

My 2nd flights seat mates!

We were greeted at the airport by Hector (the man that runs the trips in Mexico) and two of our former church members who are now missionaries with BPS El Paso.  We spent many, many hours in this bus!

We stopped for an early lunch at El Taco Tote!  Yumm-o!  The first real food we had today.

We were the first group to arrive at the Mission.  We got unpacked, took a nap and went exploring.  We got to catch up with 4 of our young people who were working down there (some for 3 and some for 5 weeks)...

... we also got in a game of Catch Phrase.

All 60+ people arrived for a delicious supper and we headed out for "the Mountain" in El Paso.

My young man has a heart to serve, so glad we got to share this week together!  It was a joy to see him jump in wherever he could.

From the viewpoint, we could see El Paso, the Border and Juarez.

The straight line of lights is the border... The big red "X" is in Mexico.  The six major boarder crossing each have a letter from the word "Mexico."  

The first day, while extremely long, was a great day.

One of the buses broke down on the way home that night.  We were very thankful!  It was only a few miles away and it was easily towed back the next day.  It could have broken down in Mexico... leaving half the group stranded for hours (late at night) and it would have been a real challenge to get the bus towed across the border!!!  Bro. Jarvis said, in his very casual, trusting God way... "You know it's going to be a great week when Satan is already starting to attack."