Church travels to Mexico to help a women’s shelter
The parking lot filled up, sleeping bags and duffles were loaded
the horse trailer and 24 adults and teenagers packed into a bus
prepared for a 15-hour trek to Mexico. It was 4 a.m. and I hadn’t
slept more than two hours. My body was tired but my nerves kept me
awake. Everyone was hustling about to make sure everything was
loaded and that we didn’t forget any supplies or team members. I
went to the back of the bus and took a seat with what would be my
team. Youth group leader Tony LaMonica gathered the rest of us on
the bus and before taking off, we prayed for safe travel, for
guidance, and that God would use us down there, and with all in one
accord, we said
”
amen.
”
Church travels to Mexico to help a women’s shelter
The parking lot filled up, sleeping bags and duffles were loaded the horse trailer and 24 adults and teenagers packed into a bus prepared for a 15-hour trek to Mexico. It was 4 a.m. and I hadn’t slept more than two hours. My body was tired but my nerves kept me awake. Everyone was hustling about to make sure everything was loaded and that we didn’t forget any supplies or team members. I went to the back of the bus and took a seat with what would be my team. Youth group leader Tony LaMonica gathered the rest of us on the bus and before taking off, we prayed for safe travel, for guidance, and that God would use us down there, and with all in one accord, we said “amen.”
Our destination was Casa Esperanza, a small, battered women’s home in Baja California three hours south of the Mexican border in a small place called Maneadero. For five of the past six years, Hillside Christian Fellowship has sent down a team of high school students and a few adults to support the ministry and to give encouragement to its missionaries.
“When we go, we are reaching people,” said the Rev. Bruce Bannister, my father and the pastor of Hillside Christian Fellowship. “We are meeting the needs of the people, encouraging missionaries and helping out practically.”
Casa Esperanza – “Hope House” in English – was started eight years ago by Terry McFetridge and has become a house of hope for a number of battered women in and around Maneadero. They provide food, shelter, and care for those women in need.
The women there are part of a program that helps equip them with skills to work in the job force and prepares them with proper tools to raise their children. While there, they also work through emotional issues and save money for their future. Their children get an education and learn basics such as reading and writing.
“Our passion has been not only to serve in the community,” said my mother, the Rev. Dori Bannister, Co-pastor of Hillside Christian Fellowship. “But to extend into other countries. We are teaching our youth what it means to follow Jesus.”
Hours in, we were making good time, and by 11 a.m. we were already past the Grapevine descending upon Los Angeles ahead of schedule. We played games and laughed, while others slept. It was typical travel gestures with many acting as human pillows. While we drove relationships started to build and people started to bond. We would be family for the next 140 hours and it was in this time we started to act like it.
In a few hours we would be at the border. For some people it was the first time traveling south of the border and their nervousness reflected that.
This was my fifth time going down to Casa Esperanza and it is something I look forward to every year. It is an amazing experience to be able to travel to another part of the world and to interact, serve and love people who are in need. Every year I am reminded that that no matter where you live or what socio-economic class you are in, everyone needs love. Every year I go into it thinking about how I am going to serve and that practical side of things. This year I just got tackled by these kids who have this boundless love and energy. It’s impossible not to be affected, not to be blessed.
“As our youth have grown up and have gone off to college,”Dori said, “We notice those who have experienced the Mexico mission trip have continued to visit other countries, serving and sharing the message of hope.”
A foreign homecoming
We arrived at the coast at 7:30 p.m. to what would be our home for the next week, a beach house 15 minutes away from Casa Esperanza. The house has been our home for the last four years and is a blessing from God. After unpacking the trailer and sorting out room assignments everyone met in the living room for devotionals and a heads up on the week’s events.
Tuesday morning, we gathered in the living room, a familiar site on the trip and a place where we shared our hearts as a team. Today we spent a few hours at Casa Esperanza getting to know the kids and fixing some rusty chairs. Afterwards, we brought them back to swim. A few of those kids had fins, I’d swear. Everyone had a great time. The kids clung to us like tree branches.
Another burden that we were able to lift was that of education. It costs $2 per kid per week to put a child through school for a year. That may not sound like a lot here in America but for many down there, it is a huge burden. We were able to pay for all of the kids at Casa Esperanza to attend school for one year and brought each child a backpack.
During the last few days there, the most significant part of the trip took place. As we saw earlier in the week, the women at Casa Esperanza work hard every day and face a huge burden, which is seldom lifted. For most of the women, their day starts at 6 a.m., where they are busy with jobs such as preparing fresh tortillas to sell at local markets, or tending to the garden where they grow fresh vegetables for the house. They cook, sew, do laundry, and raise pigs and a few chickens. Many others have jobs outside of the property and all do their part to keep Casa Esperanza running.
As a team, the group thought it would be a good idea to carry that burden for the day and give them time off to relax and be pampered. At around 10 a.m., the women loaded up in vans and left to the beach house where we were staying. While there, they spent time getting ministered to and prayed over by the women on our team. After that, they were taken to the movies for some popcorn and entertainment. For some women this was their first time at a movie theater. To cap the day off, they went out to eat at a sit-down restaurant.
There were no dishes to wash or diapers to change; all they needed to do was relax. I can remember the look on the women’s faces when they returned. The words from the women’s mouths were gratitude and most of the team did not speak their language. It didn’t matter because we were tied together not by words but through action. They were beaming as if someone had lifted a burden. The day was hard and it gave us an appreciation for what the women do every day. That day we bonded with kids, painted a few doors and saw.
Finding new friends
Children clung to us like we were best friends, and we were for those few days. We were as they say, “amigos.” My personal friend was this 5-year-old kid named Julio. He followed me around while I talked to people or got my guitar from the truck. For a couple days he was a shadow, only to leave when the sun would set and we would return to our house. It was with great sadness and many tears that we said goodbye to the kids that had become our own. For me, it felt like I was saying goodbye to not just a kid, but my kid. On one day Julio waited for the bus to come and then when he saw me, he ran and jumped into my arms. It just hit me. It was a powerful thing. Most of the kids down there don’t want to be entertained. They don’t want to play a video game.
They just want love.
Hillsides’ message has always been God’s love changing lives and in this trip I saw it play out in real way. I saw people changed by service and hearts soften through the friendship of a child. I saw smiles as high as rooftops and people truly loving each other as God intended. The trip reminds me of what matters most in life, what will last. I am sure some of things we do down helped Casa Esperanza but in 10 to 15 years it won’t be the chairs we fixed or doors we painted that will matter but the smiles we gave them and the ones we returned.
On the last day at Casa Esperanza one of the team’s translators, Saul Gonzalez, paused, as his eyes started to swell with tears. He told a few of the kids that we were leaving and they asked him when we were coming back… He said to me, with tears in his eyes, “next year, I hope.”
If you would like to donate money towards casa Esperanza you can contact Hillside Christian fellowship at 801-0845 for more information. The people of Casa Esperanza appreciate the continued prayer and support it has seen.
