About our trip
This past July, a group of people from our church drove down to Mexico with friends from churches in Calgary and Cranbrook. We joined up with a group led by Fr. Tony Machnee in Colorado Springs and continued the drive.
The purpose for our trip was to build a house for Jose, Mariam, Casandra and Paula outside of Rosarito, Mexico. The funds we raised paid for the building material. There were sixteen people in our group, and we worked with another group to build the house in four days.
Project Mexico
The organization that facilitates these building projects is called Project Mexico. It hosts volunteers in these building projects all summer on the campus of an Orthodox orphanage called St. Innocent’s. The campus has a large empty yard where volunteers stay in tents all week.
Praying in Spanish
While we were at Project Mexico we had both morning and evening prayers as well as Divine Liturgy on Sunday. Most of the prayers were in Spanish, as the staff and boys of the orphanage are Mexican – and we were in Mexico! What a humbling experience to have it impressed upon us that the mission work there is focussed on the people who live there and not on us who were just visiting!
Our Father …
Above is a picture of the plaque on the outside of the dining room pavilion. Everyone would gather in front of it and pray (as best we could) this prayer before each meal.
The Pavilion / Church
The Project Mexico team informed all the volunteers that this pavilion was built by “people from Canada.” We said that we knew who they were talking about! As the only Canadian group there, we were celebrities.
Eat, Pray, Love
The week we were in Mexico over 130 volunteers were participating in the building of four different houses in parallel. The pavilion serves as dining room, meeting hall and church.
We arrived on Friday evening and worked one day on Saturday. But on Sunday we celebrated Orthros and Divine Liturgy and were treated to a performance of traditional Mexican dance.
Monday through Wednesday were work days again, and we blessed the completed house on Wednesday evening.
Thank you to everyone who donated money and helped us participate in this trip!
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