Mexico mission trip: Snapshots from a week in Mazatlan By Esther Fultz Cedarville University's Global Outreach program provides students with opportunities to serve and evangelize both locally and globally. The GO staff works hard all year to locate service opportunities, recruit trip part icipants, and equip students and faculty to serve and witness to otners. GO organizes mission trips during spring break and over the summer. \ Saturday, March 4, 12:30 pm; Phoenix, Arizona r Hey! Just wanted to let you know I won 't have access to my hone until March 11 because I'll be in Mexico for a week. See you after spring br ak! I glance up from sending my final text to a client from my internship and breathe a sigh of relieff. My team ' s◄. fl ight to Mazatlan, Mexico is preparing for takeoff, and th is tr ip has c::ome at the perfect time . Between classes, an internsh ip and working over 20 hours a week, these past few weeks have left me stressed and burnt out. I've tried to make time for my friends and my relationship w ith the Lord, but lately even these blessings have felt like just another task on my plate. I know this mission trip will challenge me, but I'm eager for the opportun ities it will bring . Opportun ities to reset, to focus on what truly matters through serving the Lord and others . Opportunities to reevaluate, to view my own lifestyle and beliefs through a new perspective. As the mountains of Phoenix grow smaller beneath me, my mind wanders to the people I will be serving in Mazatlan - the staff, children and families involved with Back2Back Ministries. Back2Back is an international Christian nonprofit founded to care for orphans and vulnerable children . Currently, it has nine locations across the globe, including four in Mexico. As a social work major, I appreciate Back2Back's passion for holistic ministry and trauma-informed care . Although the cost of the trip initially intimidated me, I decided to stay on the team and was pleasantly surprised when the Lord provided more than enough resources through generous family members and friends . Reflecting on the Lord 's provision, I feel a sense of comfort. In many ways, I s~ill feel inadequate to go on this trip, considering my limited ability to speak Spanish and my minimal knowledge of Hispanic culture. I've tried to educate myself leading up to the tr ip, but I worry I will say or do something offensive. More than that, I worry about being useless in ministry .1 I want to learn and gr?w and I know the Lord can use me, b t I want to be able to truly ser\1e others in Mazatl~n - not just walk away changed . Finally, unhindered by the chaos of school, I pull out my prayer journal and write down my thoughts, then turn to my teammate Katie to practice the few words of Spanish I remember. Sunday, March 5, 5:00 pm; Back2Back Ministries; Mazatlan, Mexico "Hola!" I smile at Maria, a participant in Back2Back's Strong Families Program . Today, she 's teaching our team how to make torti llas and tamales. It's only been 24 hours since we landed in Mexico, and the greeting already feels more natural on my tongue. According to Matt, the staff member supervising our group today, Maria was anxious about leading these classes when she started just six months ago. Today, she smiles confidently as she demonstrates how to assemble a tamale and press tortillas, even joking with our team despite the language barrier. When I think of ministry, this isn 't what I usually think of - receiving when I came to give. A small part of me is uncomfortable with it. But looking at the pride on Maria's face, I know this experience is more empowering to her than anything I could give. Too often, short-term missions are focused on the incoming team, driven by a desire to satisfy participants ' egos and c reate a sense of selfimportance. I've been on these trips and have also been guilty of t hink ing this way, but learning from Maria, I remember Acts 20 :35 - "I t is more blessed to give than to receive." What if, instead of viewing ministry as doing grand, showy things for the Lord, we view it as simply coming alongside people, working to understand them and allowing ou rselves to be given to in ways that would truly bless them7 Monday, March 6, 3:00 pm; Salvation Army, Mazatlan, Mexico "Vamos! " The little girl I've been playing with for the past half hour-§-rin-s up at me and points towards a row of bicycles leaned up against the side of a building . Without(waiting for ~ response, she starts running, and 'I remember That vamos means "l~t's go" in English. I This is our third day in Mexico, but the first I have interacted with the children without a staff member in earshot. Earlier this morning, I had been concerned about how the children would respond to my limited Spanish vocabulary. Even now, I think of children I know from the United States mocking second language English speakers . But so far the children I have spoken to here have been surprisingly welcoming. "Como se dice este?" I grab the bicycle and point to it, and the little girl smiles . It feels like the hundredth time I've asked this question, yet she's patient and doesn't seem annoyed . "Bicicleta," she responds, grabbing her own bicycle. "Vamos!" She takes off down the gravel road, Spring 2023
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