Mission Trip

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Monterrey, Mexico
By Caroline Burns

August 2007

Dear Riverside Presbyterian Church,

Hola mis amigos!!!  I am incapable of putting into words how unbelievably thankful I am for the opportunity that you helped me to have this past summer in Monterrey, Mexico interning with Back2Back Ministries.  On my plane flight home at the end of my stay in Mexico, I kept thinking about how badly I wanted to express this thankfulness to all those who helped make my experience possible.  So my intentions with this letter are solely this: to thank you from the bottom of my heart and to try to pass on some of my joy to you.

Back2Back Ministries is a non-denominational organization whose mission is to provide care for today and hope for tomorrow to orphans, unwed mothers and poverty stricken people in Mexico.  This is accomplished through service teams, evangelism and education.  Their vision as a ministry is that they would reach every child God brings into their path by meeting their personal needs, developing and long-term relationship with them and by supporting their spiritual growth that they may establish and personal relationship with the Lord.

 I served as an intern with Back2Back this summer.  Some of my responsibilities included: packing food, organizing donations, fill water jugs, translate for Americans, clean any and everything, facilitate work projects, mix concrete, paint way too many walls, electrical work, host pool parties for orphanages, play with orphans, entertain staff children, answer questions for the visiting groups, look like I know what I'm doing with power tools, order food in Spanish at restaurants for Americans who don't speak ANY Spanish, set up and clean up for praise and worship every night, lead small group bible study discussions with visitors, and have the time of my life.  This was my third trip to Mexico with this ministry -- and I have learned one of life's greatest lessons which I feel is this: We can experience God's joy on a daily basis whenever we participate with Him in doing things that matter to Him.  Nothing in this world can satisfy in the same way that serving Him can satisfy.  The picture that I included is of myself and Laura from Casa Hogar Betesda and I chose this one because I think that it best embodies this joy.

 I'd like to share with you a journal entry from one of my days this past summer that my mom and brother were present for.  July 18 - Today was my "day off" but praise be to God that I didn’t take it.  Today we got to take 2 children's homes to plaza sesamo which is like a sesame street themed Disney World and water park here kind of like wet 'n wild.  There were 15 kids from each home and an American group to take them.  My mom got paired up with Laura from Betesda and Owen had 2 little boys who were all over him —  he kept telling them that he was tired and couldn’t pick them up anymore and I kept telling his boys that he wasn’t tired and that he was fine.  I had a girl who had just been dropped off at the children's home in the previous week so she was very fragile.  We went on some rides with them and some rides were too small for big people to ride so we would watch them and wave every time they came around in view.  It was so strange to be there with my own mom.  All I wanted for these little kids was to have their own parents be able to share in this joyous occasion with them -- to wave to them to hug them and to see them laugh and smile.  But all these orphans had was me.  I was embarrassed for my little girl to have to walk around with me -- some awkward American who doesn’t speak lots of Spanish and was wearing Nike basketball shorts, and I'm blonde — so people stare at me -- no one in this country is blonde and they dress so much better than we do in the states.  I was overcome with thankfulness for the fact that my mom loved me and was able to take care of me and that she took me to Disney when I was little and that she was present in my life. at one point we were watching a show where all the sesame street characters in full costume dance and sing.  My little girl loved it -- she kept smiling and clapping when everyone else would clap.  As I watched her laugh and smile, the thought that God loves that little girl this much -- that'd he find a way for her to go to the equivalency of Disney in Mexico, his love for her is sooooo extravagant -- I cried right there in the park.  And I realized that His love for ME and for all of us is just as extravagant -- we are just too blind to see it most of the time.  We take so much for granted.  He pursues us with an everlasting love.  After the show a couple of us went to the swing ride where each kid has their own swing and it goes around in a big circle.  She was excited and liked it a lot.  And when it was over the man working the ride went around to each kid and unhooked them so they could get out.  But he didn’t get to her soon enough for her liking and she cried, I ran over to her when I realized it and she just kept crying, so I held her and kept saying "estoy aqui" which means "I’m here, I’m here" and she just cried.  She thought someone was abandoning her again like her mom did last week.  It was so humbling.  I didn’t deserve such an emotional day and experience but I'm grateful for it.

The third week that I was in Mexico, my mother and brother came to tag along with a church from Oklahoma.  They both had a life changing experience and can't wait till they can return to Mexico.  I had prayed for 12 months that they'd be able to have a similar experience to mine and to see it come true before my very eyes was practically unreal.  Next summer, we have hopes for a group from Riverside to go to Monterrey.  So far we have 4 committing.  Please pray that others will make the same decision.

Through the ways in which God is providing for these orphans I have been blessed to see God's extravagant love, provisions and faithfulness.  He's got the whole world in his hands.  Apparently, God thought that it'd be a good idea if he left a huge chunk of my soul IN MEXICO.  I've prayed a lot lately for my heart to be broken with the things that break God's heart -- I'm beginning to get the sense that these children and this city breaks his heart quite a bit because it's ruined mine.  I am praying about whether God is leading me to a year long STINT (short term international) with Back2back after I graduate from The University of Florida in December. ~ Gloria a Dios!! (Glory be to God) and thank you again for your support.