Lessons Learned On Mission Trip

Mon., Nov. 23, 1998

Rob Crotty Lewis

Anyone who comes back from a week of building houses in Tijuana, Mexico, comes back a changed person.

It is an experience I will never forget. When I devoted my spring break to go to Mexico to build 10 12-foot by 24-foot homes, I had no idea what I was getting into.

The change began when the vans pulled up to the orphanage that my youth group would be calling home for the next week. The owner, Rosa, and all the children were strangely grateful that 100 teenagers would be disrupting their lives for a week. Wherever I went, I would see a smiling child. As the week progressed, I noticed that the orphans were never not smiling. Then it hit me.

Even though they did not have a TV or stereo, they were much more fortunate than I. They were forever grateful that they were alive. They took nothing for granted. Every local I met had the same perspective; they did not have running water or electricity, but that did not matter. They had each other.

Throughout the week, the youth group continued to build the houses. There is an amazing sense of unity felt when six clueless teenagers put together a house in five days. I really began to feel that one person can make a difference. Handing the keys to a grateful family, I knew that we had changed their lives, and that they had changed ours.

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