When we arrived we were greeted by a number of church families and an authentic Mexican dinner. It was awesome....especially the tortillas. After dinner we began to prepare for the next day by dividing 400 pounds of rice and beans to give out to the families that we would meet the next day.
The next morning we headed south in the Mexican countryside with expectations to meet up with migrant workers at one of the greenhouses in the area. These families are very poor and work very hard to harvest vegetables that, for the most part, get exported to the US.
We arrived at the green house and were denied access to the grounds. We were very disappointed to come all this way and not be allowed to meet up with the families. We began to pray that God's will would be done and help us to figure out what to do next.
Pastor Julio knew of another green house even further south that he had never been to. We headed out not knowing if they would be receptive of us. It turns out that God's way is the best way. The migrant workers at this green house had not been paid in over 5 weeks and must have been desperate for food.
We entered the compound and found some of the worst living conditions I have ever seen. These people barely had a roof over their heads. They had running water, in the form of a hose, and houses similar to sheds. It was hardly livable. Cameron commented that it was like camping. I was thinking that camping would be better than this.
As you might imagine the families were a little standoffish when we first arrived. We also discovered that they did not speak Spanish but a language of their own as they are not Mexican but indigenous natives. After a few minutes of attempted communication we began to build a relationship with them with the help of balloon animals, soccer balls and stuffed animals. Cameron was absolutely amazing playing and laughing with kids while giving them stickers and just loving on them. I was so proud of him. Shannon had packed a little lunch for the road trip there on Friday and gave him a few candies in the lunchbox. He had saved them for later and ended up bringing them with him to meet the families. He remembered that he had the candies and ended up giving them to some of the kids there. It was an awesome display of selflessness that we rarely see normally.
After playing and laughing with the families for a while we decided to break out the food and give it to them. They were as excited as I have ever seen anyone. Then we broke out the candy and they got even more excited.
It was time to leave so we prayed with the families said our good-byes and headed north back to the church where we were staying.
Again we were greeted with and authentic Mexican lunch with those wonderful tortillas. After lunch we prepared 200 ham and cheese sandwiches that were intended to give to people that had been caught in the US trying to cross the border from Mexico. These folks were in the process of being deported and some were not in very good shape. They looked beaten down, tired and hungry.
While we hardly communicated with the people of Mexico it is our hope and prayer that we ministered to them in some way. It is my belief that we began to establish a relationship with the second green house workers that will last for many years.
Cameron can hardly wait to go back and do God's work. I can hardly wait to go with him. We are hoping to go back in December for about a week. It is a little pricey but hope that God's will is for us to be his hands and feet.
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