Youths learn more than building in Mexico
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-22/11...
By Kathy Bush
May 19, 2005
ALPINE TOWNSHIP -- Building houses in Mexico got Adriana Bergen thinking about how fortunate she is.
"My room is probably the size of their house," said the Comstock Park High School junior. "When I complain about the size of my room, I think I
shouldn't be complaining."
Bergen and 24 other members of Comstock Park Maranatha Bible Church's youth group helped build homes for families in El Florido, a suburb of Tijuana.
The group, which included six chaperones, built five 12- by 12-foot buildings for families of five or so people.
It was Bergen's second mission trip to the area.
"The first time, I was a little bit younger and didn't realize what we went down there for," she said. "This time God opened my eyes, and I really saw
these people.
The group stayed in the Mexico Caravan Ministries dormitories. Wake-up call was 6:30 a.m., which Amanda Gilbert, a Comstock Park sophomore, said was
especially hard for those on Michigan time, three hours earlier.
After devotions and breakfast, usually cold cereal, there were teaching sessions, and then everyone went to work building houses until lunch, which
was provided by the families who were to move into the homes.
"It amazed me, really, how they would spend a couple of days' wages fixing us meals," said Bergen.
Between building sessions, there were daily trips to Waldo's Wonder World, a kind of dollar store, where the teens got to know the employees. They
also got to know the local children through soccer games and other impromptu activities.
"It was really cool how you could communicate with the kids," said Gilbert, who has had one year of Spanish. "It wasn't like there was a barrier
between us."
Levi Francis said he looks at things differently since he got home.
"They have so little -- broken toys -- but they're so kind to each other," said Francis, a Comstock Park sophomore. "It was amazing to me how content
they are with their small possessions.
"We're here to set an example as a representatives of Christ, and they're like an example to us. I think about how blessed we are."
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