During this past summer, ECC restarted the short-term missions program in earnest. ECC sent out three teams to Taiwan and one team to Mexico. The last time a team was sent to Mexico was in 2019. This year I was honored to be asked to lead the Mexico team. Upon a leader befalls the responsibility of planning for the trip, which entails coordinating with the missionary organization (Dayspring Ministry), holding informational meetings, choosing the team members, and setting up training meetings. One other aspect that is part of the planning phase is looking for ways to fundraise for the missions trip.

In the fundraising portion of planning for the missions trip, the usual practice is to mail or pass out letters to garner donations from family and friends for the team. One other practice is to set up times to do yard work or small tasks for families at ECC. Once the sign-up started, the list filled up rather quickly. Many families signed up and the team would be busy with yard work right up until we left for Mexico in early July. There were days the team completed two jobs in one day. Many of the families were appreciative of our efforts. We were served drinks and meals.

The yard work served a dual purpose: one, to, of course, fundraise for the team and two, as a team-building exercise. However, there is a third purpose that is usually overlooked. The different families we encountered also blessed the team. Not only were we able to serve the different families through yard work, but we are also able to pray with the different families. That was the hidden blessing for the team. We were able to listen to their stories – some had sick family members, and others were experiencing different challenges. Without the yard work, we would not have met these families from the different congregations. We would not have learned about the different challenges families are experiencing at this time. When we completed the yard work, we were able to spend time in prayer: the families prayed for the missions trip, and we prayed for their challenges. It is through this time that the team could see that our missions trip had begun even before we crossed the border into Mexico.