Day three of our Mexico/L.A. mission trip was supposed to begin in Tijuana, Mexico, where we would start on the first of four days of house building. That did not happen since our bus had died the day before. Thankfully we were rescued at In and Out Burger by a young man named Jesse and his wonderfully giving and loving church in Hinkley, CA. The church members and elders are in the back in orange shirts. Jesse is behind Noah.
They took amazing care of us while we were stuck there. We learned so much about selfless service and heartfelt love. It was like being reunited with long lost family. We came to love each other dearly in less than 24 hours time.
We hadn't gone to sleep until after 1am the previous night but we were up and ready for breakfast by 8am. Here we are singing happy birthday to Sarah. We had four birthdays on the trip!
I am in hardly any photos so I have to take them where I can get them.
Terry is visiting with Dave in the tank top and Jesse next to him. The bald man behind them was a week old new Christian and was learning much about God's love and provision through how this church took care of us. They made us eggs and sausages and provided pastries and juice. Yum.
Da boys.
Joann and I had spent the night in a separate quiet room on two air mattresses the church had provided. I was so thankful not to have to sleep on a pew and to have a quiet place where I wouldn't be awakened out of my usual light sleep.
Before we packed up we took a picture of where everyone slept so they could show the church who had been in their pew. 😂
Then we took pictures altogether. We're holding up number threes because that's what day of the trip we were on.
And a silly one.
Next the church provided transportation to a church member's home who wanted to host us and let us swim in their pool.
Many games of chicken were played.
I initially came out back to see Evie atop this pyramid!
I love it, especially Cole's face. 😂
Mike threw some kids around, this one being Cade.
...and his daughter Hailey.
I got in as well!
Noah and Evie.
I felt bad that we were dumping so much water out of their pool but our host kept assuring us it was okay. She even let us shower in her house and provided snacks. They were so amazing.
Pastor Dave with a caricature Sarah drew of him.
Next they insisted on taking us to the original Del Taco and paying for us all. 😲 They informed us that the Del Taco chain began at this very restaurant but that they changed the recipes so they weren't as good. I'd never eaten at a Del Taco and couldn't tell the difference but it was delicious. Once again we were overwhelmed at their generosity.
Back at the church I took some photos.
They're in the middle of the desert. Hinkley is actually the town that was poisoned in the Erin Brockovich movie, which of course is all true. We drank bottled water. 😂
I definitely wasn't used to the climate. So strange and barren!
All of our wet things drying off.
We did some small group bible study.
We read through the entire book of Philippians every day as well as a short devotional, Spiritual Health Check.
Me with Savanah and Ashley.
Worship time!
Such fun.
Next we played a few games of Round Robin, which is ping pong where you take one shot, drop the paddle, and run to the other side of the table where that player is already hitting your ball back and moving opposite them.
FYI, we weren't just sitting around for no reason. We were essentially stranded. The original plan the previous day had been to drive the bus to San Diego where we would unload and reload into four 15 passenger vans so we could cross the border and drive around Tijuana. However, we were three hours from San Diego without traffic.
We waited all day for our mission trip leader, Dan, to come up with some way of retrieving us. He finally managed it by 5 or 6pm that evening. Dan, who was our leader through Table in the Wilderness (a ministry in Wyoming we have used many, many times, including his 2011 and 2015 Mex/LA trips), recruited three Mexican drivers and came to our rescue. When they arrived we quickly loaded our baggage and said a grateful goodbye to our new family at Hinkley Bible Church.
Finally on the road!
We had to stop for dinner though. Chick-fil-A for the win!
They weren't excited at all.
There's not too many family pictures of us four but here is one.
We got back in the vans and crossed the border after nightfall. It was very late when we arrived at Rancho Solo, the name of the ministry that we were staying at. Sergio, our Mexican leader, started this ministry and has built thousands of houses through the last 30 or 40 years. He turned 80 shortly after we arrived back home.
Evie and I slept in a room just out of the camera's view to the left. This was a common room of sorts where we could hang out.
It was nearing midnight or 1am when Dan gave us some final instructions for the night. We were rather tired, but thankful to finally have arrived.
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