Saints Simon & Jude Catholic Church

Our team made it safely to Monte Sinaí, the church where we are staying for the week. We are so excited to start the mission trip in México! Stay tuned for more updates :D

Today we went to El Sembrador church where Andrew (our amazing group leader) shared a powerful message about peace and unity. The main focus of the message was John 20:21. We truly enjoyed listening to what Andrew shared today!

During the service, we had the privilege to share with the kids the love that Christ has for them! We had an awesome time with our crafts, singing, dancing and playing! Many of them remembered us, and asked that we come back next year. Making connections with God’s children is one of the most beautiful experiences you can have during a mission trip. We pray that our God will bless the children with His wisdom and love, as they are the future generation.

After having an amazing time at the church El Sembrador during the service and lunch our group from SSJ had the opportunity to meet Pastor Emilio, ask him questions and learn about his story.

Everyone that was meeting the pastor for the first time was amazed by just hearing about where he was in his life before coming to Christ and how God has changed and redeemed him.

He got to share about how the church started and about how now El Sembrador has two missions!

We were all very blessed by learning about the pastor, not only because of how interesting and moving it is, but because we could see God working in great ways throughout his life.

God bless Pastor Emilio, his wife and his church! Amen!

Today our group from SSJ attended the Sunday Mass at the cathedral here in Ensenada.

Everything was great all the way through but everyone was very surprised in a good way about something that happened at the end of Mass. Father Emanuel called every father to go to the front so he could give them words of encouragement, advices and blessings.

This felt like a warm hug from God for our fathers in the group that are away from home and their families during the mission trip. 

After Mass we looked for Father Emanuel to thank him for the Father Day’s blessing. He was very interested in spending time with our group, so he gave us his contact information in hopes to get a chance to eat together someday this week.

God we are so thankful for what you are already doing this week, and it’s just starting!

Today our group from SSJ did food distribution all day! That’s because we had 10 food baskets to give to families in the community.

The great thing about blessings is that they never go one way only, the moment you bless someone you grow spiritually, you connect with that other person and you follow God’s commandment.

The moment you connect there’s an opportunity for something beautiful to happen: empathy, a deep, real empathy that can only be found when God is in the middle of that connection.

We believe that happened today; our hearts were burning upon seeing God’s work in these families, breaking when learning about their struggles and filled with joy by seeing the smiles on the families’ faces when they ended every story with a “Thanks be to God” or “We know He is in control”.

Empathy is a beautiful way that God gave us to experience the unity He experiences with The Son. Through our unity in God’s love He can do amazing things!

God is good!

After delivering some food baskets, we took a short break to have some delicious tacos dorados, prepared by the people from church! We are so happy to be blessed by the community, and we know this would have never happened without Jesus and the love He has for His church. We finished eating, and continued with the food basket deliveries. Thank you Lord for this time of blessings, may all the glory be yours only!

Today we started our day with kids ministry! We went to an orphanage in Maneadero, and it was great to spend some time playing with them. We also gave them sandwiches and spent time having good conversations. We love these kids! We will be praying for them. 

We also went to a men’s rehab center, where someone from the team was able to share a powerful testimony that served not only as encouragement, but also a hope for the men in the home. The Lord put it in our hearts to pray for them, and we believe He will work in their lives.

Today our group from SSJ also had the blessing of visiting a women’s rehab center, and just like with the men’s visit, one from our group, Kelly, shared a message with the women.

God used Kelly’s message so greatly, it overflowed the room with, love, hope, and the power of the gospel.

These women inspired us with their different ways of showing their love for the Word of God.

We pray for them to keep finding their peace and strength in God’s love every day of their lives.

To start the last ministry day our group from SSJ went to Walmart for two particular things; getting some personal hygiene items we couldn’t get in another market yesterday and getting a new fridge for El Sembrador.

We did get both but we also got something bigger and more important, a testimony of God’s grace, mercy and power.

The bearer of that testimony was Joe, one of our PPM staff in Ensenada. Every group that gets to know Joe’s story is blessed in many different ways, and this group wasn’t the exception.

We thank God for Joe’s life and for the group.

Today our group from SSJ had the wonderful opportunity to share God’s love inside the juvie.

We brought them tortas, juice, personal hygiene items and most importantly, the Word of God.

That Word was shared through 3 beautiful moments, one guided by one of our group, another one by the group leader, and the last one by Pastor Emilio. We believe God moved and used each of those 3 moments.

Some of the inmates accepted Jesus in their heart and recognized Him as Lord and Savior.

Please pray for everyone at the juvie in Ensenada!

After ministering to the youth, we got back to work and prepared 70 sandwiches for the homeless. When we got to the site the Pastor took us to, we prayed for the meal, and gave them their sandwich and juice. While they were eating, we went to their tables, and they offered us a seat so we could talk and hear their stories. Listening to them was very touching, and reminded us to look at everyone through Jesus’ eyes. They truly gave us a blessing through some of their testimonies.

We had our delicious celebration dinner with Pastor Emilio at El Sembrador. There were many words of encouragement from us and the Pastor and his wife. It was beautiful to look back at the memories we’ve made, not just throughout the week, but also the past years we’ve served together as a family in Christ. To finish off, we asked the Pastor to pray for us, and the presence of The Lord could be felt in the room. There were many tears of joy and laughter, and we can only thank Jesus for this amazing relationship. We love the heart the Pastor has for the people, his ministry, and most of all: God.

Today was our rec day, and we went to the beach! We had lots of fun together, and we brought our shovels to dig for some hot springs! It was a great way to celebrate our time together as a team. We are so happy to have served our amazing God, and we will carry these memories in our hearts.

After the beach, and some tacos, we went to visit La Bufadora! An amazing piece of work from our Lord. We were able to see a few good splashes, and continued the fun with the group. This week has been a great experience, and we were able to finish our recreation time with a blast!

To end our trip in Ensenada we had a special dinner prepared by our beautiful cooks, the food was delicious and you could feel the joy in the room.

We prayed for the cooks, thanking God for their lives and hearts. It was a very heartwarming moment.

After that we thanked Pastor Manuel, our host, for letting us stay in the beautiful church of Monte Sinaí, the place where we felt comfortable, played together, bonded, rested, we feel like it is our second home now.

The Pastor shared with us about how thankful he is for being able to be part of the impact that we can make in the community in Ensenada when we come to do mission trips. 

The heartwarming moments kept on coming because right after him, our cooks shared some words of love and encouragement to us.

To end our time with the pastor we asked him to pray for us after having spent seven years staying at his church for every mission trip. He prayed and blessed us.

We thank God for this church, this community, and this family, our family.

See you next year Monte Sinaí!