M2M

Mission 2 Mexico

This summer, over 30 members of Immanuel Lutheran Church will be joining approximately 250 other people from about 10-15 churches in Alberta as we travel to Ensenada, Mexico with Mission to Mexico 2007. Our group is the third of five groups going and we will be away from July 29^th through August 12^th.

While in Mexico, we will be working with Triqui fruit and vegetable workers from the Oaxaca region, south of Mexico City. These workers travel 2500 miles to Baja, California to pick fruit and vegetables on farms around the Ensenada area. The majority of these people live in work camps, where they rent a 10 x 10 foot room, usually with a dirt floor, from the farmers. Their average income is $10 per day. Some of them scrimp and save to accumulate the $2-4,000 US that is needed to buy a small lot in the outskirts of Ensenada. They simply do not have money left over to pay for building materials and usually end up scavenging materials as they can find them. Pallets, car hoods and cardboard boxes are often used. We work with a group called Ensenada Christian Ministries, who helps choose the families that qualify for the houses we build. The houses we are building are a simple wood frame on a concrete slab, 16 feet X 24 feet and cost approximately $3,500 US for materials.

Our mission is focussing on five areas:

1. Provide basic food to feed 10,000 work camp residents for a week. The food will include rice, beans, potatoes, and some fresh fruit such as bananas and oranges. While in the work camps we will also be doing vacation Bible school and distributing blankets.
2. Build homes for 5-8 Triqui families, to help them get out of living in work camps.
3. Build a Sanctuary for a mission church in Valle Parisio. Our missionary contact there, Juan Cortez, presently holds services on Mondays because they do not have enough room for the number of people that would show up on a Sunday. We have been working with Juan for the last 6-8 years and Juan helps decide which families receive the new homes that we build.
4. We will be working with a couple of orphanages in the Ensenada area. The government in Mexico takes kids away from abusive situations just like we do in Canada, however the government does not provide any funding. All the money the orphanages get come from North American donours. There are 14 orphanages in the Ensenada area.
5. Sponsoring children to go to school for two years ($75 provides a child with a school uniform, leather shoes, a backpack, textbooks, tuition and hot lunches for one year). We will be sponsoring over 30 children in this way.

If you choose to help us financially with this exciting mission, we can even provide you with a tax receipt. If you are writing a cheque, make it payable to Immanuel Lutheran Church and put Mission 2 Mexico in the memo line. Any support that you able to provide is greatly appreciated. If you are not able to help us out financially, we would appreciate keeping us in your prayers as we travel to and from Mexico. If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to contact any of the team members. You can also see more about the mission by viewing a video from previous years M2M.

Thank you again for your support.