Reflections on Serving: Mark

This year I had the privilege to go with my son Lucas, my wife was not able to come this time. We missed her yet we knew that unwritten pages of our lives would get filled with moments from this trip. Traveling to Mexico is relatively easy and the airport in Guadalajara is very nice. Putting our heads on the pillow that night, at Hotel Costeno in Colima, was fantastic. I had a lot of anticipation of what the coming week would be like and was a little too worried about it until the week began on Monday. At first, I forgot a lot of the Spanish that I had studied along with some of the other team members during the year leading up to the trip. Sometimes we need a little reminder of why we are doing things and the Lord is always kind to do so, he is ever present with us. Trying our best to communicate with the kids and caregivers and anyone else we encounter in Mexico is what it is all about. :)

I volunteered to lead the crafts and was really excited about it. My wife, Jenny, helped me take the ideas I had and we turned them into the crafts that we did. A lot of planning, testing and preparation was involved before we left but all of the crafts were packed into my suitcase ready to go when we got there. I love and cherish this opportunity because it was one way I could contribute and it was so much fun. My hope was they would bless the kids in some way, even long after we were gone. One very special moment happened with one of the crafts we were doing with cardboard picture frames. The kids rarely get new pictures taken of themselves, so the plan was to take new Polaroid pics of each of them, then place those onto a cardboard picture frame that they could decorate and make their own. Special thanks to WanYing Morningstar for taking the pics with her own Polariod camera! We stuck some awesome flat magnets on the back of the picture frames so they could hang them up in their bedrooms, if they wanted.

So the kids decorated them with gems and such, they are so creative and cute. The pictures, the glue dots, gems and magnets were all holding well and looking beautiful and the kids seemed really excited about them.

The next morning we were working on various jobs at the orphanage and my friend Dan sent me a text with a picture from one of the bedrooms at the house he and his family were working at. A bunch of the picture frames were hung up on the kids beds. He said that every room had them hung up like that. Wow!!! It was such a sweet moment and my heart melted, the Lord is so good!

In the midst of our rather busy week I spent time in the afternoons under the tall trees at Casa Matriz, one of the houses, and just rested and hung out with some of the kids. Soaking in as much as I could, this time really blessed my soul.

Lucas and I enjoyed the entire week and the special time of going to an amazing water park with the kids, Mexico has it going on seriously!! The caregivers and kids welcomed us so warmly into their homes and hearts which was so amazing. We love and care for them deeply, they are family!! Ultimately all of this is because of the Lord’s kindness toward us in everything. We are so grateful for the opportunity to go this year and we will remember the special people at Hogar de Amor until we see them again.