I was so tired from not having slept nearly at all on Friday night. I had packed, done laundry and finished my last minute shopping with little time left to sleep before time to meet up with the team at 3 a.m.
Saturday March 12
Once we got to school to ride the bus out to the airport, my tired eyes weren’t even a concern because I was so excited to be with my team, ready to go for the week. We prayed together over our trip and all of the other groups leaving from Lipscomb to serve God’s grand kingdom in the world.
After several hours in airports and on airplanes, we arrived at the Casa Mirage where the girls from the team stayed for the week. I was incredibly excited to get to Cozumel. Being back there after a year was such an incredible feeling; I loved smelling the smells and feeling the breeze that I hadn’t felt since last spring break.
Saturday night, we went to the campus of Ciudad de Ángeles and served dinner and smores to the “angels” and the staff there. I was pretty nervous because I didn’t know if any of the kids would remember me from last year. I don’t know why I worried so much.
Even though some of them didn’t recognize me at first, the girl that my family sponsors was waiting to greet me with a hug. I also met a boy who had just moved to Ciudad last year. It is amazing to see how God is blessing Ciudad de Ángeles daily. Last year, 8 new angels were added to their family, and it was so amazing to meet them and see how they fit into the group.
Sunday March 13
Sunday morning our team walked to church together. One of my favorite things about our trip is that we walk almost everywhere we go. We get to see the Mexican culture firsthand and be right in it all day long rather than just driving by it.
I really enjoyed getting to be in that church family for a week; God is so big. It is awesome to worship with people in another country and realize that we all worship the same God.
After church, our team went with everyone from Ciudad to Playa Casitas (a beach) to play, eat lunch, and spend time together. We bought chickens, rice, and tortillas for everyone to eat before we played with the kites, chalk, coloring books, bubbles, and other things we had brought.
Sunday night our team went out to eat with the American director of Ciudad, Dennis Wilson, his son, Rex, and two angels that are sponsored by people in our group. After we ate together, our team went to the plaza and shopped, danced, and enjoyed each others’ company at Music in the Plaza. It was a great way to start off the week and bring our team closer together. Before we all went to bed, we got paletas from a store on the way back to our respective houses.
Monday March 14
Monday morning, our group ventured out to the church building to meet with the director and mission team coordinators before we went out for the day. The angels are split up, and some go to school in the mornings while others go in the afternoon.
The ones who were not in school met us at the church played in teams according to their age levels games such as scavenger hunts, playing in the park, jumping off a pier at a local restaurant, and swimming.
Monday night was one of the most incredible experiences of the week for me. Each year, people from the local church open their homes and let small groups of people from our team come in and spend an evening with them experiencing Mexican culture and sharing God’s love.
At first, the group that I was in was supposed to go to an area where two other groups were going, but we got switched to a home on the other side of town. I was frustrated at first because we did not know where we were going, and it took almost an hour to figure out where we were going. Once we found the home and met the family of three, David, Montse, and Emiliano, I knew that that was the house where I needed to be, not the one that was convenient and with another group. It was awesome to see the people in my group interact with the family. Even though none of them are fluent in Spanish, they knew what was going on in the conversations, and I translated when things got too complicated.
After we had been talking for a while, David mentioned to us that he and Montse are both from Puebla, Mexico. I was amazed by this. I am living there this summer to do an immersion program and have been somewhat antsy about it, but in that moment, God showed me that his people are everywhere. They gave me phone numbers, names, and addresses of people there whom I can contact when I get there. They also told me the name of a church I can go to there.
Every night our team had a team meeting to talk about where we saw God in Cozumel that day. Even though it seems cheesy, I loved hearing the stories from my team members everyday. I didn’t get to talk to everyone everyday and walk with them and experience what they did, and so this time was wonderful.
Tuesday March 15
Tuesday we met on the Ciudad campus to prepare for one of our two workdays. We had several projects throughout the week. Some people primed and painted a fence, others shoveled and carried rocks from a pile and spread them out, another group moved soil into a garden, a few girls worked on getting the sizes from the angels so that sponsor families can more easily send clothing and shoes, and the last group was mine.
We did ESL (English as a Second Language) testing. Ciudad has taken on a project this year which consists of the first two groups, one from Boone, N.C., and us, testing the angels to see how fluent they are in English. Then, when the summer groups come, they will do ESL teaching to help the angels become more fluent in English so that they can more easily find jobs on the island; having English in their list of skills will be useful on the island of Cozumel since it is such a big tourist destination. After all of those projects were finished for the day, some people went to a “home for the aged” to talk with the people there.
Tuesday night our group split in half and went to two different places. Half of the group stayed at Casa Mirage and grilled burgers with two people who are 18 years old now but used to live at Ciudad de Ángeles and their friends. The rest of the group, including the two team members who sponsor angels, went to La Choza and ate dinner with the sponsor angels, the mission coordinators, and the American director and his son. After we ate there, we went back to Casa Mirage and spent time with Dulce and Damian playing “Mafia” and talking for hours. Translating that game from English to Spanish and back is not as simple as you might think.
Wednesday March 16
Wednesday was an exciting day for our team. Before the trip, we planned a lot for several aspects of the trip; one of them was our community carnival in a park near the Ciudad campus. We went to the park for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon to play with kids from the surrounding community along with the angels. There was face painting, games, balloons, sports, a playground, toys, and coloring.
Of course, one great thing about being in Mexico is eating authentic Mexican food. For lunch on Wednesday, our whole team went to a lonchería and had tacos and such while we drank Manzana Lift and Toronja. The only time it rained the entire week was while we were inside this restaurant.
On Wednesday night, we separated our team into four groups and went into the houses on Ciudad’s campus. We had pizza and spent time together with the angels in their families there. I sat with one angel, Pepe, and read The Magic School Bus to him in Spanish. Our house also watched Toy Story 3-in Engish.
Even though they can’t understand what the people in the movie are saying, they love the movie. I got to sit with Brenda, the angel whom my family sponsors, and watch the movie. It was really special to spend time with my “hermanita”. Our team all agreed in our reflection time that night that it was great to be able to see how the Ciudad family really works on a regular night. They are like a real family; God has provided there and continues to do so.
Thursday March 17
On Thursday, we continued the work projects from Tuesday. The time that our team gets to spend together on work days is precious because we all tell each other stories and laugh together while we are working.
Thursday night is one of the most exciting nights of our trip to Cozumel. One of the angels, Luis, has a birthday close to the time that we go down there, and so we throw him a party every year at Casa Mirage. We decorated with a Transformers theme, made chili, had lots of cake and party favors, played with a piñata, and in traditional Mexican style, smashed his face into the cake as he took the first bite.
Another thing that our team loves to do is go to Mister Taco taqueria at night. After the party, we walked there together and ate; we had our meeting and shared thoughts for the day and prayed for all of the mission teams from Lipscomb.
Friday March 18
After we had some free time on Friday to explore the island together as a team, we went to the Ciudad campus for the “Despedida” or goodbye ceremony in which we watched a slideshow of pictures from the week and told them how much we were glad to have been there.
After this, we split into three groups and went to house churches in three locations around town. I stayed with the group that met on Ciudad’s campus with the youngest angels. I absolutely love being immersed in the Mexican culture, especially in that house church setting. Seeing how involved the kids are is really exciting. We ate dinner and said our final goodbyes before slowly walking back to Casa Mirage. Even though it was sad, we had a wonderful time of reflection together that night telling stories about the angels and how much we are excited to see them again soon.
God is doing amazing things in Cozumel through Ciduad de Ángeles and those involved. The church there is doing great things for God’s kingdom. I am so blessed to have been a part of what God is doing. The Cozumel team was incredibly dynamic and meshed so well. Anytime something came up, we worked together to get it done.