Brynley reports on the Ensenada Project

I thought it would be a fitting end to my blogs on our missions trip to Ensenada, MX to share Brynley's thoughts on her time there.  Thanks Bryn!

First of all I just want to thank all the people who supported me with my trip. It was a really great experience and even though I went there last year with my family I’ve still learned a lot and made a lot of new relationships. It was really cool to hear some of the testimonies of the people living down there. It really made me realize how great it is to live in a country where I don’t have to hide my faith and I can speak freely about it. 

I got to reunite with the Romano family who I stayed with last year. It was really great to see them and stay with their family the time I was there. It was amazing to see all the work Rick had done in the past year. Some of the kids in church had recognized me from last year doing VBS with them. 

Kids who didn’t even know me came up to me and were giving me hugs and high fives. It was so neat to know that they hadn’t forgotten about me and the relationships I had made with them. The first day of work I got to meet the family I was going to be building the house for; Susana and Valencia Benitez and their children, Jennifer, Jazmin and Sinai. I was able to get to know there two oldest girls and some of the other kids in the neighbourhood. I played soccer with them, did the limbo with a skipping rope and we even painted miniature sizes of their new home. 

We were also able to bring down some clothes from the good for nothing store for the families receiving the new homes. The big suitcase of clothes was completely empty by the end of the day and they got everything they needed. Working on the site felt like a whole new experience. I got to do framing, mudding; I got to nail in the drywall, use the chop saw and the ramset. The ramset was pretty scary, I was trying to nail it in and plug my ears at the same time. The team I was working with we worked with last year, so I already knew some of the people; but there was also some new people that I really got to know well. One of the days we went over to the boy’s home, where boys can stay when they come from a rough family, or they are an orphan, or they have disabilities. Our group performed 2 of our drimes for them. We also got to give them each a soccer ball and some clothes. 

On Friday the last day in Ensenada we went over to one of the worksites with a pig farm. They slaughtered a pig just for us. At first I enjoyed it until 5 little piggy’s came running past me. That’s when I began to lose my appetite for pork tacos. It was really amazing to see the house come together in the end. I made lots of great relationships with the kids, interns, and the group from New Jersey. 

Saying good-bye was definitely hard. I wouldn’t be seeing some of these people for the next year or so. It wasn’t all easy as I got a bit sick and my dad made me eat a lot of bananas. Over all though, the trip was awesome and I would definitely go back to Mexico again.