The Outreach Ministry

Photos from August Mission Trip

There's a photo album here, and a new mission report below.

La Roca Trip Report by Kristy Dutra

I attended the La Roca trip with the church this year. I must say, it was not what I expected. I was opened up to a totally new world.

I couldn't sleep the night before. I was packing and thinking of how much fun I was going to have. To my surprise, most of the people attending this trip were youth. I was looking forward to it even more. However, in the morning I was reminded that this was about La Roca and our church as a whole. It was not a youth trip.

Now one thing I didn't enjoy was waking up at 6:00 a.m. so I could be at church by 6:45 a.m. But I must say it's very worth it! We got on the road by 7:30 a.m. I was in a car with Kevin Lagassa, Josh and Cory Hartley, and Alex McCormick. This was a very fun group of people to have in the car for 10 hours. While listening to loud music, laughing, and eating junk food, we made the long trip down to Mexico. I was constantly asking Alex (the driver) when we would get to the border and what it would look like. His response was, "It's like a big hill of dirt…don't worry. You will know when we get there." And sure enough when we got there, I knew. As soon as we got through the border, I kind of felt my mouth drop.

I have only been to Mexico once before this. And when I went, I went to Cabo San Lucas. On this trip we were going to a place near Tijuana. I wasn't expecting what I saw at all. I saw hundreds of houses on a single hill side. But these "houses" weren't really houses. They were more like one or two storied cinder block rectangles. They each had a clothes line with various shirts, pants, and socks hanging. They had flat roofs with no shingles, only tarps. They had no plants. They only had some trees and bushes, nothing to really be proud of. There were dogs, cats, and other stray animals scattering the streets. Some were sick and others were just covered in fleas and lice. I sat there in a sort of awe. Then Alex said something that shocked me even more, "These houses are considered middle class…good houses, 'cause they have concrete walls." I just sat there dumbfounded. I personally couldn't imagine living like this.

We continued to drive through Mexico. The more we did, the more I realized how different we were. Alex said, "Yeah, we are going to get stared at because we are white. And because we have money." I was sitting in the front seat and I was getting looked at every turn we made. Right then, I knew how people of different races felt in some parts of America. We were driving a nice-looking van full of white people. You don't think much of it at first. But imagine it in Mexico.

The houses weren't the only things that were shocking. The driving was too. Anything goes in Mexico. If it's possible, you can do it. And you will probably see it being done. The signs were all in Spanish and graffiti was the art of every blank wall. Money was posted on some signs. At first I saw something like a shirt and it said $250.00. I said, "A $250 shirt!?!" Josh told me to move the decimal point over one to the left cause they were talking about pesos. We all seemed to like this money system. I would buy a bottle of soda, and the price tag would say $7.00. I would just stare at the bottle thinking to myself," In America, you would be $1.50. But here your soda was $0.70!"

We finally arrived at La Roca at around 6:30 p.m. We had to drive down a steep hill to get there. Alex told us the hill used to be dirt and when it rained it was a giant mud slide. We arrived to smiles and open arms. I was asked my name, and instead of Kristi it was Cristina (with the R roll). We were unpacking the car and everything seemed to interest the kids. One girl wanted to see the Etch-A-Sketch we had. We decided just to give it to her.

The living quarters were tight, two rooms for the six females and three for the males. Becky, Helen, and I shared a room and Pat, Jenny, and Melanie shared the other. At La Roca, every family has a two-room living space. The guys and girls are separated. No girls in guys' rooms and vice versa. Quiet hours are 9:00 p.m. and after. They have chapel every morning at 7:00 a.m. then breakfast. They have a huge lunch at around 2:00 p.m. and a small snack later at night. Every meal has something along the lines of beans, rice, and tortillas. They always find a way to mix it up, and let me tell you, they can cook!

La Roca is one place during the day, but a totally different place at night. In the day there are dogs baking and the occasional rooster. But at night, there are hundreds of dogs, and roosters who are about 8 hours early on the whole cock-a-doodle doo thing. Loud Spanish music is being played 150 feet away, but you can still hear it clearly. Cory and I were standing together after the sun went down, and the hill side just lit up. Every building had lights that flickered. Dogs barked, music played, and rooters crowed. Cars were driving around and there was the smell of burning trash in the air. This was something that if you took every piece of it individually, it would be considered ugly. But it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen when it was put together.

You would think that the people at La Roca wouldn't be very happy considering their situations. But they are some of the happiest, most loving people I have ever met. They have smiles on their faces almost all the time. I took a bunch of Warheads (a sour candy) with me. I handed them out to some kids and they loved them! It brought to my attention that the smallest things could bring such joy. The last night we were there, I taught some of them how to do some dance moves. That was one of the best things I have ever done. It gave me one of the best feelings ever. I even taught Becky a dance combination. I feel like we have more in common and we are closer now.

The day came when we had to leave. We were all sad. We said goodbye to everyone. I received so many hugs. I almost cried. I had spent the past three days with these people, and I could already tell I was going to miss them all. I immediately told myself I was going back next year, and the year after, and the year after.

Driving to the border, a song came to the radio. It was a song saying "Do you realize what it's like?" It made me reflect on the whole trip. Did I realize what I was getting into? Do I realize now that the smallest things can make me happy? Do I realize that I am VERY fortunate to have everything I have? We had to go through a lot of traffic to get to the border. People were walking up and down the rows of cars trying to sell things. People were cleaning cars for a few coins. There were even little kids about the age of six, juggling balls for money. Did I realize that things like this were going out while I bought a pair of $100 shoes?

The whole ride home, I reflected on this whole trip. And the closer we got to home the more I realized how spoiled we were. We were pointing out nice cars on the road and putting in CD after CD.

All in all, this trip has changed me a lot. I don't take a lot of things for granted anymore. And I've learned that the whole world isn't marvelous. It's a kind of reality check. One for the better, one I really needed.