1Mission Trip to Puerta Peñasco 2019
If you are going to drive the bus… let it be for an LUMC mission trip!On Friday, March 1, 2019, the United Methodist Church Desert Southwest Conference sent groups of people to Puerta Peñasco for a 1Mission house building project.
Lakeview United Methodist Church and Willowbrook United Methodist Church joined forces to send seven people on this mission: Eileen Pike, Bob and Debbie Unternaehrer, Jim and Carole Smith (LUMC youth group members), Glenn Allinger and Harold Glick. These seven workers joined “Team One” of four building crews, that range in age from 10 to 94 (okay, 93 and a half).
“Team One” was very blessed to help build a house with and for Ramiro and Dulce Ayala Savalija and their three kids, Jose (15), Ramiro (14) and Carolina (11).
Ramiro and Dulce grow cilantro, tomatoes, garlic, onions and prickly pear cactus in the charming community garden adjacent to their new home. The vegetables and fruits you see here were planted in January. Ramiro and Dulce had to transport the water necessary for growing their garden. Thanks to Lakeview, Ramiro and Dulce will be able to enjoy fresh water, piped in on site, for this and for their personal use at home. Hooray for love!Ramiro had a landscaping business with a greenhouse. Unfortunately, they fell upon hard times, and the business was lost. Ramiro and Dulce have since shifted their trade to gardening. They use their skills training others to grow crops and share with the community.
Ramiro and Dulce purchased the land upon which their house is located, and it is also the site of a 1Mission community garden which will continue expanding to include an orchard one day.
Like Ramiro and Dulce, each candidate family with 1Mission must agree to volunteer, learn or teach some type of community-builder or life skill for 400 hours before constructing a home through 1Mission.
After they pass the application and screening process, and begin to pay for their land, many 1Mission aid recipients continue to serve 1Mission. They like continuing to serve the community and saying “Thank you” to those who made their dreams a reachable goal.
Eileen and Dulce meet.Lakeview and Willowbrook UMC families were able to pool all your gifts to turn on water and electricity to the property. Now, Ramiro can water his crops, and Dulce can power the new sewing machine with which Eileen surprised her with! Dulce wept with joy upon receiving such a wonderful gift. Dulce will not have to endure backbreaking labor to help put food on her family’s table now. She is very grateful for the opportunity to live a better life and to teach her daughter, Carolina, how to sew.
Harold, Jim, Eileen and Glenn sift through piles of dirt to render various grades of cement gravel. Different grades are required to either strengthen the core of the Styrofoam wall structures or to strengthen and protect their exterior and interior faces.Thank you, Lakeview family, for making this a wonderful mission trip with many possibilities for life-giving growth. Not only did we see a family’s destiny turn around, but we also saw other churches from other denominations recognize that 1Mission activities are great for kids of all ages: 10-94 (or 93 and a half).
We would like to thank the LUMC Men’s and Women’s ministries for making this possible for us, personally. It was an incredible honor to be sent by you and to be part of such a great team. The trip, though short, created lifelong impacts for many…including for us that were sent.
GOD BLESS EACH ONE OF YOU, ABUNDANTLY!
With much, much love in Christ,
Jim and Carole Smith
Pictures from the trip
