8th Work Team to Ensenada
It seemed just like the other eight work teams to Ensenada that First UMC Chula Vista has sent in the past four years. However, this was not just another trip. Some of the people on this trip had been on our first trip in 2004. The "Wow’s!" and "Awesome’s!" were a description of the progress of the building project, but also described the changes that slowly but surely our partnership with the Methodist Church in Ensenada has brought to that community.
“We are blessed and very happy that once again the Methodist Church of Chula Vista is with us helping us to continue our dream,” said Pastor David Encarnacion. In 2004 the Methodist Church in Ensenada started the construction of a fellowship hall and a new parsonage where the old "termite eaten" parsonage used to be.
In 2004 some groups worked on the foundations of the building. “We got mud up to our necks,” said Bill Dills about his last experience years ago, “but now we can see that the fellowship hall is 95% complete.”
The special thing about this trip was that once again our group from Chula Vista started a new stage in this building project. We started what will become the new parsonage for the pastoral family of the Ensenada Church. “We have been living in the Sunday School classrooms and using the church bathrooms in order to save money for the parsonage,” said Rev. Encarnacion.
The project for our team consisted in starting the walls of concrete blocks. The task was not easy, but the team learned all the tricks and endured the job with the guidance of “experts” from the Ensenada church. “It is a learning experience for us, getting to know how they build here in Mexico and helping us to appreciate how much they really love their church,” said one of the members of the team.
There is a lot of work to be done. We will schedule another trip next year and you are welcome to experience serving God by serving our fellow Christians in Ensenada, Mexico.
We want to thank those of you that went the extra mile and made a donation for the trip even though you couldn't go!
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