A group of six youth and two adults is fundraising for a trip to Vicente Guerrero, Baja California, Mexico March 9 to 21.
This trip will cost $832 per person, which covers transportation, lodging, food and a donation to the Foundation For His Ministry, the mission society that is their destination. The ministry was founded in 1966 as a small orphanage and has grown over the years to become a thriving, multi-faceted ministry. It contains a medical and dental centre, bible school, elementary school and classes to teach mechanics, upholstery and carpentry and an orchard to teach farming techniques. This is a working trip, and the group will be involved with childcare, cleaning, carpentry and grounds keeping. If someone in the group has specific skills such as computer knowledge, these skills are often put to use. The group will also be involved with outreach work each day with children in the area and in the evenings with adults.
Karen Scott, youth pastor at Calvary Baptist Church, is organizing this trip.
Scott and her family lived in this area in Mexico for two years. She has been arranging trips back once or twice yearly since 1999. Another trip is planned for July. Scott said anyone who has the heart to serve is welcome to join her and need not be a member of any particular church or faith.
Scott said a sign over one of the doors at the mission says: You Will Never Be The Same. This is part of the reason she feels it is so important for people to take part in trips such as these.
"We take youth to a culture to see and learn what they will not see or learn here," Scott said. "We take them from a rich and abundant culture into a culture where poverty is the norm. They learn to give in a way that is pure and faultless." A bake sale is being held at Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons on March 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to raise funds for the trip. For further information, call Scott at 604-886-2615.
