It was 3:10 a.m. when we loaded the vans. Everyone appeared to be half way asleep, even the driver, but we were all ready for the trip. We arrived at our hotel at 7:30a.m. After checking in we drove across the border. I had never been to Mexico before, but the first sight of it made me sick. It may have been from the long hot ride there, but I like to think it was from not knowing what I was about to go into.
We drove through the town of Juarez to get to the church where we were going to be ministering. Juarez is a busy place. Men were washing our van windows at every stop light, hoping we might spare some change. By the time we were out of Juarez, our windows had been washed about 30 times and were glistening in the hot sun.
My church had been going to Mexico for a few years.
They would take food and clothes to the people that would gather around our pastor to listen to him preach.
We began the day in Zaragosa, a sad little city on top of a dump. Many houses were made out of cardboard, plastic, tree branches or anything else they could find to block out the weather. It was the worst lifestyle I have ever seen. When the people of Zaragosa saw our vans coming, the ran toward us and swarmed our vans. Distributing the food we brought them was an extremely hard task. Everyone was pushing and shoving trying to get the only food they will probably have for weeks. Everyone was so grateful, everywhere we went that day you could see we made an impact on the lives of this third world country.
Not everyone was living in complete poverty.