Last November a group of about 100 people from our church, The Bridge, took a trip to Ensenada. They do these trips fairly often to build houses or something similar but on this trip they started coming up with the idea to take the whole church down there. So last weekend about 800 people took that trip down there and it was awesome! We debated bringing the boys with us but I am so glad we brought them. We want these kinds of things to be "normal" for our family, whether it is to another country or even right here in Bakersfield we want serving others to be something that is just part of our lives.
On our way!
Didn't take long for them to fall asleep once we got back in the car
Our team was at Ranch Sordo Mudo...a school for the deaf
Chad did a dental presentation for the kids
He pretends the kids are teeth and the broom is a brush and the rope is the floss
Then we did an edible craft with them
They all loved it!
Then it was time for a little basketball
Cale thought he could go play with the big kids
Grant and Owen being silly at Norma's taco stand...the BEST tacos!
Friday night chapel at Rancho El Refugio
Saturday morning...the view of part of the camp and the "barn"
On our way through the "wine country" back to Rancho Sordo Mudo
Such a beautiful school and so many beautiful people living and working there
Our boys were pretty spoiled getting a hot chocolate break
Craft time with the kids
Face painting was a huge hit
It was so cool to watch the kids interact and sign and to watch how much the stuff LOVES these kids!
Another taco stop on the way back
This is a road that we were supposed to take back to the ranch but it was closed because of all the rain and flooding. Luckily we found our way around!
Back at Rancho El Refugio, warm and dry
Everyone piled into the barn for dinner and chapel and lots of people had to sleep in there because their tents were flooded from all the rain
Sunday morning, everyone was eager to get on the road
We had to wake Cale up so we could finally take down the tent. He slept through everything!
Ensenada from the hills above
I forgot how pretty this drive is!
Grant asked if this was God when he saw it
We had to of course get churros at the border!
This was such a great trip! There were 40 different sights that teams from our church were working at all around Ensenada. People painted, built houses, fixed roofs, did VBS, brought 100s of blankets to a prison, there were medical and dental clinics and so much more. Besides serving the people down there, one of the main goals of the trip was to change our hearts and perspectives and from what I have heard from people I think that happened. Now to take what we have learned and put it into practice in our lives everyday!
