Courtney Peterson
October 2016
When in Juarez you will see stray dogs. When in Juarez you will witness poverty and homelessness. When in Juarez you will most likely be cold at night but hot during the day. When in Juarez you probably won’t know what people are saying when you are trying to talk to them. When I was in Juarez, I was not prepared for any of this. My heart broke for all of the homeless people, for all of the broken down homes, for the people that lived there that had four walls surrounding them but no insulation to keep them warm during the winters.
When thinking about going to Juarez on a mission trip, I thought about how hard it is going to be to raise that kind of money. That was an amount that I knew I didn’t have. I knew my heart wanted to be there with those people but how could I be there if I wasn’t even able to raise those kinds of funds? As a couple of weeks passed, I was notified that someone had donated enough money to pay for my entire trip. I didn’t have to worry about a thing, financially that is.
The other problem arose when I knew that I didn’t have the particular skills to build a family a home. I went on this trip hoping that God would use my talents in a way that would allow me to be a part of what the whole team was doing. He did more than that. He allowed to me to try new things, experience the struggles of swinging a hammer and missing the nail completely, and even hanging out with the family’s kids although there was a language barrier.
I witnessed Gods hand in this project throughout the entire trip. It was tough, cold, and exhausting, but the challenges that came with this trip allowed for us all to witness a miracle. What an amazing sight it was to see a house go up after a week of working so hard. Despite all the rain, wind, chills, and even the disaster of trying to pour cement in just a few hours, the most spectacular site of all was to see our whole group come together within the house to pray over this wonderful, humble family. They didn’t have much but what they did have was so much love and hope that came from Christ. The whole trip was worth it after seeing this cute little grandmother nail a sign into the front entrance of their new house that said “Casas Por Cristo” (Homes because of Christ)! It’s an amazing trip full of unexpected adventures and great memories! I will never forget this mission trip, when I was in Juarez.
Campus Students for Christ 