The old and rotting eaves and soffits of the office were replaced with a metal roof added

With Covid derailing plans to come in 2020, a team of six from St. Paul Loon Lake Lutheran Church in Vergas, MN raised funds to go across the border and do needed repairs at one of the mission-churches partnered with Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM).  Their plans had five men, two of them teenagers, go across the border to work at Santisima Trinidad while Sonya, the only female in the team, stayed at the mission to do Bible marking for the Lutheran Prison Ministry and help wherever else needed.

The projects planned involved replacing the bathroom sinks for the men and women bathrooms and replacing the roof of the office building.  It was an easy job for Mason and Levi, the two teenagers in the team, to disconnect all the pipes and get the old counters out of the bathroom.  Rich, who along with Levi and Mason was at YLM for the first time, helped the boys with the bathroom while David and Myron, both with several YLM servant event projects under their belt from prior mission trips, worked outside on tearing down the rotted wood making up the eaves and soffits of the office building.

Mason sealed in air conditioners and vents with tar to stop leaks

“It was a joy watching them work,” Pastor Hernandez, shepherd of Santisima Trinidad, shared late Monday as the team began packing up for the day, “I knew the size of the team and their abilities were going to keep them from tackling some of the bigger repair needs we have, but they worked hard at what they had committed and even more.”

Baptism font from La Santa Biblia was transferred to the mission and painted

What Pastor Hernandez was referring to was Mason and Levi going up on the roof of the fellowship hall, which Pastor Hernandez had mentioned leaked on several spots.  Both Mason and Levi had experience doing roof work and so they got up there to tar the edges of all the air conditioner units and vents, along with nailing down loose shingles and securing air conditioner lines.

“We only had one very light leak when the rains began in early July,” Pastor Hernandez shared at the staff meeting a couple weeks later, “Those two young men did a very good job.”

One of the special projects this team was dedicated to completing involved going to La Santa Biblia in Anapra, another mission-church partnering with YLM, and about a thirty-minute drive west of where Santisima Trinidad is.

Rich, Levi, and Mason worked together to pull out old sink counters and replace with new ones

“Their baptismal font was built in 1894 in Purim, MN and donated through the Orphan Grain Train,” Sonya shared over the phone, “When we found out about this, it became sort of special.  Even more so when Marta, a young woman we bonded with since we met her as a three-year-old at one of our first servant event trips with YLM, asked us to be godparents for her baby boy Moses.  When we saw what shape the font was in, we knew we wanted to restore it.”

Having driven down from Minnesota, they brought with them a small trailer filled with over 100 afghans and quilts for babies and adults, homemade dolls, hygiene supplies, brand new children’s socks and underwear, shoes and clothes for children, and other items they knew would be distributed to people in need through YLM.  They also put together 250 bags for the children, each with stuffed toy donkeys, activity books, whistles, cross necklaces, and Frisbees.  About 45 kids were at La Santa Biblia on Wednesday morning, each receiving their bag after the devotion and food distribution.  The rest were left with Rosy to be distributed at Cristo Rey and San Lucas.

“It’s been such a blessing to help put together teams and bring them down to Mexico through YLM,” Myron shared during dinner on Monday night, “Sonya and I have been thinking of retiring but we realized its these kind of experiences which change lives.  People should really try to do something like this…it will help them see how much God has blessed them.”