Coloring books and beads for bracelets always help bridge the language barrier for these teens

Twenty Mayer Lutheran High School students, along with five parental adults, made the long road trip from Mayer, Minnesota to El Paso, arriving early on the morning of December 29^th at Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM), ready and eager to get started on their eighteenth mission trip to Anapra, Mexico. For many of these teenagers, the yearly mission trip at the end of the year is one they look forward to, excited to re-connect with the kids they meet.

The Mayer team of 25 joined the San Lucas congregation for their Sunday afternoon worship service

For the kids in Anapra, as the last week of the year approaches, they come by the Anapra mission-church, hoping to see their American friends. It is one of the most beautiful and touching scenes to witness when those children jump off their bikes or run down the street as soon as they catch sight of the Mayer students, many of which had been coming since their freshman year of high school.

This year, Matt Winkleman, father of one of the high school missionaries,, stepped in to help lead after long-time leader, Dave Lane, retired from Mayer Lutheran High School. Matt, along with his daughter Haley, came down last year for the first time, joining the large team set to build three houses. Though he has no building experience, his willingness to be taught new skills made him into the ideal person to step up and lead the 2022 Mayer mission team.

“I’m eager to help lead,” Matt shared after the last mission trip, “I had fun and I see the importance of this kind of experience in the lives of these teenagers.”

Matt plans on helping lead Mayer mission trips for the next nine years, which is when his youngest child will be graduating high school. With his help, other parents, and even grandparents, have become interested in becoming a part of this experience along with their children.

Casa 1 team finished their house, joyfully giving the keys over to Mari before saying their good-byes

The day they arrived, after having lunch, the team of twenty-five filled the two YLM vans and headed off to Anapra, all of them tired from the 24+ bus trip yet excited to get to meet their families and prepare the foundation for the next day. Early Friday morning, soon as they arrived at Iglesia Luterana San Lucas in Anapra, they were greeted by the mission-church deaconesses. It didn’t take long before the entire team worked together to load up the truck with lumber then headed off the first house. The Casa 2 team got started on framing their walls while the Casa 1 team returned to San Lucas to load up the rest of the lumber for their own house.

The days were cold, windy, some of them wet, and there was even snow on the second day of the new year, yet the two teams worked hard to get their daily tasks done, even getting a day ahead on some of them, such as the tin-roof, the wiring, and insulation.

Casa 1 team completed their house, giving the keys to Natalia before saying their good-byes, tears shed by both Natalia’s children and Mayer students

But it wasn’t all work for this team of mission-minded teenagers. Along with unloading saws, hammers, and screws, they also brought out the storage boxes full of coloring books, crayons, bracelet making kits, jump ropes and balls. Casa 2, which was built way out in an unpopulated area of Lomas de Poleo, where lots are just becoming available to buy and build on, was being built for Natalia and her seven children, with most of them hanging around the building site.

This made a great time for the Casa 2 team to play with them. From kicking a ball to making bracelets, these kids had the daily joy of connecting with each other in a deeper level. The Casa 1 team, built for a widow named Mari with a 13-year-old son, Jesus Miguel, along with a pregnant daughter and two granddaughters living with her in a small rented one room house, took the time to befriend the kids living next to Mari’s property. Spontaneous games of soccer broke out, games of fetch were played with the many dogs from the neighboring houses, and several of the Mayer students had the unexpected pleasure of getting to ride the neighbor’s horses.

“It was a beautiful expression of God’s faithfulness,” one of the YLM staff members shared with them afterwards, “To see each of them step in and step up where needed, to help one another accomplish the task at hand, to be willing to learn from each other.”

Nothing stopped the Mayer team from accomplishing what they had set out to do this year –make new friends, connect with old friends, show the love of Jesus, grow in their faith, and, oh yeah…build two houses.