Trinity Lutheran Church (Centralia, IL) has been serving the Juarez community alongside Santisima Trinidad through YLM for 24 years

For two decades, Trinity Lutheran Church from Centralia, IL has been coming to Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) to serve through Iglesia Luterana Santisima Trinidad alongside Pastor Jose Hernandez. Bert and Judy Griffin have been bringing their church’s teenagers for twenty-four years, helping to grow the ministry of Santisima Trinidad in various ways.

Every person on the team enjoyed the interactions with Jorge Sr. (house recipient), as well as learned more about construction from him

“We learned about YLM through, Roadrunners for Christ,” Bert shared one night during their mission week in June, “There was a brochure in our church bulletin and we called them. They shared about YLM and ever since then, we’ve been coming every year.”

What was even more encouraging for this couple was the fact their church bulletin was the only one containing the Roadrunners for Christ brochure. To Judy, it was a sign of God’s intent for them to become involved with YLM.

“There’s been many challenges throughout the years,” she shared one night during the team’s devotion, “But God has shown us His mercy and grace through every one of them, and there’s been a lot of faith-growth throughout the years, for the adult leaders as well as the youth involved.”

The team worked together to get the walls up on day one

The 2022 team of young missionaries, high school and college students, have a special calling to the ministry happening through Santisima Trinidad. With over twenty years of relationship building with Pastor Hernandez and the congregation members for the mission-church, they were eager to help start planting seeds of faith and kindness in Kilometer 33, a new area where mission-work is taking place for the purpose of planting a new mission-church.

Teenagers grow in confidence as they learn to use power tools for the purpose of helping others

This self-sufficient team worked hard, leaving the YLM campus by 5:30 in the morning to beat the summer heat. Their dedication and work ethic has been developed throughout the years with the encouragement of their leaders, and it has resulted in some amazing plans for several of these young people.

Peyton, a college graduate who has been part of these mission-trips since he was in high school, shared how he used his experience in the mission field to build his personal statement for his medical school application. A couple of other girls shared they did the same for their applications for college.

“So many of our youth have gone on to dedicate their lives to helping others,” Judy explained, “What’s even more special is when they feel the sudden fire within them to grow in their personal relationship with Christ.”

This very thing happened to one of the young men who came with the 2022 team. After devotions on their fourth day of hard work, he came to Judy to share he knew now he had truly been led by God to come on this trip.

“What a beautiful thing God does through YLM,” Judy exclaimed soon after sharing this faith-growth moment, “God has used the people of this mission to open doors for so many, from those who are in need to those who are supplying those needs. Through those opportunities, lives are changed in ways that we just cannot take credit for. God most definitely uses every single person, and for us, we see it through every person we serve with at YLM and at Santisima Trinidad.”

The blessings of serving others is always a two-way street, and for this long-time partnering church, they’ve witnessed how, even through challenges and struggles, God continues to transform hearts and change lives, simply by following His call to love and serve Him and others.