These three words pack a lot of meaning here in Mexico, and they brought me to childlike tears at the end of my time in San Quintin.
My first ever trip with Baja Missions was to San Quintin, during spring break of my sophomore year of college—about two and a half years ago. Since then, I’ve been to San Quintin seven times to spend a week or so with the people I’ve come to know, love and miss when I’m not there.
I truly feel like I’ve become part of the family of God in San Quintin, because I’ve been blessed to watch children grow, watch families multiply and watch new Christians be born into baptism. I’ve met a lot of amazing people that I’ll never forget at other churches in the Baja this summer, but San Quintin will always be my place.
On Saturday morning, we circled up in the parking lot of the Villa Marina to have a devotional before we did the last of the shopping and hit the road. During this devo, we found out some terrible news about one of the kids from the San Quintin church. Mario, who used to be the preacher in San Quintin, has a large family that still attends church in San Quintin. He has a grandson named Isaac who is deaf and mute, and really dear to the hearts of the Mayfair group. On Friday night, Isaac was riding his bike on the backroads in San Quintin, and he was hit by a car. Somewhere on the road to the hospital in Ensenada, 13-year-old Isaac died.
This hit the Mayfair group really hard, but the immediately started praying for the family and started adjusting their week’s plans.
I arrived in San Quintin on Saturday afternoon and helped Mrs. Phyllis in the kitchen until the other half of the group arrived that night.
Then I spent Sunday-Tuesday working in the clinic, helping with the kids class at night and having the privilege of listening to Jason Bybee preach while Matt translated. Sunday, we expected the body to arrive around 6:30 p.m., so instead of having classes and preaching like we’d have the rest of the week, we had a short service from 5pm-6pm and then when the body and the family arrived around 7pm, we gave them hugs and left while they had their visitation with the hundreds of Mexicans who came to show their support.
The next day, we were supposed to have our clinic from 9am-3pm like usual, but the body was still in the church, as they were going to the burial around 10 a.m. I spent the morning helping with the kids activities, and when the two hundred plus people left for the burial site, we set up the clinic. I knew how amazing the leaders of this church and this church family as a whole was before the experience—how the encourage and teach and lead and serve to the best of their ability and to the glory of God. But watching them comfort the family during this terribly hard time was just another way I’ve been able to see God working here in the Baja.
Many of the leaders of the Mayfair group and group members who are really close to Isaac’s family attended the visitation and the graveside service, in which each of the Baja preachers participated. Something else really impressive about the church in the Baja is their unity. In the states, we seem to spend more time competing with other churches and other denominations rather than working with them. Just another way I’ve learned that America really doesn’t do everything correctly.
Since a good portion of the group that consists of the “Mayfair” group attends church back home at the Guntersville Church of Christ, we split off Wednesday and came to San Vicente, bringing the doctors, optometrist and dentist with us. Guntersville recently started sponsoring the church in San Vicente, and in the years to come they plan on coming here for a whole week to do the clinic.
I am one of the translators who was sent with the early group to San Vicente. Though I love the church here, it was really hard to leave my place after only spending 3 days with some of my favorite kids in the world. The last night goodbyes are always hard for me, so I was able to escape the sadness of that moment—at least I thought.
Some of the kids I’m closest to, who all happen to be brothers and sisters, knew that I’d be leaving Tuesday night. They always ask me when I’m coming back, and until this summer I’ve been able to say that I’d be back in just a few months, if God wants me to come back. But Tuesday night, these precious kids chased me out to the vans as we were loading up to leave. They tackled me, hugged and kissed me and told me “te quiero mucho,” which means “I love you.” This, and knowing that I had no idea when I’d be back (being out of college and not knowing what I’ll be doing in 6 months) sent me into a tailspin of tears.
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| One of my favorite people in the world. |
It hit me right then and there how precious my time in the Baja really was, especially the time I spent in San Quintin. I realized how much I’d taken for granted the fact that I got to visit twice a year, sometimes more. I also realized that form here on out, it’s going to take a lot more sacrifice and commitment to get my butt back to San Quintin once or twice a year, but that’s a sacrifice and commitment I’m more than willing to make.
The rest of the Mayfair group is on its way to San Vicente right now. We’re doing the full clinic again today, and the part of the group not working in the clinic or doing crafts with the kids at the church will be traveling to the rancho here in town.
I may have explained the ranchos earlier, but I’ll go ahead and explain them again. The people here in the Baja are poor. But the people who live and work on the ranchos are the poorest. The field owner builds a long row or two of concrete rooms, and each family gets a room and some food in exchange for work. They basically don’t own anything, except for the little bit of clothing they wear. When the season is over for whatever crop they’re picking, the migrant workers move to another part of the country to pick another crop.
The group going to the rancho today is just going to spend time with the people there, play with the kids, and bring some games, crafts, sunglasses, snacks and medicine. Those are some of the poorest people I’ve ever met, but some of the happiest kids I’ve ever met live there, too.
We’ll be back in Ensenada tonight, and I’m so excited to have a day and a half to rest between groups. Our next group, which is also out last group, will leave Ensenada pretty early on Saturday morning. We’ll be spending the week in Vicente Guerrero, which is just about 15 minutes from Camalu and 15 minutes from San Quintin.
After the last group, the translators are planning on taking a mini-vacation for a few days over to the Sea of Cortez, which I’m told is the most beautiful place on earth. I can’t wait!
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