Mexico Mission Trip Summary 2011 with Victory House Baja

In my 10 year walk with Jesus Christ, the idea of going on a Mission Trip was the farthest thing that I thought I would ever experience. But imagine that, it happened.

Heading down to Ensenada, Mexico was almost surreal for me.  Leading up to the trip, the days and weeks felt like they were flying right by.  I knew I was going to Mexico, but I didn’t take the time to really grasp what I was about to do.

For the first half of the travel day, I still didn’t fully understand what I was doing.  As the Team was still at the Edmonton International Airport, I was still just going through the motions.  We passed through customs, boarded the plane and off we went.  It felt like forever but we eventually arrived in San Diego and were welcomed by Pastor Richard, who is the Victory Missions Base Director.  It was comforting to know that we were in good hands travelling across the border.  He really does know what he is doing and I look forward to working with him again one day.  We soon found ourselves at the Victory Mission House located in Ensenada where we unloaded our bags, sat through a very important orientation by Pastor Richard and it was off to bed and ready for day one.

To attempt to summarize the whole experience in one sitting would be almost impossible, especially considering that I am still working through a lot of it as we speak (type).  So I am not going to try.  Instead I am going to share what God has been speaking to me since returning.

Heading into Mexico, foolishly I thought I could change it.  But that notion quickly changed when we were at a red light and a helpless man in a wheelchair approached our van asking for money.  After giving him some change, the light was green, the van was gone and so was he.  And at that point I realized that the task at hand was impossible...for me.  That’s when it changed.  My mindset shifted and that’s when the start of the mission began.

As the man in the wheel chair got smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror as we drove away, an overwhelming heaviness came upon me.  My heart was sad and it was a sadness that I’ve never felt before.  This was about the same time that God impressed in my heart that it’s not Mexico that “I” am going to change, but it was my heart that “He” was going to change.  That simple thought kept me quiet for the whole ride.  As I witnessed the poverty of the people before me, the heaviness increased.  But it wasn’t so much the physical poverty but the spiritual poverty that affected me.  It was everywhere I looked and it seemed as though there was no escaping it. More and more, I believe that I was just scratching the surface of knowing what breaks God’s heart.

Bringing it back to the beginning, this was one of the reasons why I did not want to go on a mission trip in the first place.  I was afraid of the very change that I was experiencing and still experiencing to this day.  I know that God will lead me through this process though.  So far it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride, but after experiencing what we did, and knowing the amount of work that is ahead, I very much welcome the change.

So...was it a successful mission trip?  At this point in time, all I can say is that this was the mission that has now started my mission.

Pastor Dale Aceron