Report on Grace Baptist Church’s Mexican Border Mission. Spring, 1999.
A group of fourteen of us from Grace Baptist Church of Lemoore, California set aside Holy Week (March 26 through April 2) 1999 to embark on the first ever short term-missions experience for the church. Team members included Tom, Andrew and Ben Baker, Mike, Melinda, Andrea, Hannah, Joe and Danny Bogart, Amy Gaussoin, Robin and Synthia Pruitt and Paul and David Stanfield. 
The group made a commitment to attend three lengthy training sessions during the early spring to prepare for this cross-cultural experience. The training included an introduction to Mexican culture, familiarity with the goals, procedures and rules of the Conservative Baptist Association of Northern California (the group sponsoring the trip), some Spanish words and phrases, evangelism training, as well as learning the specific games and ministries we were scheduled to do.
After gathering for prayer early on the morning of March 26, the group drove the approximately four hundred miles in personal vehicles from Lemoore, California to Yuma, Arizona where we crossed the border and met up with several other U.S. church teams in a make-shift camp a few miles into the Mexican state of Baja California, Norte.
Meals were cooked communally and the group members slept in tents. We awoke each morning to roosters crowing and the smell of breakfast cooking. After devotions and breakfast, we received our assignments and drove into the nearby Mexican state of Sonora to the city of San Luis Colorado.
Our assignment was to work with the Iglesia Bautista Conservadora. The teams spend five days holding a vacation Bible school-type of program. This involved games, Bible stories, crafts, snacks and prizes. During the afternoons, the men in the group repaired or improved various facilities of the church.
After working each day the group drove back to base camp and shared stories of the day around dinner. A thank you service was held at the church the last day of the trip. Many new friends were made and the farewells were a bit hard at the end of the week.
The results: a Mexican church was assisted, kids and adults were exposed to Christ and the message of the Bible, Americans were trained in cross-cultural ministry and the Mexican culture was appreciated.
Thanks for your prayers while we were engaged in this ministry!
Pastor Mike for the Team
