By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer
Westborough – On July 30, after months of fundraising and planning, a group of 31 students and leaders from Chapel of the Cross arrived in Ensenada, Mexico. The mission of this Student Ministries Mission Trip is to build two houses with Homes of Hope, a Christian organization with a vision to meet the needs and change the lives of others. The group will also help to further along the daycare/orphanage project that they worked on last summer and participate in local outreach using dramas, music and dancing.
For Director of Student Ministries Bethany Needham, this trip holds personal significance.
“My own children will be serving alongside me for their first international mission trip, which is a dream come true,” Needham said. “I have dreamed of serving internationally since my first mission trip when I was 15 and this trip will be the first international mission trip I have ever led. Last summer I fell in love with the people in Ensenada and I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to serve with them again this year.”
Needham hopes that the students who have traveled to Mexico with her come away from this trip realizing that not everyone has the things we often take for granted.
“God can use anyone who is willing to make an impact and change lives,” Needham said. “I honestly hope that none of us comes back the same as we left. I pray that through the people we meet and experiences we share, God will use to transform our lives forever.”
Needham is quickly added that the mission trip to Ensenada is not a one-time event; rather, it represents a relationship. Chapel of the Cross, she said, is always receiving and shipping donations to the people they serve in Ensenada through Mission Adventures (www.ywamsdb.org/mission-adventures)? as well as Youth With a Mission (YWAM) San Diego/Baja (www.ywamsdb.org).
For more information on Homes of Hope visit: www. ywamsdb.org/homes-of-hope.
