A Week in Mexico Builds a Home and a Lifetime of Memories Shannon Hicks - The Newtown Bee
go to original August 2, 2022

Members of Grace Family Church in Newtown CN recently spent seven days in Mexico building a home for a single mom with three children.

GFC Senior Pastor Adam Fredericks called the visit — the third for his youth group to Mexico, and his 24th mission trip — “impactful for everyone involved.”

The group departed from Newtown on July 5. Following an unplanned separation into two groups after arriving at LaGuardia Airport, the 16 teens and five adults reunited in San Diego, Calif. From there they climbed into rented vans and made the 90-minute trip to Rosarito, their destination.

GFC again worked with Baja Christian Ministries for the mission. A Christian church in Chino Hills, California, BCM has been serving the poor in the Baja region of Mexico for over 30 years. It has built over 30,000 homes during that time, according to Fredericks.

BCM arranges for a concrete slab to be poured ahead of a group’s arrival, the local pastor said. It also provides a prefab kit, “so everything is cut, and you get contractors to join you on the site, with all of the materials you need,” Fredericks said this week.

Rafaela, the mother for whom the GFC group built a home, cleans homes for a living. She makes the equivalent of US $37 a week, Fredericks said.

“That’s what they’re living on,” he said.

Most families in the city, he said, are living in structures made of pallets and blue tarps.

“To have our kids hear that, and to see what life is like for her and her family, these trips change your perspective on life,” he said. “I love hearing kids have their conversations during these trips. When they’re silent, they’re doing a lot of listening.

“You can tell when lightbulbs are going off and the dots are being connected,” he added. “They realize their privileges, and the blessings that they have, and their responsibility to give back to others.”

Through fundraising efforts, GFC paid the $9,000 cost for the house kit, according to Fredericks.

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