Mexico Mission Trip Experience – Meeting my Compassion Sponsored Child

It’s amazing to see God at work.

From November 3-9, a team of seven of us from GFC had the opportunity to partner with Compassion International on a short-term mission trip to visit many of the children our church sponsors in Tlaxcala, Mexico. The experience was one I will never forget.

After weeks of team preparation leading up to the trip, we flew into Charlotte, NC to meet Amy, the Compassion representative who would be joining us on the trip, along with two interpreters that we would meet when we landed in Mexico City. The anticipation of putting eyes on this new GFC partnership with Mexico grew over the course of our training, but when the day arrived, we were ready!

We were first given the opportunity to visit the headquarters of Compassion in Mexico City and meet many of the staff members who make such an endeavor possible. One such staff member stood out to our team, as she joined us for lunch and shared her experience as a child in the Compassion program. Her life and the life of her family had been drastically altered by the Compassion effort in Mexico, and as a result, she knew she wanted to give back and help to see others impacted as well.

For the remainder of the trip, our team was able to visit the program site in Tlaxcala where around 250 children come and experience healthy spiritual, physical, social, and economic development in an effort to release them from poverty in Jesus’ name. Getting off of the bus in Tlaxcala, our team was welcomed by hundreds of children and volunteers who were eager to hug and thank us for playing a vital role in sponsoring their program.

Our team had the opportunity to encourage and pray for the volunteers in their work at the program. With tears streaming down their faces and ours, it was a moment we would never forget. We also had the privilege of leading a vacation bible school with the children, where we shared stories about Jesus, made various crafts, and played their favorite game: “futbol” (aka American soccer).

One of the most rewarding experiences of the trip was for the team members to finally meet their sponsored children face-to-face. It was overwhelming. We were able to do an in-home visit with the children and their families and see what their day-to-day lives looked like. As a sponsor myself, the opportunity to meet my sponsor child and spend time with her and her grandmother who cared for her was unforgettable.

Toward the end of our time in Tlaxcala, sponsors were able to take their sponsor children to a local zoo and spend one final day together. Before loading the buses on our way back to Mexico City, we spent time in prayer for our sponsor children, their families, and the church leaders who run to program. I have never seen such an appreciative group of individuals. They were blessed by our visit, and we were blessed by seeing God work in tangible ways in the lives of our Mexican brothers and sisters.

I would encourage you to consider sponsoring a child in Mexico through Compassion, and if you get the opportunity, to come on a short-term trip and experience what my team and I experienced. I can’t say enough about the transformational nature of such a trip, and I hope you can join us in 2020.