I took a two month trip to Loreto Mexico and it changed my life forever.
In Spring 2020, my parents and I were planning on going to Fiji for a mission trip with Calvary Oceanside, but unfortunately it got canceled due to Covid. This was very disappointing for me, since I had been dreaming of going abroad to do mission work for a while.
I heard about Loreto from one of the guys at my parents church, so I contacted the pastors and booked a one way ticket. I had no idea what to expect and didn’t do much preparing since the trip was so spontaneous. To be honest, I was bored of my mundane routine and was just excited for a new opportunity.
When I arrived, it was sunny, humid, and the airport was slow. I didn’t realize that everything was about to get a whole lot slower. Dave, one of the pastors at Calvary Loreto, picked me up from the airport and we spent my first day sitting in the car. We sat around at the hospital, drove through the one mile town, went on a few errands, and did a practice service at church. I got to meet a lot of people and by the end of the day, I was exhausted.
I have never seen so many children in one car at a time!
The next morning was a Sunday, and when I got picked up, there was a car full of kids practically piled on top of each other! I wasn’t expecting this, but it was definitely adorable and totally normal! I soon figured out that if you need a ride somewhere, you will probably be smashed in between a bunch of people and kids!
I spent most of my Sundays playing with the children and helping out in the Sunday school. At first I wasn’t too thrilled about taking care of a bunch of kids, but I agreed to the task since this is where the church needed the most help. It was intimidating in the beginning; the kids were very loud, they were running wild all over the place, and they all spoke Spanish (which I am not fluent in). I had a difficult time communicating with them at times, but we bonded fast and I soon fell in love with them.
Calvary Chapel Loreto was only about a year old when I visited, so there were always different projects going on to improve the place. The first project I got to work on was painting the tires different colors for the children’s play area.
Here are some photos I took of our One Year Anniversary! We had a big fellowship party including food, games, refreshments and fun!
While I was in Loreto, I rented a two bedroom house to myself. I didn’t have a car, so I used a beach cruiser bike as my main means of transportation. My favorite activity was
I made many amazing friends and attended a lot of fiestas. I became friends with my neighbors down the street and shared meals with people I met while riding my bike in town.
