July 2003-Adult/Youth Servant Trip
ST. MATTHEW BUILDS MINISTRY IN MEXICO
Many churches have seen their ministries grow
over the past several years through mission trips to other places
in the United States and foreign countries. Groups have repaired
homes on Indian reservations, provided medical care in Honduras,
and taught English to Haitian children.
St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Barrington, has sought
to build a ministry by returning again and again to the same location.
Thirteen of the congregation's fifteen mission teams have worked
in Zaragosa, Mexico-a community on the eastern edge of Juarez, across
the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. Teams from St. Matthew have
worked on construction projects in Zaragosa, provided medical care,
and taught Bible school.
This year's team, twelve youth and nine adults,
arrived in Zaragosa on Sunday, July 27, to take part in the dedication
of the new church building at Santisima Trinidad, the Lutheran congregation
serving that area. Six years ago some of these same team members
had helped to clear garbage from the lot on which the church was
built. Since that trip in 1997, mission teams from St. Matthew and
other churches have helped build a parish hall, office, and storage
building. Now the Santisima Trinidad congregation has its first
church building.
On the Monday morning following the dedication,
the team from St. Matthew welcomed children from the neighborhood
for a four-day Bible school. This is the sixth year that St. Matthew
has conducted Bible school at Santisima Trinidad.
Nearly 200 children ages 3-14 participated in songs,
recitation of Bible verses, Bible stories, and crafts each day.
The team has found that skits are one of the most effective ways
of telling the children Bible stories. All of the children were
also provided with a noon meal funded by St. Matthew and prepared
by the ladies of Santisima Trinidad.
This year's theme for Bible school was Feliz Navidad
in Julio, Merry Christmas in July. The children learned about the
fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, the first promise of a Savior,
the birth of Jesus, the announcement of the angels to the shepherds,
and the coming of the wise men.
The Rev. Jose Hernandez is pastor of Santisima
Trinidad. He pointed out to the team that many of the children who
come to Bible school will return for worship services with their
families and become part of the congregation.
"By consistently working at a single site,"
reported the Rev. Gerald Schalk, associate pastor of St. Matthew
and mission team leader, " we have been able to help build
this congregation. It is not simply a matter of constructing buildings,
but also reaching out to the community through the medical clinics
which we sponsor and the Bible schools we operate."
