July 2006 - Adult/Youth Servant Trip
MISSION TEAM RETURNS HOME FROM MEXICO
For the past ten years, St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Barrington, has been sending an adult/youth mission team to Mexico to teach Bible school. The twenty-seven members of this year's team taught to total of 336 children during the seven-day trip ending July 21.
The Bible school is hosted by Santisima Trinidad, the Lutheran church in Zaragosa, Mexico, a community on the eastern edge of Ciudad Juarez. The members of the Mexican congregation and their pastor, the Rev. Jose Hernandez, invite the children from the neighborhood to take part in a week of Bible stories, songs, and crafts.
As usual, the big hit of the week were the Bible skits. To compensate for their difficulties with the Spanish language, the group presents each day's Bible story as a play complete with homemade costumes and props.
New to this year's program was a "quiz show." Emulating a television game show, the team members answered questions which helped to emphasize the important teachings of each day's Bible lesson.
As part of the week's activities, five girls from the congregation in Zaragosa were awarded Linda Ritchey Memorial Scholarships. These will allow them to continue school after the sixth grade. The scholarships are given in memory of Ritchey who prior to her death in 2004 had been a mission team member on thirteen trips to Mexico.
Once again team members not only came from St. Matthew, but also from St. John Lutheran Church in Algonquin.
