October 1997-Adult Servant Trip
VOLUNTEERS BUILD CHURCH IN ZARAGOSA, MEXICO
A chilly morning breeze, heavy with Mexican dust,
greeted the volunteers from St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Barrington,
as they arrived on the construction site in Zaragosa, Mexico. Their
challenge was to help construct the first church building for Santisima
Trinidad, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. Sixteen members of St. Matthew
worked at Zaragosa as part of a week-long servant trip to Ysleta
Lutheran Mission in El Paso, Texas, October 11-18. The servant team
members ranged in age from 22 to 74. Residents of Zaragosa have
been worshiping as a congregation for less than a year. Presently
they have Sunday afternoon services in a vacant store building which
is being loaned to them.
The church building is being constructed by volunteers
from churches in the United States as well as the local residents.
During their week of work, the team from St. Matthew was able to
lay nine courses of cinder block. The walls are approximately three-quarters
finished. The new building is 36 by 72 feet and will not only serve
as worship center for the congregation, but will also be used to
Christian education and other activities.
The congregation was founded by Rev. Jose Ruiz
who was ordained into the Lutheran ministry in 1996. At age 62,
this former mariachi singing, serves a Spanish speaking congregation
in El Paso, as well as two congregations in Zaragosa. Zaragosa is
a community on the eastern edge of Juarez which is a prospering
manufacturing area thanks to NAFTA, the North American Free Trade
Agreement. Several new factories are under construction near Santisima
Trinidad. The housing in Zaragosa is poor by American standards,
but above average for Juarez. The team members from St. Matthew
got their first taste of ministry in Mexico when they helped with
Sunday School at the other congregation in Zaragosa, San Marcos.
This congregation meets for worship under what can best be described
as a carport. The servant team worked with over 60 children who
came to Sunday School at San Marcos, providing coloring books which
included Bible verses in Spanish. Team members quickly discovered
that caring smiles and helping hands can quickly overcome language
and cultural barriers.
During the week members of the team also worked
on a clinic building in Anapra, Mexico, a shanty town on the western
edge of Juarez. There they repaired the roof gables and installed
electrical outlets and light switches. This was the fourth servant
trip sponsored by St. Matthew to this area since August, 1995. These
trips provide "hands on" opportunities to serve both the
spiritual and physical needs of people in the Juarez area.
Linda Lloyd, a member of the team, expressed
her motivation for being a part of a servant team when she wrote,
"I want to help make a difference so that the people of Zaragosa
can hear the good news of God's love and they in turn can spread
God's Word."
