Witness to Faith

Reflection excerpts from
Juarez 2006
by Erica Papan

Juarez was my first mission trip, so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it still meant a lot to me. The people of Juarez, especially the community we lived in, broadened my appreciation for my life and all the blessings in it. The children were so pure and innocent and had little idea how the rest of the world lived compared to them. They valued what they had and found happiness in the littlest things. In all my life, I have never been made to feel so welcome and appreciated by so many people.

You could feel how grateful the Mexican people were to have us there helping. One experience that stood out to me the most was one day when we were sitting along the street, outside of the ice cream shop, a truck full of Mexican men drove past and Pete and I waved and said, “Hola!”. In response, the driver yelled out the window, in all sincerity, “God Bless You!”

When we got back to our bunks, I took a moment to stop and thank God for bringing us there to help the people of Juarez and sending us all the blessings He had. Juarez was a truly amazing, spiritual experience and I will never forget the way we helped the people of the community and the memories made along the way

.