This past August, we got to take a 10 person mission trip to the town of Jiquilpan, Michoacan. It’s a town that’s very special to my family, because both of my parents are from there. The trip was a combination of sports outreach and ministry leadership training. After spending a week there before the team arrived, I had things setup and ready to go by Tuesday morning August 11th. That evening we all went to worship practice together, because we had a unified service with all the local churches that next day (Wednesday). Practice went so well and the team meshed in an amazing way. That next day we did a little bit of sightseeing and praying around town, we got to pray for people on the street and it was amazing. We also got to do CrossFit and the local stairs that are very steep to climb. We invited everyone we talked to, to the worship service that night.
The unified worship service was so amazing! We had about 80 people on a Wednesday night and we got to pray for the local pastors. Our worship team helped their worship team, and I got to bring an encouraging word from Hebrews 12. This night set us up so well for the rest of the week. It really helped build momentum for the leadership training we were doing the next two nights, and the sporting evangelistic event we had schedule for Saturday.
On Thursday and Friday we did a combination of run clubs and night running down local streets with the people, and some leadership team training for the churches in Jiquilpan. We also put up flyers and invited people to the big event on Saturday. We visited a rehab center of about 70 men where many of them accepted the call to salvation. It was an awesome couple of days also creating momentum for Saturday.
Saturday’s Sport Evangelistic Event was something we hadn’t done before, but with the momentum built, and the worship team meshing so well, we went for it! We did a kids race, a youth race, and an adults’ race at the sporting center in Jiquilpan. This place has an amazing dirt track and cross-country course around the facility. We also had some soccer options for the kids to be entertained after their runs and warm-ups. During the 2 hour event we had over 200 people come and stick around for the worship music. The event ended with an evangelistic message and a time of prayer, in which another couple dozen people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It was an amazing week for us. Sunday we got to celebrate and split up into the local churches to serve. I got to preach one more time at a church 40 minutes away which is the bigger Protestant church in the area. Grateful for the impact this trip had both on the people and the team. Can’t wait for more!
