Jenny Matson celebrated her birthday in a different country this year. The Hayfield Secondary senior normally cuts the cake in June, but this March, she got an unexpected surprise when a Mexican family opened their doors to her and their daughter Nadia, and sang her "Happy Birthday" in English.
"They had thought about me the whole year, waited for me to come, and gotten ready to have this party," said Matson, of Lorton, who had met the family five years ago during her first trip to Mexico, as part of a contingent from Messiah United Methodist Church in Springfield. The church has taken dozens of high school students to Mexico as part of an outreach project since 1985. Eighteen students went this year to offer spiritual and physical encouragement to the people in Mexico.
"It's a holistic ministry. We try to do as much as we can for the body-minded needs," said Messiah youth minister Jose Soldana, who has been leading the trips for 11 years. Each year, the Messiah entourage travels to the eastern coast of Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas. There they visit two churches, Buen Samaritano ("Good Samaritan") Methodist in the village of La Bartolina, and Revolucion Verde ("Green Revolution") Methodist in San Lucas, where they perform construction work, conduct worship services and deliver "ditty bags" full of soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, and other art supplies and hygiene products.
AS IN PAST YEARS, the entire church spent nearly a year preparing for the trip. Members of the congregation packed the nearly 5,000 "ditty bags," and shipped ahead 75 boxes of supplies, as well as packing Spanish Bibles, and food for two cookouts. Students are selected in October and attend regular meetings and fund-raising activities leading up to the 10-day trip, which took place March 17-27.
"It's not a mission trip where kids show up and go down there and work. This is a long-term commitment," said Jane Phillips of Burke, who went on the trip this year.
Over the 20 years Messiah has been going to Mexico, the church has developed a detailed itinerary. Aboard a church bus and van, the students make stops at Hattiesburg, Miss., New Orleans, and Corpus Christi, Texas, along their way to Mexico. Once on the Gulf Coast, the base of operations becomes Brownsville, Texas, where they stay, spending two days apiece in San Lucas and La Bartolina. While there, the students performed building projects and conducted worship services and a closing cookout at both of the churches.
Matson, who plans to attend Northern Virginia Community College this fall, has been to Mexico five times, since she was in eighth grade.
"My sister and my mother had gone the year before," she said. "I really loved the stories they came home with, and I wanted to go as soon as I could."
Matson said she was excited to travel to another country for the first time, and that it was "hard to not go back" after her first trip. She has since taken Spanish at Hayfield to be able to better communicate with the natives.
"I don't think I have a lot compared to the community I live in," she said. "But it makes me not take for granted the stuff I have, because they're so happy with the little they have."
The trip costs over $15,000 total, but due to fund-raisers and financial support from the church, each student is only responsible for $180 for the trip. Soldana said the youth group also participates in other local service projects, but the Mexico trip is a major event for the students who go.
"It definitely opens their eyes to other cultures, and other economic realities," he said. "You can preach it from the pulpit until you're blue in the face, but until you see it from another perspective, it just doesn't have the same impact."
Eleven adults also went on the trip, and Soldana said many of the trip's alumni have become interested in careers in social work, as a result of their experiences. Many of the youths write letters and stay in touch with families from Mexico throughout the year between trips.
"The thing that impresses us each year is how economically deprived we think they are, but they are spiritually wealthy. It speaks to our youth about the importance of family and values and church community," said Phillips. "I think it is a life-altering experience for our youth."