Casas Mission Trip July 2011 Post 6

Trinity Summer Casas- Tuesday July 12 - leaving Juarez, Mexico
by Mara Erhardt

When I got up today, Tuesday, I was very sad because Casas was over. We cleaned up all our stuff and the facilities at the Compound and loaded the trailer. Breakfast was quick and simple. Josh Crabbs, Rudy's foremen, was saying he wanted to spend more time with Rudy so the two of them should stay and build another house. As I walked by, Josh said I should stay with them, too. We laughed about it, but I really wished I could have stayed.

After leaving the compound, we passed through a Mexican Army check point on our way to the US boarder. We had to stop but when the soldier (who couldn't have been much older than me) looked inside the van at a bunch of "gringos," he waved us through. When we were at the border to cross back into the US, we swung west to the border crossing in New Mexico, once again avoiding downtown Juarez. Crossing the border back into the US was thankfully uneventful. Soon we were back in El Paso and everyone went their separate ways.

On the return trip in the church van was Pastor Mark, Troy, Sarah, Kelly Mead, Gwenn Clarke, and myself. We made a quick run to the Mexican restaurant down the street, where we previously ate lunch on Saturday, to order some breakfast burritos. While there, we ran into a Lutheran Men's Bible Study and, looking back over the trip, it was the third time we had run into Lutherans who outwardly approached us about our trip.

The breakfast burritos were fantastic, and we took off. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime, and I was eating again at the Pistachio Ranch we always stop at in Alamogordo, NM. The rest of the trip back to Colorado was uneventful. Pastor Mark, Troy, Sarah, and I played Euchre for a while but generally it was pretty quiet in the van. The sunset coming back through Denver was spectacular. I was glad to be back when we parked in front of the Twietmeyers' house. We all stayed and helped unload the church trailer though there was very little to unload. My Dad picked me up and then the trip was truly over.

Thank you very much for reading this blog of my experience with the July Casas Mission Trip. I hope this gave you an inside look into the Casas ministry and insight into why these trips are so special. If you would like to know more or have any questions about this trip, or Casas in general, feel free to ask me the next time you see me around Trinity.