Hey there! If you’re reading this, we appreciate you keeping up with our Mexico Missions team. Your prayers and support means everything to us as we prep and get ready to go on this trip! My name is Derek Robinson – I serve as an employee at Bridgeway on our Ministry Support team and am so blessed to be a part of this trip leadership team, and team as a whole. I was an intern with Bridgeway Student Ministries in 2013 but was never able to go on the yearly Mexico trip, so being asked to go now 10 years later is an honor. Let me tell you about our jam-packed weekend!
We had a team dinner at the Apahnis household on Friday night along with the parents of the students. It was nice to have a chance to connect “informally” and just hang out without any drama practices or team prep – just pizza, dessert, and good company. While the whole team was not able to attend due to prior commitments, getting to connect with those that did come was a lot of fun. A special shout out to the parents of all of our students for trusting this team of leaders, and Bridgeway, with their children. We do not take for granted the adjustments and flexibility needed to make this trip happen and we honor you in this process! Thank you for praying over all of us and supporting the mission.
Saturday kicked off a long training day at 11 am with the students getting ready to put on their “program.” I’m sure you’ll read all about it in Sabrina’s recap blog! Once the students were set, Mrs. Amber Anderson led us in a devotional about prayer which took us right into an early lunch. Then it was program time! Every student had the chance to be involved from sharing their testimony to games to prayer. Well done students! You all showed a lot of maturity, but I was especially impressed by the teaching segments. Sabrina’s teaching on emotional checkins and Jordyn’s segment on focusing on God were definite highlights and showed me how ready the students are to take this trip. Following the teaching and a debrief, Cody led a time of communion and worshipful reflection before jumping right back into drama practice. Over the rest of our meeting time the students ran through “the Lifehouse skit” from beginning to end. I’m excited to see it all come together!
Many of us continued the festivities at the Michener household for the “Afterparty,” more time to fellowship and get to know each other personally. After crushing some Chipotle and playing a couple VERY tense games of Werewolf (otherwise known as Mafia), I think our team feels like a team! There is nothing like laughing and breaking bread together to build team unity.
I had the pleasure of wrapping up the weekend with my “Accountability Group.” These groups were piloted by Cody to not only make sure that students had logistical check ins, like being at meetings on time, but so they also had personal and spiritual check ins. My accountability group students are Grady and Sabrina, two students that I was able to work with during our Outreach and Evangelism time in Baltimore during the team overnight meeting. We left from the Columbia Campus and went to Bibibop at the Columbia mall, a Korean-founded and inspired chain of fast casual bibimbap. Over lunch our team discussed highlights of our weeks and our preparation for the trip. Last week Pastor Will Eastham recommended that the members of the Mexico Team do spiritual check ins and journaling, so I asked my group to start this week with noting where they saw God working in their lives. It was so encouraging to hear how these teenagers are so steeped in God’s presence and word that they had opportunities to share the Gospel just this past week! Before wrapping up and heading back to the church, I shared my testimony with them and we left feeling a greater bond. I am so proud of all of our students, but getting the chance to work closely with Grady and Sabrina has also been a blessing back to me.
Can you believe we’re just a few weeks away? Keep up with these blog posts and share this link with those who might want to read it while we’re away! www.bridgeway.cc/missions
Colossians 3:23 ESV – “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
BSM Mexico Missions Blog 
I really love reading these updates. Thank you all for taking time to compose them. From someone who has been on mission trips many times since 2004, these reflective experiences prior to, during, and after the trip will create a lasting impact on your spiritual journey.
LikeLike