Final Thoughts on Our Trip to Mexico
This trip was only one week long, but was two years in the making. As soon as Nicole and I found out that we were pregnant with Kimi, we began thinking about how we could impart upon her with the same values and cares that we are passionate about. For me, ever since my first mission trip during the summer after my sophomore year of college, overseas missions has been crucial for my faith development and sustenance. Doing missions work has shaped my spiritual life more than anything that I can remember; more than any sermon I've heard (or preached), more than any Sunday school class, youth group, or college fellowship group. For Nicole, though she might not have the same ingrained longing for missions work, she has experienced God in new ways during her missions trips to Mexico. These trips gave her a greater sense of the importance of her public interest legal work as well as a heightened understanding of global justice issues.
We knew that Kimi would be going on a missions trip with us, the question was just how early she would be going. The where was easy: we knew it would be Mexico, specifically Oaxaca, and we'd be going with Dave and Adventures in Life. In talking with Dave, we thought that two year old Kimi would be old enough to endure the travel and the different accommodations we'd have in Oaxaca. Kimi did pretty well. (For Dave's thoughts on children and missions, please check this link out.)
Ever since Kimi was born, one of the struggles we've faced, the primary issue that keeps us up at night (figuratively, of course), has been grappling with our job as parents in raising Kimi up to be a godly woman. We can't stand to think of the possibility of her growing up to be a self-obsessed, materialistic adult without any care for God or the social justice issues we value. Honestly, we joke about how if she were to grow up that way we'd be failures at life. Seriously - it's something we pray about a lot. I'm sure for you parents reading this, you can relate to the pressure we feel in making sure we don't screw up. This trip has been one of our first attempts at ingraining Kimi with a missional heart.
It's been about a month now since we've come back from Mexico, and we've settled back into our normal pre-trip routines. Kimi's still a bit too young to have any sort of substantive conversations about what we experienced in Mexico or how the trip has changed her perspective on life... and it would have been illogical for us to even consider that a possibility with a two year old. So in that sense, as a stand alone trip this trip may not have been "successful."
But we went into this trip knowing that it wouldn't be our only time going. This trip was about introducing Kimi to Oaxaca, experiencing a totally different culture while meeting people with whom she will be interacting with frequently in years to come. Since returning from the trip, we hung up the chitate baskets that we received while in Eloxochitlan and we created a Shutterfly picturebook of the trip (thanks Joe for the pictures!) to help Kimi remember the trip as she gets older. If our criteria for evaluating the success of the trip was focused on the relationships developed in Oaxaca and Kimi's comfort with the idea of travelling there in the future, the trip was a total success. A month later, Kimi still identifies Uncle Dave, Uncle Joe, and Uncle Chable while looking at their images in the picturebook. She immediately gets excited when she sees the pictures of "my friends," Mimi and Valeria. And when we ask her if she had fun and wants to go back, she answers yes with no hesitation at all. Even with the difficulties we endured getting to Eloxochitlan and then back home at the end of our trip, it's safe to say we'll be going back... it's that important to us for us to be there, and hopefully eventually it will become that way for Kimi as well.
We knew that Kimi would be going on a missions trip with us, the question was just how early she would be going. The where was easy: we knew it would be Mexico, specifically Oaxaca, and we'd be going with Dave and Adventures in Life. In talking with Dave, we thought that two year old Kimi would be old enough to endure the travel and the different accommodations we'd have in Oaxaca. Kimi did pretty well. (For Dave's thoughts on children and missions, please check this link out.)
Ever since Kimi was born, one of the struggles we've faced, the primary issue that keeps us up at night (figuratively, of course), has been grappling with our job as parents in raising Kimi up to be a godly woman. We can't stand to think of the possibility of her growing up to be a self-obsessed, materialistic adult without any care for God or the social justice issues we value. Honestly, we joke about how if she were to grow up that way we'd be failures at life. Seriously - it's something we pray about a lot. I'm sure for you parents reading this, you can relate to the pressure we feel in making sure we don't screw up. This trip has been one of our first attempts at ingraining Kimi with a missional heart.
It's been about a month now since we've come back from Mexico, and we've settled back into our normal pre-trip routines. Kimi's still a bit too young to have any sort of substantive conversations about what we experienced in Mexico or how the trip has changed her perspective on life... and it would have been illogical for us to even consider that a possibility with a two year old. So in that sense, as a stand alone trip this trip may not have been "successful."
But we went into this trip knowing that it wouldn't be our only time going. This trip was about introducing Kimi to Oaxaca, experiencing a totally different culture while meeting people with whom she will be interacting with frequently in years to come. Since returning from the trip, we hung up the chitate baskets that we received while in Eloxochitlan and we created a Shutterfly picturebook of the trip (thanks Joe for the pictures!) to help Kimi remember the trip as she gets older. If our criteria for evaluating the success of the trip was focused on the relationships developed in Oaxaca and Kimi's comfort with the idea of travelling there in the future, the trip was a total success. A month later, Kimi still identifies Uncle Dave, Uncle Joe, and Uncle Chable while looking at their images in the picturebook. She immediately gets excited when she sees the pictures of "my friends," Mimi and Valeria. And when we ask her if she had fun and wants to go back, she answers yes with no hesitation at all. Even with the difficulties we endured getting to Eloxochitlan and then back home at the end of our trip, it's safe to say we'll be going back... it's that important to us for us to be there, and hopefully eventually it will become that way for Kimi as well.
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