For the past 25 years, except in 2020, mission teams from Shenandoah Presbytery in Virginia have faithfully served in Baja California, Mexico. Over time, we have built not only houses but also deep and lasting relationships with the families and communities we serve.
On a Monday morning some years ago, our Virginia team began the day greeting our family, Felipe, Angelica, Diego (10) and Angel (8). After a prayer, we worked side by side organizing lumber, building exterior walls and painting plywood siding. As we built the 440-square-foot house, Ana, one of our teammates born in Mexico, helped us build relationships through her gifts of interpretation and faithful connection.
Along the back of the property, team members and family members painted and spoke in different languages. While painting, Ana overheard Angelica teaching Bible stories to her sons. Using a paintbrush and a piece of lumber instead of a Bible or felt board, she illustrated the story of Noah’s ark for Diego and Angel. She encouraged them to build their house for God’s glory, just as Noah built his ark to fulfill God’s commands. On that mountaintop, Angelica passed down stories of faith to the next generation and taught us all an important lesson. Too often, we reserve God’s love story for morning devotions, Sunday worship or evening prayers. Angelica reminded us to live out God’s love story in the stories of our lives.
Around mid-morning, Diego asked his mom for something inside their house, a structure built with cardboard, plastic and wood. I glanced up from painting and saw Angelica open her front door not by turning a knob but by untwisting twine. As she had surely done many times before, she unwrapped the long black twine from a nail on a nearby wood frame. The door opened, and she disappeared inside. A few minutes later, she reappeared with the requested item. Later that morning, Angelica invited us in for a tour of her home. Clothes hung from nails along the walls, children’s shoes were scattered across the dirt floor, and a curtain created separation between the two bedrooms.
Every year, it takes my breath away to see how a pile of lumber on Monday becomes a furnished house by Thursday. Most of the Baja Mission Team would say their favorite moment is watching the family step inside their new furnished home for the very first time.
After a celebration dinner and a house dedication filled with prayers and song, Angelica and Felipe, along with their two sons, walked to the front door to receive the keys to their new home. Felipe let Angelica have the honor, and for the first time in her life, she opened her front door by turning a key instead of untwisting twine. She grasped the doorknob and slowly opened the door. Speechless, the family stepped inside, filled with awe and deep gratitude for the gift of a home and new friends.
We give thanks each year for the families we serve in Baja. They invite us into their lives and trust us with their stories, and for this, our lives are forever changed. Join us next year as we serve in Mexico, July 12–18, 2026. Learn more at shenpres.org/baja.
Rev. April H. Cranford; Westminster Presbyterian Church; Waynesboro, Virginia
Let us join in prayer for:
Carissa Herold, Marketing Associate, Presbyterian Women
Michael Hilliard, Sales & Event Coordinator, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Let us pray:
Gracious God, with each new sunrise witnessed in our backyard and in backyards far away, may love be the light that leads us. Help us serve you and love our neighbors well, not only in grand ways but in quiet, faithful acts that reveal your constant goodness and amazing grace through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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