Mexico mission offers perspective at home

About 10 percent of the regular attendees at Wellspring Bible Fellowship weren’t at the church on Easter Sunday morning.

And that didn’t bother Pastor Ron Laeger at all.

Forty-seven of the church’s members are spending spring break in the San Quintín Valley of Baja California in Mexico with the Sutherlin-based Missions to Mexico. The trip has been an annual event for 23 years.

“It’s just been so fascinating to watch people’s hearts just attach to the people of Baja,” Laeger said.

Laeger and his family went to Baja three years ago, and he said people from the Roseburg church get just as much as they give.

“It has just really opened up the families’ eyes to how we can be an encouragement, and then they in exchange encourage us,” he said.

Friday afternoon the 12 families and a few other teenagers loaded up a bus to head south. They plan to do light construction work on local churches and hold Vacation Bible School for children.

Beth Hallman, a freshman at Umpqua Valley Christian School, is going on the trip for the third time. It’s the second time for her mother, Janet.

Beth said the experience has made her step out of her comfort zone.

“I think the poverty really hits home when you go down there,” she said.

Beth said that’s made her more grateful, a sentiment expressed by everyone who’s taken the trip. That’s made her consider what she wants to do as a career. She’s thinking of becoming a dental hygienist, and she’d like to take that skill on short-term mission trips.

Janet spent most of her time cooking and doing work projects last year, but this time she’ll get to spend time with the children.

While she was in Mexico, she met a doctor who is a quadriplegic. He still sees patients from his bed because he needs the income. Janet’s husband, Jeff, is an occupational therapist for Mercy Medical Center, so she convinced him to join the trip. The hospital has donated medical supplies, and Jeff is going to see if he can help the doctor use his hands more easily.

Jeff Smith and Craig Pierce are leading the team.

They’ll connect up with Mike Fink, a pastor from Sutherlin who has been living in Mexico as a missionary for the last 15 years, Pierce said.

So you know ... For more information on Wellspring Bible Fellowship’s missions and other ministries, visit www.wellspringroseburg.org. For more information about the Sutherlin-based interdenominational Missions to Mexico, visit www.missionstomexico.org.

He said the group feels compelled to go and spread God’s word, but it’s more than a duty.

“We all enjoy doing that kind of work, helping others,” he said.

Smith’s children enjoy the trip so much they chose it over a “fun” vacation.

“We just think it’s more fun to go out and do what the Lord wants us to do,” his daughter Katie said.

She said people in poverty in Mexico don’t complain, where Americans do.

“Like a lot of mission trips you do, you go and realize how truly blessed you are,” her father said. “Not only do we get to go and be witnesses to other people, it’s a growth deal for us, too.”

The Mexico trip isn’t the only mission work the church does.

They have missions to the Philippines and Portugal, and they also work with prisoners to help them fit into society when they are released.

“It’s just been really neat to see how this one family trip to Mexico has just exploded the interest to other operations,” Laeger said. “People’s hearts are like rubber bands. Once they’re stretched out, they never go back. ... God’s love is the greatest thing to share, and it doesn’t matter if it’s prison or Baja or the Philippines or Portugal. The main thing is to be receptive in trusting God and letting him work in our lives.”



• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.