Peabody youth group will build houses in Mexico
With each new year, people are faced with new challenges. This year is no different for the youth group at Peabody First Baptist Church. Students there have joined other Kansas church groups to meet a challenge head-on as they travel March 18 to Juarez, Mexico, to help families in need.
Among the students and leaders who will be going to Mexico are Eugene and Tammy Newfield, Christina, Angela, and April Newfield, Alyssa Carter, Deidra Garcia, and Kaela and Jessica Gillet, all of Peabody, and Kris Pierce of Larned.
The group will spend seven days building a home for a family in the Juarez community, under the sponsorship of Amor Ministries.
They will camp in tents at Amor Ministries Campground while they are building the house.
They will experience some rather primitive conditions according to youth leader Eugene Newfield. There is no running water or electricity, the nights are cold and the days are hot, there are language barriers, sunburns, sandstorms, and hard physical labor.
This past year Newfield took a group from Peabody and Pratt. He said the experience was "life changing" for most of the young people.
"We didn't speak the language," he said. "But our actions told them (the needy families) more than our words could ever say."
Amor Ministries, in conjunction with youth/church groups all over the nation, have touched countless lives in Mexico through its home building program.
A great deal of effort has been put into trip preparations. Baptist youth have worked hard for months raising money and collecting donations of toys and clothing to take to Mexico.
They will host a final fund-raiser at 5 p.m. March 5 at the church. The group will present interpretive dance and show a video of the 2005 Mexico trip, followed by a Mexican dinner. The community is invited to attend, cost is by donation. Church members ask for community prayers for the group of young missionaries.
