51 Weeks

Summary of Our Mission Trip

I know that we will have several new visitors to our mission trip blog today, so I thought I would write a brief summary about what we are doing.

On June 18th, about 100 people from 5 churches will be traveling to Northern Mexico to build houses for the very poor.  While there, we will camp in the desert and provide all of our own food...we will not have running water or electricity available to us.  Heck, we'll barely have portable bathrooms nearby!

During the day we will drive into the colonies that surround the South side of Tijuana and we will work throughout the week to build 11' x 22' homes.  This year we should build a handful of homes plus a double-wide.  It's hard work as we do everything by hand, including mixing the concrete and pouring the foundation.

At night we will spend time in camp hanging out together, eating, worshiping and talking about God and His great love for us.  We will be in "family groups" that will have a chance to talk about our experiences throughout the week, as well as go over what we are doing at the campfire at night.

If you are a reader from Portland and would like to help sponsor our trip, please send an email to us by clicking here.  We are accepting financial contributions (which are fully tax deductible) as well as donations of good (furniture, electronics, etc) that we will sell to raise money for the trip.

I f you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  You can leave a comment on this blog, or you can send an email to Matt directly and he will get back to you right away.  Thank you so much!

Packing List

In case we have any confusion in what to pack, here's a list to help.

We’d like to limit the amount of bags we check onto the plane to just personal items so we will be sending our tools, tents, sleeping bags and mats down with the early crew. You'll also need to bring your own collapsible camp chair. 

Portland Team:  Please drop your tools, camp chair & sleeping bag, pillow and mat (packed in one MARKED bag) off at the church on Friday, June 15^th at 6pm.

Tools (everything marked):

ð       Utility belt

ð       Hammer

ð       Measuring Tape

ð       Utility knife

ð       Pliers or wire cutters

ð       Nice fitted work gloves - a couple pair

NOTE:  Tools need to be packed in your bag to be checked at the airport as you cannot carry on these tools!  Work party leaders may want to beef up their kit with snap chalk line, t-square, nail puller.

Clothing (everything marked):

Work clothes

ð       1 pair of jeans

ð       4 short sleeve shirts (girls: make sure shirts are NOT tight and pass the “hallelujah” test)

ð       Coveralls

ð       Bandanas to protect the neck

ð       Hat (you can purchase in Mexico)

ð       Old pair of tennis shoes to be tossed after the trip

      Camp clothes

ð       2 – 3 pairs of shorts

ð       1 pair of long pants

ð       5 shirts/tank tops

ð       1 sweatshirt

ð       Pajamas

ð       Swimsuit for showers (girls: one pieces only please)

ð       Underwear, socks

ð       One pair of flip flops

ð       One pair of comfy shoes for camp

ð       Toiletries (minimum)

ð       One nice change of clothes for trip home

Personal/Other:

ð       Bible, pen and journal

ð       Flashlight

ð       Water bottle

ð       Camera

ð       Extra Snacks – heat resistant (i.e. granola bars, crackers, etc.)

Carry-On Backpack:

ð       Sunglasses

ð       Camera

ð       Snacks

ð       Sun Block (aerosol spray-on recommended… SPF 30 and above)

ð       Chapstick

ð       Extra set of clothing (shirt, shorts, underwear)

RULE:  Pack knowing that you have to carry YOUR OWN luggage.  If you can’t carry it up and down the stairs by yourself FIVE times, you’ve packed too much.  Airlines will charge you $50 if your bag weighs more than 50 lbs so pack accordingly.  If you plan on shopping while in Mexico, make sure you pack LESS to make room for new items. 

Any questions???

First Meeting

We had our first "official" meeting this last Friday night.  Unfortunately a lot of people couldn't come because they had a track meet, so we were short about a dozen high school kids, and most of those were people that hadn't gone before.

But those that did come...well, it's a great group!  I'm excited!  I'm going to start narrowing down the group over the new few weeks, and I hope we can post up some info about the people that will be going.  Maybe a quick bio, a pic, I don't know.  Depends on what people want to do.

Anyway, I'm fired up about this year's trip!  In fact, I'm so fired up that in two hours Scott and I are going to hop into his plane and fly up to Northern Washington for a meeting of the minds with the other leaders of the trip.  How cool is that?

Travel Dates

This year our group of young missionaries will be traveling to Northern Mexico from Monday, June 18th to Monday, June 25th.  This is just a few days after school breaks for summer, so you know that everybody is going to be wired and ready to go!

We don't know exactly where in Mexico we will be, but like most years it should be about an hour South of the border.  When more details become available I will post them here...stay tuned!

Welcome!

Hey...welcome to 51weeks.org! The 51 Weeks community was created many years ago in response to a need that came out of mission work.

For 18 years I have been traveling to Northern Mexico each summer with groups of high school students from all over the West Coast.  Once there we camp in the desert without electricity or running water, eating food prepared by our wonderful support staff and learning about God at night.  During the day we work hard...building houses for those in need using crude supplies and no modern power equipment.  It's work that is very needed and quite satisfying!

One year after coming out of the desert I was having a conversation with a high school kid that said something along these lines, "That was the best week of my life, but I'm worried that now I'm going to go back to my old ways.  I don't want to go back to my old ways.  What do I do until we go to Mexico again next year?"  In other words, he was asking, "How can I get along for the other 51 weeks that I'm not doing mission work?"  That is how the name of this site came to be.

This year the group that I am going with is leaving in late June.  You can see a countdown to our departure in the sidebar of this blog.  Between now and then this site will provide guidance for the travelers that will be joining us this year, as well as worship notes, bible studies and personal journal entries.  We'll post up pictures from previous years, and hopefully throw in some testimonies from kids that have made the journey before.

It's going to be a great year!  This site is interactive, so please feel free to leave comments or questions as you see fit.  If you want to talk about something that you don't want the whole world to see, email me anytime, mattsingley (at) 51weeks (dot) org.  Grace and peace to you!