Another wonderful trip to Mazatlan, Mexico! 
Thanks to a great team of 15 volunteers from Colorado, Kansas and Florida, we had a very busy week. We served 72 people with mobility aids at three distributions and a few home visits.  We cleaned and organized the warehouse and shop, and finally loaded equipment back on the shelves after unloading the much anticipated arrival of the truck.  It was held up at the border for two weeks, and arrived on God's timing once again!  A few from the team tackled two separate construction projects.  They enclosed with brick walls an addition to one home and laid a concrete floor in another wood pallet built home.  Their efforts greatly blessed two families with kids at the rehab center
Padres y Compadres by meeting basic needs in their homes.

We were able to take some of the team members on a day of home visits to distribute wheelchairs to those who could not come the other days.

One that stood out to me was Mirna.  She is 59 years old and is cared for by her 90 year old father.  She was widowed at age 24, with five children.  Her sister passed away shortly after which brought her another five children.  They send money and visit when they can to help her.  She has been in a wheelchair for six years and has been able to wheel herself to a local factory to sell things to the employees for income.  Her old wheelchair was literally falling apart and she was not able to get to the factory.  When we brought in the wheelchair she raised her hands and lifted her arms “Gloria Dios, gracias Santo” with tears in her eyes,  this was simply seeing the chair.  When she sat down it was absolutely perfect, no need of any adjustments.  She was speechless and very grateful, whispering prayers of thanks through her tears.

Art therapy time was another great part of the week.   We started with finger paints and ended with tattoos!  Our new little buddy, Yair (pronounced yi-ear) is new to the rehab center since we were here last. We had a great time painting and coloring and he totally amazed me! I thought he was limited in his abilities, he was very tight and rigid, but he proved me wrong in the first two seconds. I held a paint pallet and he managed to choose the colors and put them right where he wanted them. He knew exactly what he wanted to do and was smiling ear to ear the whole time! 

We moved on to markers where he again surprised me with total control.  He would pick the colors he wanted, get the marker just right and go to town.  Next to him was Carlitos who we have known a several years, such a sweet and happy boy.  Once the markers came out he started coloring Jeff's tattoo on his arm.  Yes, literally coloring on Jeff arm and it looked much better after Carlitos was done!  We thought these two cool dudes needed matching tattoos, so I did my best to copy the Harley symbol & eagle of Jeff's onto their arms.  Not easy as our new little buddy gets a little spastic when excited.  It was tons of fun for all, and washable this time!

Do you remember Jorge, from our newsletter last spring?  We got a chance to visit and Jorge is now working, fixing computers.  He is sitting up, no more vertigo or hopelessness from being stuck in bed all day.  You could see it all over his face, he has hope and dignity and truly making the best of his situation.  He has been able to talk with his 5 year old daughter recently and you can tell he is a very proud father.  She is his motivation to keep fighting to get better and I hope they will reunite very soon!  It was great to see what a difference a wheelchair can make. 

Another volunteer has these words to share about her experience: 
"I never thought I was one of those people who could or would want to work with the disabled, but after my experiences on this trip, I yearn for it.  God has shown me that He knows me better than I know myself.  I made two very special friends in Mazatlan on this trip.  One is Sonia, a beautiful young woman with fight in her eyes.  And the other is Pepe, a young man very close to my own age.  His father's love was encouraging and inspiring.  I hope that his wheelchair is a blessing to both their lives.  In short, the work Push does and offers volunteers to participate in is amazing and worthy.  I will be praying for my new friends for years to come.  Thank You!"
- Camille Barnett

I encourage you all to join a trips, the experience will amaze you! 
Jeff & Jen Musgrave
Team Leaders

Back to Volunteer Team Updates