Spiritual Formation | 12/19/2025 7:26:00 AM
Written by Mason Lundgrin
San Quintin, Mexico. Just five guys pursuing the Lord, who all have something unique to offer. Soon enough, I found out that we are capable of achieving anything- when you make the Lord the center of it.
Update on Cam- he is fine haha
Leading up to this trip, a thought kept lingering in my head. "How do five men offer the nurturing aspect of women, when we do not have any females going with us?" As you can see from the first two days, it has been intimate, genuine, trusting, uniting, and full of laughter. Whether the children were boys or girls, we were able to interact and impact them. In the same way, the children impacted us.
Today, December 18, 2025, we had the opportunity to serve the Camp Baja property. Baja Missions are ameliorating the San Quintin, Mexico area by erecting a beautiful campground with dorms for children, a senior living facility, a basketball court, a soccer field, and other ways to keep/help the community engage spiritually. Being here two years ago, the campground now looks decidedly better.
In order to prolong the beauty of Camp Baja, like anywhere else, we were responsible for the upkeep of the new buildings. We washed the windows of the multi-purpose building, moved materials (wood, tiles, etc.), and pulled weeds around the property. To me, washing the windows was a reminder of how everything, and everyone, becomes, in a way, dirty. We all sin, it's inevitable, but we can clean, repent, and find our way to the superlative cleaner, The Lord. Everyone has to clean themselves, or they end up debilitated.
Often, humans find things being displaced as we become busy. Likewise, materials to build Camp Baja occupied numerous areas along the fence line, which looked out of place. So, we put the materials into piles to make it more organized. While organizing the campground, pulling weeds was the final touch to complete the upkeep we were able to be a part of.
Pulling weeds had different difficulties-resembling our stubborn ways, hardheaded attitudes, and metathesiophobia (fear of change). Some roots of the weeds were tougher, stronger, and deeper than others. In a human aspect, we root ourselves in different hobbies, skills, etc., which makes us uniquely who we are. Pulling the weeds was not plain sailing, but they needed to be withdrawn. Spiritually, we as humans need to axe aspects of our lives that do not align with the narrow path to the Lord. Times will be tough. Personalized mannerisms will be hard to change. Nobody denies that, but it's the dutiful actions beginning one step at a time.
"Casa Amor" is the senior care facility on the campground, and we were able to speak with some of the individuals living there. The timing was not the best, but we were able to introduce ourselves before they sat down for lunch. Likewise, we asked them what we could pray for. They always want their family or other people in our prayers, not themselves. This shows the unselfishness and gratitude for people in their lives.
Fellowship is important, especially when five guys travel across the continent to serve the loving community of Baja, Mexico. Today, we played basketball with Panfilo (Baja Missions leader who takes groups through the mission trips). Panfilo takes us around the area so we can serve, but today we served Panfilo. Seeing Panfilo run around the court with the biggest smile was simply amazing. It felt like we lit another spark in his life, and I don't doubt he does the same with the children at the Churches. Panfilo is the man, and he deserves the world. Whether it's translating or playing like he is a child again, Panfilo's heart is gold. Thank you, Panfilo.
