Mexicali

I (finally!) experienced my first trip to Mexicali three weeks ago. I had heard so much about the churches and opportunities. But whenever my friends had gone, I had plans that kept me in Ensenada.

Mexicali is the capitol of Baja California and is located about 4 hours north-east of Ensenada. On the state-side, the US city is Calexico, California....haha...that's funny...I just realised that both names are half California and half Mexico, only they reversed them. I'm a quick one, I tell you.

With this first introduction, I only got to meet one pastor and his family and interact with his main church and a newer church plant. There are, I believe, three more C&MA pastors in Mexicali whom I still haven't met.

Would you like a (very) little history lesson and (very) small introduction to Mexicali?

What major natural disaster happened in 2010? Do you remember or have a guess?

January 12, 2010...does that help?

The country of Haiti was hit with a 7.0 earthquake and the world responded. As you likely remember, celebrities held benefit concerts and thousands of dollars flooding the Red Cross and other charities to help rebuild Haiti. Haiti was on the forefront every one's mind for months and months.

Any idea what happened Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010?

The city of Mexicali was hit with a 7.2 earthquake. But the response was minimal. While people were consumed with Haiti, Mexicali went largely unhelped by the world. Mostly because (speculating) the devastation wasn't nearly as awful as Haiti...only 2 people died. The reason behind this is that the buildings in Mexicali are more like American buildings, having a code of standard to account for earthquakes. Haiti had no such building code. Also, the fact that the earthquake occurred on a holiday was a blessing as most people were home and not out shopping.

The epicenter was in a community called Zacamoto, which was completely devastated.

 

 

You can drive through Zacamoto and building after building looks like above. It is a rubble ghost town. However, Mexico decided it wanted to take care of their own and built a new small community (Sacatio), including a free house, for all those whose houses were condemned by the earthquake.

It is in this new community of Sacatio where there is a new church being established. A woman has opened up her house and patio for the weekly church services and the church is slowly growing.

So there's your mini lesson for the day.
I get to return to Mexicali for a whole week in about three more weeks. I'm looking forward to engaging with the other churches and learning more about this large city.