By: Rev. Dr. Brian T. Parcel
As they have been doing for the past 15 years (well 14 of 15 due to Covid) a team of members, friends and family from FUMC Chula Vista (FUMCCV) spent the Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend in Ensenada, Mexico constructing homes. This year’s team was the largest ever, totaling 93 people and constructing 4 homes. The youngest team member was 7 years old and the oldest, 81. This year’s team was split into four groups, each building a home. One was comprised of 20 college students, another 16 youth and four counselors, another families with elementary age children and a few other adults, and the final an all adult team. This year’s trip was also special because there was an effort made to multiply the mission. Among the 93 people on the team were 5 from Ramona UMC, 4 from San Carlos UMC and 4 from St. Mark’s UMC, Clairemont. The hope is that each of these seed teams can return to their home churches and share the vision for gathering even more participants for 2026.
Though FUMCCV has a long history of cross border mission and ministry, this current model was introduced by Rev. Dr. Brian T. Parcel, the current Pastor of FUMCCV. Pastor Brian, in his previous appointment at FUMC Santa Maria, had developed a partnership with YUGO Ministries in Ensenada, Mexico, so when he was appointed to FUMCCV in 2010 he brought that partnership along. The first team was comprised of nine people and numbers have ebbed and flowed over the years but every year at least one house has been built by FUMCCV. This year’s four houses took them over the 50 house mark over the course of these 15 years.
Another great aspect of this annual mission trip is the partnerships and friendships across multiple UMC’s that has been fostered over these years. Shepherd of the Hills UMC in Mission Viejo has been sending teams for many years on the same weekend as FUMCCV, St. Andrew’s By the Sea UMC in San Clemente sends a team annually, Foothills UMC La Mesa has sent numerous teams and people from Nestor UMC, Parkhill UMC, Hope UMC, First UMC San Diego and Linda Vista UMC have all sent members to join the FUMCCV team. If you would like to learn more about this project, see photos and videos from this year’s trip, make a financial donation to this effort, or consider joining this team MLK Jr. weekend 2027 visit https://www.fumccv.org/mexicomission.
Pastor Brian says, “I have been leading this trip for 20 years, between two appointments, and it is probably the strongest effort at making new disciples and growing stronger disciples that I have been a part of. In three days you go from a pile of wood next to a cement slab to a key ceremony where you dedicate the house to a family you have worked alongside and come to love. It is life changing for all involved. Obviously for the family — who will be safer, healthier and more able to work & attend school, this humble home can affect generational change. For us, it is a real experience of incarnational ministry and I have seen it change people’s hearts, minds and souls through the years, including my own and my children’s. I often say that we might not be able to change homeless around the world, but we certainly changed the world of homelessness for those 50+ families. I probably preach too often on the great Lukan passage, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, but it makes our Christian faith so clear to me. In response to a question about loving one’s neighbor Jesus tells a story about an unnamed man (the Samaritan) who cares for a different unnamed man who has been left to die on the roadside. I don’t think it is mistake that the two people are unnamed…in both cases we get to insert our names into the story. I am certainly thankful for the people who have come along and rescued me from time to time and through this mission I am becoming ever more clear of God’s call in my life to serve others, even some in a foreign country who begin as complete strangers and three days later are like family.”
Pastor Brian, FUMCCV Staff and members of the team will rest well for a few days, bask in the glow of God’s work in and through them for a couple months and then begin planning for 2027 as the spring fades into summer. Again, If you would like to learn more about this project, see photos and videos from this year’s trip, make a financial donation to this effort, or consider joining this team MLK Jr. weekend 2027 visit https://www.fumccv.org/mexicomission.