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Dinner will raise money for mission trip to Mexico

Youths from Park City Community Church take a break from working on a home in Staten Island, N.Y., last year. The group embarked on a mission trip to the East Coast to help with Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts. Bryan Messick, the Park City Community Church's youth director, is planning to take 15 kids to Tecate, Mexico, to help build houses in July. A dinner to be held at the church on Sunday will raise funds for the trip. (Photo courtesy of Bryan Messick)
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Imagine taking a group of 10 to 15 youths from Park City into one of the more impoverished area of Mexico to build houses for local residents.

That’s what Bryan Messick wants to do in July.

Messick, youth director for the Park City Community Church, plans to leave Monday, July 7, with a group of kids to spend a week in Tecate, Mexico, located on the Baja peninsula.

The cost for each child to go is $1,000, so the church will host a dinner/fundraiser on Sunday, March 23. The food will be served at 6 p.m. The cost is $20 for adults, $10 for children and $40 for families. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

"The meal will be a traditional Mexican fare," Messick said during an interview with The Park Record. "I don’t know the exact menu, but one of our church members, who used to be a chef, will do the cooking. So it should be a fun night."

The idea of going to Mexico to help the locals was inspired by a similar trip Messick took a few years ago with Amor Ministries.

"They have a mission to build homes down there and I went with them and had a really good time," Messick said. "I knew that it would be a pretty awesome experience for anyone to go on, so I ended up doing something similar."

Tecate is one of the poorest parts of Mexico, he said.

"Building homes for these families is an important mission, because, currently, these people literally dig through the trash to build any type of shelter," Messick explained. "When we’re down there, we will at least build one permanent structure in three days."

Currently, 15 kids, who range from grades 7 to 12, have signed up to go.

"We also have one chaperone for every four children going as well," he said.

Messick knows that some of these kids have been to Mexico on vacations, but have never visited an area like Tecate.

"That said, last year I took a group of eight kids on a mission trip to the East Coast to help with the recovery efforts for Hurricane Sandy," he said. "Some of those kids are going with me to Mexico this year, but we’re obviously doing something different."

While churches usually don’t seek rewards from their mission trips, the kids will undoubtedly learn some life lessons, Messick said.

"Last year I asked the kids what their main take was after going on that Hurricane Sandy mission trip and majority of the kids said it gave them the world," he said. "In Park City, we don’t experience a lot of disasters, so it was good for them to get a different perspective. It was good for them to realize that they live in this little bubble up here."

Messick said serving people, not just locally, but around the world, is part of the Park City Community Church’s mission.

"We’re not here to do any bible-[thumping] in the community," he said. "We’re all about being a part of changing the world.

"In this case, it will be a cultural experience for these kids," Messick said. "It will be an introduction to extreme poverty and it will entail realizing that we are all part of the whole picture, no matter what lifestyle we’re living right now."

The main lesson the kids will learn is that they are no different than the other people in the world.

"We’re not better or worse than the next human being, but we have an opportunity to serve them," Messick said. " doing so, the kids I take will realize that these people in Mexico also serve us, which is something I learned in the past when I went. I think that anyone who goes on any type of mission trip will realize that."

Messick said he is already proud of Park City youths in general.

"They are doing some awesome things," he said. "I mean, last year, Mountain Life Church went to Haiti and there have been other projects that are bigger than ourselves that our youths have been a part of, and I think people need to know that."

The Park City Community Church, 4501 N. S.R. 224, will host a Mexican dinner fundraiser on Sunday, March 23, at 6 p.m. The event will benefit the church’s youth mission trip to Tecate, Mexico. The dinner is open to the public. Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children and $40 for families. Reservations can be made by emailing Bryan Messick at bryanm@parkcitychurch.org.

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