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CCPC to Visit Friends at Iglesia Maranatha

Oct 10, 2019

Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, one of the partner churches for Soccer Chaplains United, is headed out to Juarez, Mexico. The church has been serving and working together with Iglesia Maranatha for many years and this annual trip has become a traditional outreach for families to go and serve others. Cherry Creek’s request will be the 9th community project of 2019 that is sponsored by Soccer Chaplains United.

One of this year’s team members, Jacob Smith, shares what the experience is like and what he and other members of the team are looking forward to:

The team of Juarez 2019 consists of more than twenty-five people, some of which are included in families, others that are traveling to Juarez without their related family but are still traveling with their church family. The leader of the team (Parker Dragovich) has been going to this small church, in Juarez for more than twenty-five years, she has a strong relationship with many people there, and because of this, our giant church in Cherry Creek, USA has a great relationship with the small local church in Juarez, Mexico.

The mission starts about month before we actually leave for the trip, with a full team meeting in witch we discuss a typical day during the trip, jobs, packing list, and what goals we hope to accomplish while there.

This year, the CCPC Juarez team has requested 5 soccer balls and 40-50 t-shirts or jerseys and soccer ball pumps. Below is a picture of what Soccer Chaplains United is able to provide.

Soccer Chaplains United is able to provide nearly 300 soccer t-shirts and 7 new soccer balls

We leave for the trip on Saturday morning at 4:00 am, we drive for about 10-12 hours until we reach El Paso, Texas and have dinner. We then drive for about half an hour, across the border to Iglesia Maranatha the local church and compound we will be staying in for the week. Upon reaching the church, our team unloads the baggage and finds the rooms we will be staying in, and by rooms I mean a concrete roof , floor, and walls, with no doors. There are no furnishings beside ply wood bunks that threaten to collapse when you put any weight on them. After we find our rooms, we have a meeting with the pastor and his family, and then go to bed.

Pictures from 2017 — CCPC shares jerseys down in Juarez before a local game of soccer

The next day, our team, and many of the people in the congregation, carpool to go to the nearby park where we have an competitive soccer game with the local people and enjoy a delicious lunch. This is the time when everybody grows in community with one another and launches a great start to a great week.

Please pray for Jacob Smith and the rest of the 2019 Juarez Mission Team from Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church while they work and serve with the church at Iglesia Maranatha.

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