Productive and fulfilling. Those are the first two words that came to mind for missions deacon Glen Elliott when asked about his group's trip to Mexico June 13-19.

The 43-member mission team from the Fort Gibson Church of Christ included teenagers and adults from all walks of life. They spent the week helping construct a 10,000 square foot church building in Santa Monica, Mexico, a growing suburb of Monterrey. There were engineers, lawyers, businessmen, shift workers, students and others working side by side. Some had experience in construction, but most didn't.

“It was exciting to see our local teenage girls and boys working with cement, standing on scaffolding, and laying concrete blocks on a ten foot wall, most for the first time,” Elliott said.

It was 15-year-old Hannah Perry of Fort Gibson's first time to go on a mission trip into Mexico.

“It was a lot of fun!” she said. “And it was a life-changing experience. It was eye-opening to see the lifestyles of the Mexican people. If anyone gets a chance to go on a mission trip they should definitely take it.”

Dustin Ross, 15, of Fort Gibson said, “I love Mexico! And it's not dangerous.”

Josh Huggins, 19, of Fort Gibson, 19, has been on the mission trip five years in a row.

“The trip was better than I could have ever imagined,” he said.

The new building is a church plant that is already paying off. Membership has doubled in size from 40 to 80 members since the group began to meet about a year and a half ago in a small storage shed adjacent to the new construction.

While on the jobsite, the mission team got to witness 72-year-old Joveta Martinez Vasquez of Santa Monica as she put on Christ in baptism.

“The trip was awesome! My favorite part was seeing the baptism of the elderly Mexican lady,” said Trey Lashley, 16, of Fort Gibson.

Katie Coombs, 17, of Fort Gibson also was impressed by the woman's baptism.

“This is the best trip I have ever been on and I've been on a lot of church trips.” Coombs said. “It was exciting to see so many people come together for one purpose to get a job done. But my favorite part was watching that little lady get baptized.”

Elliott said this trip felt safer and less stressful than the previous four years, both on the road and on the jobsite. Earlier reports of drug-related violence and swine flu scared a lot of groups and individuals out of making mission trips into Mexico this summer. But Elliott said the trip experienced no major problems.

Adult sponsor Kenny Lashley laughed, saying, “I talked with a Mexican math and physics teacher this week who said there is no flu crisis that he knows of.”