Meet Bekah, Who Loves Connecting with Families

This fall, many of you will get the chance to meet Bekah James. A senior at Arizona State University, Bekah has been a Partnerships Associate on the 1MISSION team for the past couple of years at our office in Phoenix.

Starting this week and continuing through the end of the year, she'll be working at our basecamp in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, assisting with build trips. She also has some fun stuff planned for social media during this time, so be sure you're following 1MISSION on Instagram!

As a way of introducing her to all of you, we asked her to write about a meaningful build trip she was part of back in the spring.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to go on a build trip with a group from The Navigators, my college ministry at ASU. We had the privilege of serving the Morales Montoya family and meeting Diana and her kids: Johana, Marco, and Debora.

Bekah and others from The Navigators at ASU with the Morales Montoya family.

In my four trips with 1MISSION, I have never felt the community and connection we experienced with the family as much as we did this year. Many factors played into this, such as a lesser language barrier, as my roommate is fluent in Spanish, and more people than ever in our group partially spoke Spanish. In addition, Diana, the mother of the Morales Montoya family, spoke some English, allowing her to connect with students who spoke minimal or no Spanish.

But what influenced our sense of community with the family more than anything else was Diana’s overwhelming and intentional generosity. During both of our full work days, Diana provided lunch for our group of 18 hungry college students. On the first day, she bought us Little Caesars Pizza, and on the second day, she made us chicken salad. Every person in our group was surprised by yet deeply grateful for her generosity, especially knowing her economic standpoint. It showed us how God wants us to live generously and how, even if the world sees us as poor college students, we have more than enough to give to others out of love.

Further, Diana’s generosity was intentional, as it was centered around food—bringing us all together for meals. Meals are valuable for building relationships and community because it is time set aside to enjoy each other’s company. While it would’ve been easy to buy the food and then leave us to eat it, Diana took the opposite approach by bringing her family into the gathering.

Eating these meals with Diana, Johana, Debora, and Marco broke the stranger barriers and gave us the space to get to know the family and play with the kids. Diana’s generosity on the first day initiated our sense of community with them and led many of our students to connect with her and her kids. From then on, there were at least two to four students out playing soccer with Marco, spinning with Johana, or coloring with Debora.

After the second day, we invited Diana and her kids to dinner with us at Manny’s in Puerto Peñasco. On that final night, we spent time with them, playing in the sand, swinging, dancing, and enjoying each other. Sharing meals opened the door to making a meaningful connection between us and their family.

Together at Manny's restaurant on the beach in Puerto Peñasco.

Community is so important and is a central focus of 1MISSION’s work. It was incredibly encouraging to each student on the trip to see Diana’s intentional generosity as she invested in building community with us. The most impactful part of the trip was our connection with the family and experiencing Diana’s generosity. It further fueled my passion for 1MISSION’s purpose and mission in the community of Puerto Penasco.

There's still time for you to join us for a build trip this fall, winter, or spring. Bekah and the rest of our team would be honored to host you. Learn more and get started today!