Crossing the border to meet our sponsored child

Crossing the border to meet our sponsored child.

Eastside is taking three trips to Baja, Mexico, this July, where Eastsiders will help with work projects and get to know kids at Tijuana Christian Mission.

Keep reading to learn how the Quines family has been impacted by Eastside’s Baja partnership and Unprecedented Hope has been spread by so many Eastsiders.

“Sponsoring Esther has always been a blessing. But when we got to go and meet her, it became a RELATIONSHIP. 

Esther is graduating high school in June, with plans to go to college, and we can’t wait to go to Baja and celebrate with her this July.”

The Quines family’s story:

We started sponsoring Esther through Eastside’s child sponsorship partnership with the City of Refuge – a children’s home in Baja, Mexico. This partnership began during the height of Covid, so we couldn’t go to Mexico to meet her for a couple of years. 

We got to know her in small ways like learning her favorite things and writing letters back and forth. We found out she loved playing volleyball, was really smart and was one of the oldest girls living at the City of Refuge.

But, in July 2022 we finally got to meet Esther for the first time! We arrived at the City of Refuge, knowing God’s work in us was unfinished. The first question on our mind as we arrived was, “Where is Esther?!”

Finally, we saw her shy smile and got to give her a big hug in person! 

crossing the border

Over the next three days in between helping build, paint, and do other projects, we’d spend as much time as we could sitting and talking with Esther. Between our limited Spanish, Google translate, and some patient Eastsiders and staff who translated for us, we were able to talk for hours and find out so much about Esther!

Esther would be graduating the following year and was wanting to go to college. We learned she would be one of the first to move into the new Superdorm Eastside had been building for older high school kids. We were able to show her inside where we’d been painting and see where she’d move just months later. She got to know our kids, and we shared photos and made plans for how to communicate more often.

We’ve been chatting with Esther every month (or more!), and thanks to Tijuana Christian Mission’s staff, we found out that Esther is graduating high school this June (2023) and will be attending college this fall with the continued support of her City of Refuge family.

We are so proud of her and thrilled to be a very small part of Esther’s success story. We know that our monthly contribution, along with a couple of other Eastsiders (kids often have 3-4 sponsors each), has allowed Esther to live in an environment where she has thrived! She is walking with Jesus, she has the opportunity to go to college, she is safe and loved, and has community…all things that may not have been true for her without sponsorship allowing her to live at City of Refuge.

Sponsoring Esther has always been a blessing. But when we got to go and meet her, it became a relationship. We can’t wait to go back to Mexico this July on a trip with Eastside to see Esther and celebrate her graduation!

FIND OUT ABOUT GOING TO BAJA THIS SUMMER OR LEARN MORE ABOUT CHILD SPONSORSHIPS