A mission trip to Puerto Peñasco

On March 16, 2024, a group of ten volunteers waited at the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Ariz., for their van to pick them up and take them across the border, through the desert and to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, for a week of missionary work.

The group was a mash-up of five EMT's, three missionaries, one pastor leading the group and a solitary Whitman County Gazette journalist graciously invited to document the experience.

The mission trip was organized by Well Child International and aimed to help provide much needed medical services and quality of life improvements to some of the impoverished people of Puerto Peñasco.

Michael Birnbaum, Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Colfax, Wash., founded International Services Learning in 1993, which would split into several programs over the years. Well Child International was founded in 2010 as one of those programs, whose focus was to help provide medical and community service to women and children in need.

Birnbaum lived in Puerto Peñasco from 2015 to 2020, and during that time he became ingrained with locals, learning who they are, how they live and what could be done to help. With Well Child International being one of the only global health programs a person can participate in without having to take an international flight, Birnbaum saw the opportunity to help fill many needs left unattended in Puerto Peñasco.

As the group waited, many were introduced to each other. Laura Lautenslager (EMT), Beverly Yates (missionary), Joe Handley (EMT), Hua Ming Newman (EMT), Michael Birnbaum and Justin Slayton (reporter) were all from various parts of Whitman County. Sheri Coumont (EMT) came from Rockford, Wash., Teresa Jenkins (EMT) hailed from Curlew, Wash., Dixie Netsby (missionary), from Spokane, and Percy Davis (missionary) came down across the border from Canada to join in on the trip after learning about it through the Rotary Club.

By noon, the group was on its way across the border, through the desert and to Puerto Peñasco for a week of community service, cultural experiences and fun.