Villa Granada - A home base for mission trips

After a five hour drive from Phoenix, Ariz., across the U.S.- Mexico border and through the Sonoran desert, our group arrived at the coastal city of Puerto Peñasco.

Nestled in the heart of the city is the mission building that serves as the home-base for Well Child International's Peñasco trips, Mission Villa Granada.

The building was originally built in 1963 as a hotel. From 1963-1978 the hotel was a local hot spot for politicians, local celebrities and international celebrities like Rock Hudson and Tom Jones to visit.

After several years of neglect, the hotel was purchased from the sons of the original owner by Mark Lastovica, who helped get the building operational through donations for mission groups to work out of.

While the group sizes and frequency of visits have fluctuated since the COVID-19 pandemic, the villa still sees groups of 10-20 people for weekend and long-term missions organized by Mexican churches and non-profit groups like Well Child International.

In Puerto Peñasco, the villa is overseen by Saul Veladiz, who also works as the Country Coordinator for International Services Learning, helping guide our group during our stay, organizing the day-to-day operations and acting as one of several bi-lingual interpreters for the trip. Veladiz has been in his role since 2014, and during 2023 alone helped oversee 32 groups at Villa Granada.