Xalapa 2002

Click here to see pictures!

In Spring Break of 2002, a group of 10 from Campus Crusade at the Colorado School of Mines went on the first Annual CSM Campus Crusade Missionary Trip to Xalapa, Mexico which is a city about the size of Colorado Springs, north of Verzcruz. The team left Saturday, March 9th at around 12:30 PM for Mexico City and arrived around midnight. From the airport, they went to the bus station and rode a bus for about 5 hours overnight. They arrived in Xalapa around 6 in the morning, crammed ten people into two taxis, and arrived at Keefe Daily's house. Keefe is a Mines graduate who is now on fulltime staff for Campus Crusade for Christ in Xalapa. Finally, the group checked into the hotel ($9 per night!) and rested for the day. Some went shopping and wandered around the city while others slept.

Xalapa (also spelled Jalapa) is located east of Mexico City, northwest of Veracruz.

There is already a Campus Crusade ministry set up there. The ring leaders are Herardo and his wife Judith. Some students help out as well as part-time American Crasade staff. There were two girls down there, Dawn and Kim, who have a big passion for the ministry. And of course there was also Keefe and his Chilean wife Paula.

Monday thru Thursday, the group went to different campuses and talked to college students. Xalapa has several campuses spread throughout the city. The ministry also included some sports and going out to coffee with students. Here's what the schedule looked like:

Monday

• 9 AM-1 PM Talked with students and a class on the Commercial and Business Campus
• 7 PM Had team meeting/training

  Tuesday

• 9 AM-1 PM Talked with students and a class on the Engineering Campus

  Wednesday

• 9 AM-1 PM Talked with students and a class on the Humanities Campus (more specifically, English majors!)
• 8 PM-10 PM Campus Crusade nightly meetings - Algo Más - The topic: The Differences Between Men and Women

  Thursday

• 9 AM-12 PM Talked with students and a class on the Publicity Campus
• 4-8 PM Sports

  Friday

• Spend the day in Xico
• Team meeting/reflection time
• Eat at Taco Sam's

The group did several extra activities while they were there like attending English classes at the Language Center and talking to students and going out to coffee. Friday they spent most of the day in Xico, a small town about 30-45 minutes outside of Xalapa. It is really pretty and there are some really neat waterfalls there. There have even been some movies filmed around Xico. The group went swimming there for a while with some of the students they met. It was fun! Finally, they invited everyone they had met at the various campuses to Taco Sam's, a really popular taco restaurant.

Finally, after a long but satisfying week, the group left Friday night for Mexico City (by bus) and arrived there around 5:00 the next morning. From Mexico City they flew back to Denver.

Click on the links to see my Xalapa pictures