For some, a junkyard might seem like an unlikely place to discover happiness; yet, dancing on top of a littered ocean-side mountain with two young girls who lived in the city dump, a Revere High School junior found joy that she could hardly contain.

From July 5 to July 14, RHS junior Lexie Farist travelled to Mazatlán, Mexico, with around 40 other teens and their families from Grace Church in Bath, Ohio. Through a partnership with a church in the city called Amor y Libertad, which translates in English to “Love and Liberty,” Farist aided children and families in neighborhoods across Mazatlán.

Todd Shoemaker, Pastor of Student Ministries at Grace Church, led the trip and explained how the team has almost doubled in size every year since the first team of eight people visited Mazatlán in 2012.

Farist had not volunteered on a mission trip prior to this summer, and she did not know anyone on the team. She expressed how she initially felt unsure about whether or not she would enjoy the experience.

“I was really nervous, and I didn’t know what to expect. [Going on the trip] was totally out of my comfort zone,” Farist said.

Once they arrived in Mazatlán, Farist and the team spent the first three days visiting people who worked on top of a mountain where the city disposed of trash. The families who lived on this mountain earned pennies a day by sorting through the trash and collecting metal and plastic. The mission team wanted to aid the impoverished community.

Farist explained that the team hosted a Vacation Bible School (VBS), where they provided games, crafts and a Bible lesson for the children who lived in the trash-littered area. By the end of the VBS, almost the entire population of the mountain junkyard attended.

“The parents were there. They brought their dogs. The kids were everywhere,” Farist said.

At the VBS, Farist met two little girls named Perla, age 5, and Maria, age 7. She instantly built friendships with them and looked forward to dancing, playing and drawing with them for the first three days of the trip.

“[Perla sat] on my lap and held my hand, and we [danced] around the room. I fell in love with her,” Farist said.

Farist described how her early morning interactions with Perla and Maria were the most precious moments of her trip. She explained that the girls made the entire trip worth it, and she will never forget them.

For the five days after the VBS, the team visited a playground and hosted a health festival to teach the people in the neighborhood about basic personal hygiene such as how to brush their teeth, how to shower and prevent lice and ticks, which are prevalent in Mazatlán. At another station, members of the team gave peoples’ pet dogs medicine to remove their intestinal worms. The team worked at the festival until dusk each day.

Farist worked at a face painting station where kids could ask her to paint a mariposa (butterfly), flor (flower) or corazón (heart) on their cheeks. Without access to towels to clean off her paintbrushes, Farist used her arms and legs to remove excess paint from the brushes. At the end of each day, paint caked Farist’s body from head-to-toe.

Grace VanFossen, a junior at Highland High School, went to Mazatlán with Farist and admired her positive attitude during tiresome hours of the trip.

“[Farist] was very bubbly, and she was not afraid of the language barrier at all,” VanFossen said.

Despite not knowing any Spanish when she left for Mazatlán, Farist described how the children taught her a few words and phrases while she painted their faces at the health festival.

“The little girls and the little boys would all teach me how to [say] the different colors [in Spanish],” Farist said.

Farist appreciates that the trip to Mazatlán allowed her to better respect life in the United States. She had never realized how blessed she is to live in such a wealthy country until she witnessed the poverty in Mazatlán.

The joy of people with very few possessions to call their own in Mazatlán entirely changed Farist’s attitude towards her own life.

“It was so impactful. I have never been so happy. I had this joy [that] I [could not] contain,” Farist said.

Farist’s positive attitude and personal growth during the trip greatly impressed Todd Shoemaker, the trip leader.

“[Farist] started off the week [hesitantly], but she got more comfortable and confident [with] whom she is and the abilities she has. I think that [her energy] is a gift,” Shoemaker said.

Because this experience greatly changed her life, Farist recommends that people go on a similar trip to impact others positively and experience personal emotional growth.

Sitting with Perla and Maria on top of the mountain, Farist could see the ocean and feel the sun’s warmth on her face. As she looked into the girls’ eyes, Farist knew she wanted to return to Mazatlán. Farist plans on returning to Mazatlán in the summer of 2016 and is interested in staying in the city for an entire year after she graduates from Revere in 2017.