My name is Wyatt, I am 27 years old and I live in California.

This Summer I will be visiting Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage for one month to help as a homebuilding intern. I will be in charge of many tasks such as overseeing build sites, facilitating group activities and maintaining the orphanage grounds. My history with Project Mexico began in 2014. I took my first trip to Project Mexico as a member of one of the many Summer build groups. The week was filled with work, a lot of nerves and awkwardness and a lot of fun! This was my first time out of the country and a huge leap out of my comfort zone.

During introductions at the beginning of the week one of the icebreaker questions was why each of us had decided to visit Project Mexico. My response was, “My mom made me go”.

I returned the following year as part of a week-long build group, missed one year due to a surgery and then returned for a third time in 2017 as a Summer intern. Wow. That Summer was probably the most exciting Summer I’d ever experienced. It was filled with all manner of events! There were good times, hard times, crazy times and everything in between. I gained a lot of self-confidence through my experiences that Summer.

The following year (2018) I returned as an intern for a second time and got another dose of unique challenges and personal growth. 2018 was the last time interned for Project Mexico. During the last several years I have visited the orphanage during the off-season (Fall, Winter and Spring) and been a part of three Summer build groups with the same church. I also visited my best friend who moved there to take charge of homebuilding for two years.

I love Project Mexico. I love it so much that I have considered moving there and working for them on many occasions. As time has gone on, however, moving there does not seem like the right thing for me to do, at least not at this time.

My love for Project Mexico is still as strong as it has ever been and I miss spending time there. After a lot of thought and conversations with priests, friends, family and others, I have decided to dedicate one month this Summer as a homebuilding intern. With that decision and upon being accepted as an intern once again, there are certain obligations I am entitled to, one of these being the responsible party for raising $3,000 for my trip. $1,600 of this sum will go to me as a stipend and $1,400 will go to the internship program.

If the funds raised exceed $3,000, the excess goes directly to Project Mexico as a donation. God willing, with your help, I can reach the goal of $3,000 before my Summer journey! I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be returning to Project Mexico as an intern! Getting to work, pray, attend services and meet many other Orthodox Christians almost every day is a dream come true!

I am eager to experience another Summer at Project Mexico and St. Innocent Orphanage. I can’t wait to have those crazy, amazing experiences once again!

If you’d like to support my mission work this summer you can donate directly by clicking the button below.