Bradford’s Pastor Tim Walker isn’t just helping to build programs and infrastructure for those in need; he’s building international bonds.
Since 2006, Walker has taken teams of between 10 to 20 people roughly 3,550 kilometres to Puerto Escondido, Mexico on nine separate occasions for mission work, including building or expanding churches and other structures, helping with maintenance and operating children’s programming such as games and educational activities.
While the members of the team vary from trip to trip, Walker has seen many of them maintain long-distance links with their Mexican friends through social media and other means.
“It’s incredibly satisfying and it’s a privilege and it’s humbling all at the same time,” Walker said.
Having only just recently returned from a vacation in Puerto Escondido, Walker was already preparing to head back on the morning of March 14 to begin preparing for the newest team to begin work helping build an orphanage and men’s rehab centre. In the one to five days after, he expects to be followed by seven people from Bradford and Barrie, one from Ottawa, two from Alberta and five from California.
The California group also includes Walker’s son, who has become a pastor himself, meaning the trip isn’t just international, but intergenerational.
That complements the two generations of Gaby and his son Jocasan, who are spearheading the efforts for the rehab centre and orphanage, respectively.
Walker explained that about 24 years ago, Gaby had his own struggles with drugs and alcohol before finding help from a minister and overcoming those substances, which led Gaby to find work and eventually meet his wife, Veronica, with whom he started a family.
A few years ago, Gaby felt a calling to give back by building a rehab centre with enough room in the dorms for 15 men and bought a roughly 0.8-hectare site.
Jocasan grew up to marry Kayla, an American woman who was teaching at a school in Puerto Escondido, according to Walker, who explained that not long after, they felt compelled to build the Abba Father Orphanage planned to have room for 20 to 40 children.
For that they bought a roughly two-hectare site.
Walker and his team are hoping to divide and conquer during their trip to clear both sites of brush in order to help begin building the dorms for the rehab centre and laying the foundation for the orphanage.
Among other things, that means moving about 4,000 concrete blocks — all by hand, but hopefully with wheelbarrows.
“It’s going to be big,” Walker said. “It’s a lot of work.”
While he and the team are planning to spend about five days on each site, he expects it will take anywhere from two to three years to get everything done, depending on the success of fundraising efforts.
Walker said they estimate it will cost about $125,000 in Canadian currency to finish the rehab centre and about C$350,000 to finish the orphanage, which would be difficult for them to raise locally.
“They would need to find very deep Mexican pockets, and that’s very hard to come by,” he said.
As a result, many of the donations have come from Canada and the U.S., including from Kayla’s own home church, whose members have also made trips to help out, and locally from the Presbytery of Oak Ridges — the regional body of the church for York Region and southern Simcoe County — who donated $4,000, including $2,000 for each of the two builds.
With an exchange rate of roughly 14 Mexican pesos to one Canadian dollar, that “absolutely guarantees” that Walker’s team will be able to afford plenty of building supplies and will remain busy.
Despite the openings for both builds likely being years away, both couples already have plans in place to help make things more sustainable, including keeping chickens, goats and sheep for milk, eggs and meat, as well as taking advantage of the climate by planting a variety of fruit trees such as bananas, papaya, pineapple, mangoes and limes.
“That’s the beauty of where they are — fruit can grow all year round,” Walker said.
Walker and his teams have also helped people in and around Puerto Escondido see what’s ahead of them — literally.
Last year, an eye doctor and friend of Walker’s accompanied them on the trip, and over two weeks, Walker estimates they were able to examine about 190 people in 15 different locations, and send about 120 pairs of glasses thanks to companies providing overstock frames and a company from Cambridge providing the lenses.
While they aren’t fully replicating that program this year, Walker is still hoping to arrange eye exams for those in need, and plans to take about 400 pairs of used eye wear to fit them as best as possible.
Walker estimates the average pair of glasses in Mexico would cost about C$250, and for many living in less affluent areas “that would take them months of working to be able to buy.”
The local pastor was initially drawn to Puerto Escondido about 22 years ago because his wife’s parents had been vacationing there, so the couple decided to go and see it for themselves.
That led to a trip back the second year, and when a sabbatical offered Walker the chance to perform missionary work internationally, he went back for the third year in a row.
“I have just fallen in love with the Mexican people,” he said. “I just keeping wanting to go back.”
After serving as the pastor for Bradford Baptist Church for more than 37 years, Walker retired from that role in early 2023 to become a pastor in association at St John’s.
That allows him to work with them and follow his pastoral calling under their authority, which allows him to help those less fortunate, regardless of whether they’re Christian or not.
“You love to share the love of God with anyone. It’s a blessing to you, it’s a blessing to them and you’re enriched because of it,” he said.
The pastor recounted handing out used clothing in a small community in the mountains outside of Nopala, where a young boy was so happy to receive a T-shirt that he immediately ran home with it.
The local mayor explained that was likely the only other shirt the boy owned, Walker recalled.
“You just end up blessing these people and sometimes you don’t even know the impact that you’re making,” Walker said. “Just to see the smiles and the impacts on people’s heart and minds — it’s amazing.”
While he wishes everyone could join the team and experience the difference they make, Walker also appreciates the ongoing efforts of those in the community to help others, both locally and abroad.
Anyone who wants to learn more or contribute to Walker’s work can contact St. John’s at 905-775-7274 or email [email protected].