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| Spring Break Mission Trip--The Door Atlanta, GA
March 4-9, 2012 Want to be part of something amazing? Join a group of students and young adults heading to help out and learn from the people in the inner city of Atlanta. To see what types of things the group will be doing and for more info on The Door--ATL, check out: http://www.doornetwork.org/index.cfm?load=page&page=218&category=3v Murphy, NC (2011) Our group went into the NC mountains to meet Mrs Ruby who had lived in her house for 45 years, but for the last few years has lived there alone. The house had inches of dust and cat dander and the family believed on keeping everything, junk or not. Trash was just thrown out back, including over 200 old tires that we hauled off. New carpet, new paint, a lot of trips to the dump, and a lot of cleaning, and Mrs. Ruby was much better off. More importantly, she knew she was not forgotten and she knew she was loved. Leon, Nicaragua (2010) Our team went back to Nicaragua to work with El Ayudante. The team worked with the young people at the Youth Protection Center, children in local schools and handed out food and care packages in one of the local communities. The highlight of the week was helping build a new house for a family to move into and take care of one of the girls who had been living at El Ayudante that would now get to move in with her Uncle and Aunt. Chicago, IL (2009) Our team went and helped "Good News Partners" with a ministry to the homeless in Chicago. The team helped renovate, clean, paint, and organize several apartments to get them ready for people who had been homeless to move into. The team also ate each night with what we first saw as the homeless at the community cafe. By the end of the week we ate there with who we saw to be friends. The team also were able to do some educational programs with local children. It was a great week. Leon, Nicaragua (2008) Last Spring Break, a team of 16 headed to Leon, Nicaragua. We stayed at a beautiful ministry called El Ayudante. On Sunday morning we went to Mass at the oldest Cathedral in Central America afterwards touring downtown Leon. That afternoon we went back to El Ayudante and met the children from the Youth Protection Center for the first time. These kids had a way of grabbing your heart and making you smile all over. That night we went to an amazing worship at a Pentecostal church. Throughout the week we conducted four Vacation Bible Schools at three different local schools and a Compassion International site. This VBS included games, crafts, and a Bible story. Tuesday night we went back to the Compassion International site and planned to have a youth rally that actually included people of all ages. We ended the rally by having a pizza party. For many, it was the first time they had ever had pizza. It was an eye opening experience of everyone on our team to see that something like pizza that we can take for granted, some people never get to experience. In addition to working with the children in Nicaragua, we also helped with the painting of a new medical clinic for three days. On our last day working in Leon, we took a life changing trip to the landfill. It was heart breaking to see people looking through trash to find things that they could make use of or to fix and sell to help support their family. But you could see God among the dirt, the flies, and the smells. Through all of this, even though these people had very little they were praising God for what they did have. Although the pastor spoke another language, he spoke with such passion and love for our God and for the people he was speaking to that our group was moved as well. Our translators told us that he was telling them that they are the salt of the earth and have value and great worth. They need to go out and give the world flavor. After we left the landfill we headed to the Pacific Ocean for dinner and some relaxing before leaving the next morning. There are so many stories to tell, but we will stop with this general overview. Needless to say, it was an awesome trip. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota (2007) Spring Break 2007 was spent in South Dakota at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. We were able to travel around and see the sights like the Badlands and Mount Rushmore as well as seeing the beautiful countryside with prairie dog towns and roaming buffalo. But what really made the week was working with the people on the reservation. We were able to really hear their stories as they shared the pain over having land taken from them and even losing family members in past battles like the one at Wounded Knee. We also saw how the youth live amidst heavy gang concentrations, high alcoholism rates, poverty all around with with little hope of ever getting off the Reservation or feeling like the Reservation can change for the good. Through youth rallies partnering with a local church, going into tutor in local schools, working to improve a family's home, and helping to build a community center that will be a place for future mission teams to come as well as a center for young people to gather at and call their own, our team got to carry a message of hope. Interestingly enough, it's a message that not only stayed there but came back with us. Each year First Presbyterian here in town takes a group back to Pine Ridge and PSFers continue to have the opportunity to go back each summer and perhaps even a Spring Break sometime soon. Gautier, MS (2006) A tempory camp was set up by the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) folks, with mobile pod units for sleeping and a large tent for a dining hall, This would be home base for our team to go out and do hurricane relief work in the aftermath of Katrina. For a week our team went out and heard stories of people surving the surging ocean that washed out their homes and then about the devastation afterwards. We helped one lady out by building a wheel chair ramp up to a trailer door so she could get back in their home. At a second house we heard about sea eels found in their swimming pool after the storm and about a dog who clung to a tree with its paws and somehow survived while the family rode it out downstairs initially with the wind and then on the second floor as the water came in. We began the process of ripping out all of the walls downstairs to get them ready to be treated for mold which would have to be done before the group could move back in from their FEMA trailer. We worked on a third home where we helped trim the doors and windows (with the help of an experienced carpenter), put up and sanded drywall, and then primed and painted the house and had the home ready to move back in by the time we left and gave the family several gift cards to be able to replace some of the furniture and everyday items in the house. Out of appreciation, the family fixed us some seafood gumbo which was incredible and a great way to wrap up the week. |
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