Experiences

Mission Trip Experiences

Personal Experiences

"Jesus in the Garbage Dump" - Gloria Whidby April 2001

"Jesus wept" (John 11:36)... the shortest scripture verse in the Bible, but perhaps the most significant words in the gospel. Why? Because it was Jesus who wept. These two words demonstrate that it was Jesus' ability to weep and enter into communion with people that permitted Him to bring the people salvation. In other words, Jesus saved people not by standing outside their experience of pain, but by entering into it.

This truth was confirmed on our recent Amigos for Christ mission trip to Chinandega, Nicaragua. Twenty-four adults and twenty-four teenagers spent their Spring Break serving the poorest of the poor. We had brought thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies, along with a doctor and two nurses who would serve the sick and dying in the remote areas of northern Nicaragua. The health clinic, medical van, and local doctor are funded by Amigos for Christ. On one day of the trip, our team was at the garbage dump to move 18 families displaced by Hurricane Mitch from their makeshift huts to their newly constructed homes at Santa Matilde. I was standing in the middle of the dump as trucks delivered "fresh" trash. Children, men, women and oxen surrounded the trucks, scavenging for food and possible recyclable items. The dust, smoke and smell of burning trash were almost unbearable. Something caught my eye in a clearing being blown by the wind. There I found this photo of Jesus, Jesus as He would have appeared in the dump over 2,000 years ago. His appearance was filthy, his skin red and weather beaten from the sun. I turned to show my daughter what I had found. When she saw the face of Jesus, she lost all composure she had been trying so very hard to keep. She cried, saying "Mom, I prayed that I would see Jesus in the garbage dump today."

All week we had been invited and challenged to enter into communion with the Nicaraguan people, to enter into their experience, to work with them side by side. We did not completely finish the church we had started, nor did we eliminate hunger or poverty. We did not cure all diseases and sickness, but we did what Jesus would have done. We were there in the midst of it all, entering into their experiences, refusing to run away, weeping with them. We were there with Jesus in the garbage dump.

"JOY - Just Open Yourself" - Nance Burrell October 2006

Summers of 2004, 2005 and 2006 and Falls of 2004 and 2005 have found me with Amigos in Chinandega, Nicaragua working beside the folks there. Described as “poor”, I am the one “poor” whose spirit is so nourished by the JOY of these peoples.

Over the years I have opened myself more. My first mission trip in July 2004 when I took my 14 year old nephew was spent doing behind the scenes work with rebar to be used in the school. Sparce were my interactions with the village folk. July 2005 I moved closer as I worked on the houses and became “Madrina”, godmother to 3 year of Yolini when she was baptized. July 2006 I was totally immersed as I worked beside 11 year old Jacqueline digging trenches for the water lines.

Falls of 2004 and 2005 I joined orthopedic surgical brigades and helped prepare people for surgery. Little ones came for repair of club feet. Adults came for repairs of fractures, long neglected or inadequately repaired.

Escaping the culturing conditioning of what is “important” in this country, I am nourished by what is really important: connecting with others and living simply. I continue to return, fed and nourished by the richness of these people; people who have so little materially and yet are so rich in JOY. I cannot imagine not returning to reconnect with Yolini and Jacqueline. Committed am I to supporting their growth and education.

"Just by Smiling" - Anonymous (14 yrs old) 2004

Just by smiling, a child’s heart was sewn back together.

Just by smiling, a mother’s hope was restored altogether.

Just by smiling, a father’s strength was enough to build a home.

Just by smiling, a baby’s cry ceased with happy laughter.

Just by smiling and holding that tiny girl’s hand,

You’ve formed a bond that can’t be broken.

A life long friend.

Just by smiling, the fear of a stranger is no longer there.

Just by smiling, you’ve made a little boy’s life worth living.

Just by smiling, we can make Nicaragua a better, happier place.

Just by smiling, we can make everybody put a smile on their face!

"Through a Young Girl's Eyes"-Anna Sulimirski July 2003

I feel fulfilled. I feel whole.

Helping these needy people can nourish your soul.

When you are stripped bare and are away from your schedule and everything’s new, you change more than you can imagine and become…just you.

A child touches your hand. A string pulls in your heart. With bony fingers in yours, you realize how your worlds are so far apart.

The piles of trash are tremendous. The amount of people living in it is huge. Just the thought of a lifestyle like that is horrendous.

With what little they have, they still believe in Jesus. With such great faith, there’s something they can teach us.

Faith without work is nothing. Work without faith is empty. Please give what you can.

According to them…You’ve got plenty!

Submitted by Susan Mohr - February 2007

I have been to Nicaragua twice in two years. That's quite a statement coming from someone who had never done anything as remotely adventurous in her life and who still can’t quite figure out why she signed up to go there the first time, or why she couldn't resist going back a second time, and is already back on Amigo's website trying to figure out a good time to go back for a third.

I have absolutely no special gifts to equip me for mission trips. I'm an office worker who is not particularly athletic (who am I kidding? I am totally out of shape), I don't speak more than a dozen words of Spanish, and I have absolutely no construction skills whatsoever unless you count hanging a picture on the wall or wallpapering a bathroom a few years back. In fact, the first time I went on a mission trip with Amigos I spent the entire flight obsessing about the many reasons why I had no business being on a mission trip. But once I got to Nicaragua and the first kid ran up to me to me and gave me a big hug and a radiant smile, I was good to go. I learned to make tortillas, helped move a truckload of bricks, planted some vegetables, hugged a hundred children, and took a thousand photos. I came to love cold showers, instant coffee, drinking Gatorade by the gallon, eating beans twice a day, and riding on ramshackle buses to the edge of Nowhere. I learned to communicate very!
effectively with facial expressions, hand gestures, and a few overworked words from my meager Spanish vocabulary. I learned that wearing mascara or styling my hair in a tropical climate is a waste of time and energy. But most of all I learned that I am just a tiny cog in the big wheel of the life, that I am enormously blessed, and that the things that I worry about so much in my "normal life" are not worth worrying about at all. I came to understand that we are all God’s Children, we just happen to be in different places and circumstances.

I can honestly say that the days I've spent in Nicaragua are some of the most memorable days of my life. Each time I return I struggle to find words to describe my experiences to curious family and friends. Frankly, it’s just one of those things you have to experience for yourself in order to understand. The best I can do to describe my Nicaraguan experiences is to say that it is truly life changing in ways I could never have predicted, that I left each time with a thousand times more than what I gave, and I am enormously grateful for the chance to experience the purity and graciousness of those wonderful people. I just can't wait to go back (and if you've ever been there you know exactly what I mean).

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