Find one of our upcoming youth mission trips.

Internation Mission Trip: After being here in Costa Rica for about three weeks, the reality of being here all summer started to set in and the days seemed to get long, but our spirits were brightened when our next team from western Pennsylvania arrived.  The group came with great attitudes and ready to work.  Once everyone arrived at the work sites they realized that with the cultural difference, work was going to move much slower than expected.  For us in America, we are used to getting things done in a time effective manner, but here, all of the teams are finding that the work moves much slower.  After realizing the cultural difference, they decided to embrace it instead of fight it.  They immediately spent more time getting to know the people they were working with and serving alongside as well as sharing their lives with them.  Western Pennsylvania was not only a blessing for this community on the Bri Bri reservation, but also a blessing for our summer staff as well.  Their great attitudes lifted our spirits, while Jacob and Alex brought constant laughs. 

This group came down ready to serve in any way possible and ready to serve anyone.  They were even able to financially bless us as summer Staff after Yon’s tennis shoes were stolen.  He desperately needed a new pair of shoes and they wanted to treat us to dinner so they left us money for him to get new shoes and for us to watch a movie and get dinner.  We had money left over so we wanted to pass on the blessing to someone else.  We were able to help Retano, a taxi driver from last year, who lost his leg to diabetes.  He is in the process of getting a prosthetic leg, but is short on funds.  God was able to bless Retano though the western Pennsylvania group with money to go towards his new leg.  Many lives were touched this week.  Even though there are bumps in the road sometimes, God is providing down here and doing amazing things.

Team Costa Rica

*Do you want to go on a mission trip? Check out www.experiencemission.org to view our communities for Summer 2010.

Youth Mission Trips: I can’t imagine a better week. We had two short term mission trip teams this week- Voyagers Bible Church from Irvine, CA and First Presbyterian Church from Ashland, OR. They worked so incredibly hard and from the minute they stepped off the busses they were serving everyone they met.

All of the girls from the CA group had determined before-hand not to wear or bring any makeup at all. What beauties they were too! They also wrote PHIL. 4:12 on their arms (“Do everything without complaining or arguing.”) And that’s just what they did! Even at meals, each person would ask someone “May I serve you?”, and they would go down the line together, each making the other’s plate, just as an act of service and a good way to get a chance to talk together. The Lord taught each student so much and I was amazed at the growth that happened as each of them shared with me what God had taught them through a new culture, new people, hard work, and lots of laughs.

The Lord displayed His divine pursuit this week as well. On Wednesday night as we sat in on the Navajo service, the Lord impressed on my heart to share my testimony with the group this week. So Friday night, while we were out having worship at the base of Shiprock, looking out across the plains, I shared my story, hoping it would be used by the Lord. That night, one of the girls came to me in tears, telling me that she shares a very similar story and she didn’t know how to escape from a bad upbringing and the traps of the world. I was able to encourage her in the Word and share with her more about the freedom in Christ. She experienced such a breakthrough and relief!! Praise the Lord for divine appointments and relationships!

-Navajo Nation staff

*Note: Experience Mission offers Christian mission trips to groups of youth, college, and adult. Interested in finding out more about the Navajo Nation? Check out our website at www.ExperienceMission.org for more information and to sign up for Summer 2010 trips.

Short term Mission Trips: The restoration project in Pearlington has become a national affair. With the four year anniversary of Katrina making land coming up in August, Pearlington is still in need of volunteer efforts to completely recover. In the last two weeks, youth mission trip teams from California, Chicago and Houston have come to Pearlington to play a part in the rebuilding effort following Hurricane Katrina. The groups have made significant progress on houses for four deserving families in the community, including an elderly woman who looks to move into her finished home in three weeks.

The mission trip teams have been working hard on insulating the walls, installing hardwood flooring, tiling the bathrooms and getting the electrical outlets up and running. In the two weeks that teams have been over at the O’Neal house, the site has been transformed from an empty house that had just been walled in, into a beautiful home that is a couple weeks of touchup work away from being completed.

Every week, Ms. O’Neal, a vivacious 76 year old woman who doesn’t look a day over 50, stops buy to offer her encouragement to the teams and tell them how inspirational they are for the community. On Friday the 19th, Ms. O’Neal and her fiancée cooked up 30 pounds of turkey necks, an enormous pot of sausage as well as corn on the cob for lunch for the mission trip team from Chicago. We ate and laughed and talked about the future of Pearlington and the importance of a continued rebuilding effort. Ms O’Neal had to fight legislation for nearly three years before her plans for a house were finally approved and properly funded. After partnering with community member Glenn Locklin and Experience Mission, her dreams are finally coming to fruition. She told us that “without people like y’all, we wouldn’t ever have our homes back.”

Ms. O’Neal has been an inspiration for the Experience Mission staff in Pearlington, and her incredible attitude is a driving force for every group that comes to her house. We are excited to finish her house soon, and look forward to seeing how God uses her testimony as an example of hope for the community.

*Note: Check out our website at www.ExperienceMission.org for information about upcoming Summer 2010 mission trips.

Rural West Virginia: At the beginning of last week, we traveled to a community in West Virginia that had recently suffered a flood.  There we found out about a woman named Edna whose house had survived the flood but sustained a lot of damage.  She is a mom who works and goes to school.  We decided to take on the project and help her rebuild her house during our upcoming mission trips.  In the process of this, we met her mother, Dot.  Dot was always there during the day helping the team while Edna worked.  I had the opportunity to take a break from helping at the Timothy Jones house and painting the Lions Club caboose to visit the site one day.  While I was there I talked with Dot for just a moment.  She is such an awesome lady!  So many of the students on the trip saw Jesus in her every day.  I told her how they shared their “Joy, Junk and Jesus” moments from their day every night.  They said that whenever they needed something she was right there ready to help out.  When I told Dot why they saw Jesus in her she smiled and told me what a blessing our presence there had been.  She said that FEMA had called the day before and offered Edna a trailer but she was able to turn it down because she had “some wonderful missionaries sent to rebuild my house.”  It is amazing to see how a group of kids from Atlanta came to Gary, West Virignia and were able to help Edna and how she in turn was able to give the FEMA trailer to someone else who needed it more than she did.  We are looking forward to meeting more and more people like Dot and Edna as the summer moves along and we execute more mission trips.
-Crystal, Trip Coordinator, Gary, West Virginia 09

Note: Experience Mission works in rural locations like West Virginia, but they also work in urban locations and international communities. Check out all of the places we’re serving this year and the new communities we will be in next summer as well; all at www.experiencemission.org.

Short term Mission Trips:

Mid week fix for everyone.

The first mission trip team arrived Monday, we have done so many crazy and God-filled things it has been amazing. We have been helping out with kids at the Root Cellar, painting decks for the people that are living in public housing, and volunteering at Preble Street, where we have helped serve the homeless breakfast. 

The current youth mission trip team is made up of only 13 people, the Maker’s dozen, and we have stretched them really thin. We have had very little downtime for them to recover, so please pray for strength for them as well as Cori, Laurie, and I.

Laurie has been under the weather so we need her to get better soon.

Thank you for your prayers. Pray that we lean not on our own understanding, but on our Heavenly Father’s.

Portland team

PS. The reason this is so short is because my computer was locked in an office during the time I had planned to write this. Another great example of God forcing us to change plans for some other good!

Find an urban mission trip in Portland or another city in the US: www.ExperienceMission.org Summer 2010 trips posted soon!

Navajo Mission Trips: The youth mission trip team from Mountain View Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, Arizona has been here for three days now, and the 30 middle schoolers are some of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen! Yesterday, we were able to split into four groups and work on John Watson’s house, a home in Kayenta, a graffitied water tower, and some odd jobs at the church. My team went to Mr. John’s house and we had a blast. We painted the entire exterior of the house and got to spend some good time with John and even made friends with a few of his cows! He invited us to eat our lunch inside with him, and the kids really enjoyed it. At the water tower, the group was able to cover the graffiti and worked on painting a beautiful mural of a sunset with some Navajo artwork. The group in Kayenta painted some rooms in a family’s home and got to share some time with the family as well. At the church, a hardworking group built some new picnic tables and then dug a trench to lay a water line close to the outdoor kitchen where we cook! No more hauling water! Praise the Lord! Today, the entire group is in Tuba City de-tagging many of the city buildings and spending time with some of the Navajo that have come out to work with us. We had lunch in the gorgeous park and everyone was running around playing games as well. It has been an incredible couple of days and I can’t wait to see what else will happen this weekend! The rumor is that we are going out to the canyon tonight- what an adventure!

Blessings and love,
Laura Marie and the Navajo Experience Mission Team

Note: Experience Mission will soon be offering Summer 2010 mission trips on the Navajo Reservation. If you’d like to join a short term mission trip with EM, visit us at our website www.experiencemission.org

The pack horse with our team

3/3/2009

Today, half of the IWU class and their instructor Jill journeyed to the Bribri village of Alto Coen with Yon and I. Experience Mission started construction of a bridge in Alto Coen about a year ago, and our job is to check up on the work by gathering a progress report and talking to the villagers about the next steps. Last spring EM was able to get US Military helicopters to fly materials into Alto Coen. In the meantime, members of the village had dug massive holes for the posts of the bridge. Our hope was that they had been able to fill in the holes so they they would not be washed in. We were soon to find out.

Our plan was to take a pickup truck to Suretka and meet our boat driver Sebastian who would take us up the river to meet a bus. This bust would then take us to the point of departure for a four hour hike to the village. The first stop was the grocery store in Suretka; there we purchased enough rice and beans for our time in Alto Coen. Next, we grabbed breakfast at a local restaurant. It would be our last real meal until evening. It began raining steadily by the time breakfast was done, so we were in for a wet boat ride. The boat ride was indeed rainy but it went smoothly, and we soon saw our bus parked by the river. We landed by the bus as planned and the first leg of our journey was complete.

We had to wait about a half an hour for the bus to leave and during this time our guide told us that some of the cement that we had dropped off had been damaged. This report made us all the more anxious to arrive at Alto Coen and see the progress.

We finally loaded onto the bus, and we were about to see just what kind of land a big bus can drive on. The roads were terrible, and then much to our surprise we began to drive through a fairly wide stream right at the point where it entered the river. We were even more shocked when the driver parked in the stream and waited. However, it soon became apparent that our driver was waiting on a boat which eventually came and laden with a bunch of supplies. The supplies were loaded directly onto the bus and we proceeded. Next, we once again were forced to drive through the river and we were stunned to see that we drove through water nearly a foot deep! However, the bus puttered through with no problem. The rest of our ride was fairly uneventful and we safely arrived to the place where our hike would begin. The second leg of our journey was complete.

It was not long into our hike before several members of Alto Coen were there to meet us. Our guide explained that he had told them we were coming over the radio, and they had hiked all morning to meet us. Here we were introduced to Margarito, the president of Alto Coen. During this meeting, Trey, the spokesperson for the team introduced us, explaining that they were students of Indiana Wesleyan and they were here with Experience Mission. Yon translated into Spanish, and our guide translated into Bribri. It was touching to see that they had all come so far to meet us.

We continued on the hike now with about twice as many people as before. It was not long until a middle-aged Bribri man came riding up on a horse. His name was Castulo, and he was the President of another nearby community, and he met us dismounted and explained that the horse would carry our packs. We loaded as many packs as possible and continued our journey.

After we had hiked a while we arrived at a little farm and took a rest. Here we unloaded the packs because the horse could go no farther. Between our entourage and those living at the house there were quite a few people there. We were all able to sign a guest book for the owners, and even got to see a cock fight among the farm’s roosters. At this point the horse could go no farther so when we went to leave, the Bribri men took the backpacks from all the girls in our group and we proceeded.

It had been raining almost all of the time since the boat ride, but after we left the farm it really started to pour. The trail was so muddy that we would sink calf deep in mud and nearly lose our shoes. On more than one occasion a member of the team fell in the mud, so you can imagine that we were filthy dirty. In spite of the rain, the team remained in good spirits and we carried on.

We hiked some distance and came to a point where we needed to cross the river. The Bribri told is that it was a dangerous crossing, and they explained that they had made a raft for us. They had actually made it in the last couple of days since they heard of our coming. It was a small narrow raft that could only handle two passengers at a time. However, it did the job and we were soon all safely across the river.

From here the hike became very steep. With the rain, it was muddy and difficult. At this point the Bribri men wanted to take everyone’s packs so we could hike more quickly up the mountain we were about to climb. I was the only one who kept my pack, and we eagerly climbed the mountain. The Bribri men, even the older ones, seemed to make the hike with ease packs and all. With the mud and the pack, I must admit it was a tiring hike.

It seemed like we would never see a building of any kind when we finally came close to the village. We first went to the sight of the bridge, and looked upon the progress. They have filled in the two holes and have made concrete posts on the opposite side of the river. On this side of the river the steel is cemented into the ground, but they have not built up the blocks. Much to our relief we found that only a few bags of cement were ruined. Our team bought plastic from town and covered the cement with the new plastic. The biggest concern on the progress of the bridge is that the posts on the opposite side of the river do not seem to be square with those in this side. However, it’s hard to tell with the naked eye. We very much hope that this is not an insurmountable problem. After talking to the Bribri, the urgency of the project became evident, and I think we all felt such a burden to complete the project. Before we left the site, we scheduled a meeting a nine o’clock tomorrow morning to meet with a gathering of people throughout the community.

After leaving the sight, we hiked up yet another steep climb and finally arrived at the village! It is very small yet it is beautifully set in the mountains. After arriving we were showed to the house that we are staying at and we all set down for a rest. However, for Trey, Jason, and I it was a short rest because we could not resist joining the members of the village in a soccer game. It was raining and extremely muddy, but a very fun game. Sports is a great way to connect with people when there is a language barrier.

Now, that I am here in Alto Coen, I am still in awe of how remote this village really is. We hiked for hours just to arrive and now that we’re here its really just a few huts. People live here with almost no technology. They make all of their huts from the wood and plants of the jungle, and everything that they eat is either from the plants or their pigs and chickens. As I have been writing this blog, a couple members of the family, we have been staying with have been looking over my shoulder with great fascination. I’m not sure if they have ever seen a computer! After a long day I am ready to sleep because tomorrow will be an important day. We want to bring an accurate report and capture good stories, so we can expedite the completion of the bridge.

Note: Experience Mission has been working on the bridge with the Bribri reservation in Costa Rica. To check out more exciting trips Experience Mission has to offer, visit our website at www.experiencemission.org!

2/24/2009

Today began with what I hope is one of the greatest challenges of the trip. After picking up our rental car, we procured a map and directions and confidently embarked on a journey out of San Jose. However, we soon found that every main road will eventually come to a two way split (both ways looking almost exactly the same.) Unfortunately, they are not the same. On more than one occasion what was once a main road would wind into very narrow little road through a bunch of worn down houses. As soon as we got directions that took us back to a main road, we would find another perplexing split, and all to often we made the incorrect choice. We were two stupid gringos hopelessly lost in the middle of San Jose anxious to find a representative of the Costa Rican government and suggest that in the United States we have something called street signs! Fortunately, if you wander around long enough and get enough conflicting sets of directions you are bound to eventually find your highway. Thankfully, we made it out safe and sound but not before turning a 15 minute drive into a 2 hour journey!

The rest of our trip was uneventful and by late afternoon we arrived at the house of Timoteo Jackson. Timoteo is an influential member of the Bribri tribe. He greeted us warmly, and he was happy to see Chris because they both worked with the EM teams last summer. Timoteo is 64 years old, but he is muscular and strong for his age and moves around like a man much younger. He informed us that his father is still living and doing well at 108 years old! He told me that he has 12 sons and daughters, and we met many of his family members this evening. He has a beautiful family, and I am looking forward to getting to know them over the next couple of weeks.

I met Timoteo’s son Carlos tonight, and I was successful in starting a conversation with my broken Spanish. I asked him if his house was nearby, and he said yes and proceeded to take me to it. By now it was so dark that I had difficulty following him up the semi-steep winding path. We arrived without me killing myself, and he took me into his house and even brought me into his bedroom to show me pictures of his family, local wildlife, and the last chief of the Bribri tribe who died in 1910. We talked as best as we could, and he taught be some Bribri words based on the Spanish equivalents. As we were leaving, I tried to thank him for showing me his house, but I couldn’t think of how to say it. He understood and finished my sentence for me. I in turn was able to understand enough to realize that he had accurately finished my thought. I am pleased that I made a new friend, and our time with the Jackson family was well was worth the long hours of driving.

After saying goodbye to Timoteo, we returned to Puerto Veijo where we found an economical hotel room, which is actually the upstairs in the house of the owner of some rental cabins. It is very basic and has a community bathroom, but it costs less than half as much as typical hotel room. I am writing this from the deck, and I can hear the sounds of the nearby tide. It is a beautiful night in Costa Rica.

Josh G.

**To learn more about what Experience Mission is doing, visit our website at www.experiencemission.org.

By Mo Scarpelli

When several men from Woodruff Road Community Church in Greenville, North Carolina arrived at a house in Gary, West Virginia last week to repair a water-damaged room, they expected several days of hard work.

What they didn’t expect were two smiling little girls to keep them company throughout the project.

“We were looking for somewhere to put our nails and Kaleigh brought us a little princess box,” said Todd Gleason, Experience Mission Construction Manager. “She kept coming back in the room and saying, ‘It’s so beautiful, it’s so beautiful,’ even though it was still under construction.”

Kaleigh, 4, and Brooke, 2, live with grandparents Beth and Ronnie several miles from historic downtown Welch, West Virginia.

The family applied to the local nonprofit organization, School for Life, Inc., two years ago for home repair. School for Life, Inc. partners with Experience Mission in home repair projects for those in need.

The small EM team spent last week laying drywall and spackling the cracks of the Finley’s back room, where their granddaughters will have their own rooms, for the very first time.

Beth and Ronnie Finley’s house troubles began in July of 2001, when a great flood struck southern West Virginia, leaving more than 1,500 families without homes.

The Finleys were nearly one of them. Their backyard washed away into the creek behind their house and part of their roof tore off in the relentless wind.

“It pulled apart from the beams and water started getting up under the roof, not just falling on it,” said 45-year-old Beth Finley. “That’s when the ceiling fell down.”

In the seven years since the flood, the Finley’s roof has never completely recovered, despite their best efforts to repair it.

“We bought plywood and rolled roofing (tar paper) and tried to fix it,” said Beth, who has been married to Ronnie Finley for eight years. “It got us through the winter, but started leaking in the spring again.”

After getting off work at the body shop, Ronnie Finley would hoist himself up on top of the house to patch the roof with scrap tin that he’d gotten from a friend. Beth calls it “our flannel shirt roof” because there are so many different colors.

Beth says she didn’t really mind the leaking too much until she adopted her granddaughter, Kaleigh. Ronnie put up a partition to block out the corner of the room where water damage was the worst, and Kaleigh occasionally slept in the front part of the room, though she was more comfortable in her grandparents’ bed.

With Experience Mission’s help, the rooms are now leak-safe, which Beth says is perfect timing for the Finley’s, considering they are in the process of obtaining full parental rights of their second grandchild, Brooke.

Brooke, now 2 years old, was born to a drug-addicted mother and soon after, her father, Beth’s son, was arrested for breaking and entering and sent to jail. Beth and Ronnie Finley have been fighting for custody of their grandchild for more than a year, as she bounced from foster care to her mother’s care to her other grandmother’s care in the meantime.

Beth says with paperwork and court dates out of the way, the family is finally achieving stability. Now that the children have permanent homes, Beth says EM house repair help will have a big impact on the girls’ quality of life.

“The girls are going to have their own rooms for the first time ever,” said Beth Finley. “We’ve been daydreaming – Kaleigh picked out sheets and wallpaper. She goes back there once in awhile to see where she wants to put her bed.”

To Gleason, home repair for the Finley’s wasn’t just about fixing a room. It was also about setting an example to the girls of how faith can lead to compassion and hard work.

“Beth couldn’t express enough how much it meant to her that there were young people interested in doing this work,” said Gleason. “All the young people around here that she knows are into messed up stuff.”

Beth says she often sees crack cocaine and methamphetamine use go undetected by police in her area.

McDowell County has the highest drug-related mortality rate in the state, according to a 2006 report by the West Virginia Prevention Resource Center. More than 30 percent of deaths involve drugs or other abused substances.

Beth worries about this, mostly because she saw her own son fall into a desperate drug addiction. She says five of her neighbors are also grandparents taking care of the children their kids’ couldn’t, due to drug problems.

“It’s real bad here. If they had more people like you –“she said, pointing at EM volunteers as they scraped joint compound on the ceilings, “then they wouldn’t want to get into drugs in the first place.”

The team of five – Earl Nadeau, David Gray, Steve Kinney, Sam Farley, and Gleason – finished in three days, though the rooms still need painting.

Kaleigh Finley says that part is her job.

“I’m going to paint my new room with my daddy and we’re going to make purple butterflies!” said Kaleigh, as she looked around the back corner room she claimed as her own.

EM continues to partner with School for Life, Inc. until the end of July, bringing hundreds more volunteers to assess the needs of McDowell County residents.

Experience Mission is offering Summer 2010 mission trips to West Virginia and other locations in the U.S. and abroad. Visit www.experiencemission.org or call 360-732-0986 to learn more.