Is it really allowed to have this much fun on a mission trip?

Hello, team LaPerla!

On Tuesday we made three different trips to LaPerla! The Principal of the main ( well….the only) school in LaPerla was open and even eager to have our team come to share with all of the students. Just to give you an idea of the size of the school, the elementary school has 700 students in the morning and the high school has 400 students in the afternoon! We got to meet and at least talk briefly to every classroom! The team shared personal testimonies from their lives and encouraged the kids to value themselves and that working hard toward their future was worth the effort. Wow – it looks very trite and flippant when I look at that sentance…..it is so hard to explain things like our experience at the school without typing pages and pages. I can only say that each team member put themselves out there in a big way and that the kids and teens really payed attention and were eager to approach us afterwards and ask more questions. Pam’s sponsor child Judith was profoundly affected by the stories the girls shared. We even got to pray with the kids in the classroom! During school! So many of these kids need love and encouragement so desperately, and both the morning and afternoon sessions were just amazing.
After a trip back to the hotel real quick for dinner, we returned for the last night of teaching with the kids and teens. Again, I apologize for not having the time to share specific stories (dinner in 5 minutes then back to LaPerla), but the team did such a great job. We have SO much fun with the kids! The relationships we continue to build 4 years in just grow deeper and deeper. There were 6 teenagers who made decisions to follow Christ, and another 6 that rededicated their life to serving Him…..and by serving Him to serve their neighbors, friends, family, and the community of LaPerla.

One last fast thing – one of the times we were leaving LaPerla in the van yesterday, we noticed something truly awesome. As the van bumped along the rough road to the bridge Jason said “oh look! There’s Bruno! That kid is everywhere.” then Shelli said “there goes Marcial in his mototaxi! Oh – there’s Jim driving his taxi into town!” and Christi is waving out the back window saying “bye, Karen, see you tonight!” and all the while Steve and Jenn are holding the special-prepared meal that a sponsor child’s mom prepared for members of the team. We all took a few minutes and talked about how it felt like we were truly a part of this community. There is so much genuine love and respect between the members of this team and our friends in LaPerla. I’d love to build up how hard this trip has been and how hard we have worked….and the truth is we HAVE worked very, very hard…..but the joy and the relationships and the deep, deep feeling we have of community in LaPerla make every bit of this trip an absolute treasure.

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~ by welovelaperla on October 12, 2011.