This spring, nine Canadian youths and four adult leaders were given the chance to experience cross-cultural living while assisting people in need by taking a week-long visit to Nicaragua. This life-changing opportunity was made possible through World Renew’s partnership with the All Ontario Youth Convention (AOYC).
Heather de Haan and Ray Heeres were adult team leaders of the trip, and had both been part of last year’s World Renew-AOYC team to Nicaragua. As in 2012, the trip grew out of a partnership already in place between Santa Lucia and the community of Los Alvarez.
This spring, nine Canadian youths and four adult leaders were given the chance to experience cross-cultural living while assisting people in need by taking a week-long visit to Nicaragua. This life-changing opportunity was made possible through World Renew’s partnership with the All Ontario Youth Convention (AOYC).
Heather de Haan and Ray Heeres were adult team leaders of the trip, and had both been part of last year’s World Renew-AOYC team to Nicaragua. As in 2012, the trip grew out of a partnership already in place between Santa Lucia and the community of Los Alvarez.
Both leaders found that this year’s trip came with its own exciting blessings and new learning opportunities.
“Our trip was shorter, more condensed than our trip in 2012—and the work sites were different and varied,” explains de Haan, who served a spiritual leader for the team. “We had even more interaction with youth in Santa Lucia—for example, we were in school classrooms visiting with kids.”
Other team projects included digging a trench to lay a water line for the new community centre in Los Alvarez, filling 800 bags with soil for a reforestation program, and working with a farmer to find new ways to farm on the mountain side. All of these activities were approached as expressions of partnership, with Nicaraguans and Ontarians working side by side and learning from each other.Seeing familiar faces, places, and community members was a major highlight for de Haan and Heeres.
“Reconnecting with the people we had worked with last year was huge,” says Heeres, who took leadership on a number of logistical details for planning this trip. “We were told several times that they considered us part of their community, because we had come back. We also spent a lot of time talking with them and not just working. For me this affirmation really brought home for me that relationship building is the most important thing that we can do on such a trip. Even though I know this in my head from the training we had received from World Renew, there is nothing like experiencing it firsthand."
Daily devotions were important in encouraging team members to grow in their faith as they served alongside people in need in Nicaragua. Every day, the team gathered, took time to read scripture, prayed, and reflected on their experiences together. One main theme of this devotional time was listening to God, hearing his voice, and contemplating how to be obedient to Him.
“The beauty of missions is that no student (or leader) goes on this trip and comes back untouched by God,” said de Haan. “We were intentional about making spiritual development a priority and not focusing on what we were doing, but how we were doing it, with what type of hearts. The youth came home with powerful insights on community, fellowship, Christian love, a call for missions, and have experienced the global church in many ways throughout the week. We also focused on the value of relationship building, within the team and outside of the team.”
Joining a local church for worship was another highlight for the group. Team members were greatly moved by the enthusiasm of their fellow believers. To see them worship was to witness their joyful confidence in God’s redeeming work in Nicaragua, even in places challenged by economic instability and limited resources.
As de Haan notes, a cross-cultural trip such as this one can be “a key touchstone in a youth’s personal journey of faith.” Last year, many of the young people who went on the AOYC mission trip to Nicaragua were in their last years of high school and used the experience to shape their decisions about university and careers. This year, the participants were mostly younger with the majority of them in Grade 10 (15-16 years old.)
"We were told several times that they considered us part of their community, because we had come back. We also spent a lot of time talking with them and not just working."
Many participants already show a passion for and an interest in ‘missional’ thinking—both in their own communities in abroad. They are now excitedly sharing about their time in Nicaragua to their home churches and to their friends and family members. Team members recently spoke about their experience to over sixty people during two sessions at this year’s All Ontario Youth Convention in Waterloo, Ontario (May 17-20).
During the convention, members of this year’s team also enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with each other, as they had built strong friendships with each other during their week together in March. They even had a chance to reconnect with 19-year-old Napo Chen, who served as a translator during their visit and who spoke at the conference about life in Nicaragua.
Over the course of the weekend, many teens inquired about the about the opportunity to serve in Nicaragua with a World Renew-AOYC team in 2014. The enthusiasm of this year’s team members was clearly contagious!
World Renew is grateful to AOYC and to the community of Las Alverez for making this cross-cultural opportunity possible for young teens with a passion for seeing God’s love in action. We also excited about SWAP, a new program specifically geared at teens and young adults. SWAP (Serve With A Purpose) is a great way to prepare young people for service overseas and get them thinking about it and fundraising for it a few years in advance. You can find out more about this opportunity to engage the global church and change lives by e-mailing [email protected].