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Young servants
Learning how to serve -- early
Wisconsin team’s community service draws local help, praise
By Flor Gerstein Gutierrez PHOTOS
LIMA, Peru—Some people think of youth mission trips as fun first, work second.
At least one recent trip to the poor Condevilla neighborhood of Lima put that theory to the test.
By cleaning up the neighborhood park, hosting a children’s carnival, playing soccer with local kids and even playing a live music concert, 19 students and six adults from central Wisconsin tried to show God’s love practically to the people of Condevilla.
“We believe that God has been so gracious to us and has blessed us so much that the only thing we can do is to pour out all that love to other people,” youth pastor Heath Erickson of Woodlands Church in Plover, Wis., says.
Condevilla already had gotten a positive impression of Woodlands from a medical team that visited the neighborhood in February. The student trip kept that impression alive.
“After hearing all the good stories from the medical team and how God used them here, I wanted to come to Lima,” team member Katie Kraeger says. “I like to travel and help people, so I knew this would be a great opportunity to do both and share God’s love while doing it.”
Erickson says that he is encouraged by the strong core of leaders he sees God developing in the Christian community here.
“When the medical team came, I heard all of the stories of what God did through them,” Erickson says. “We could have gone anywhere else, but we wanted to be part of what God is doing here in Condevilla. God is beginning a great thing here; it is an honor to be part of that.”
The week started with the kid’s carnival on Sunday afternoon. There were more than 50 kids making lines to get their tickets and play. The next day everybody woke up early to clean up the park.
Sweeping, pruning the garden, sanding the soccer arcs and painting them again and even picking up the dogs’ poop where some of the chores they did.
“You can see that they work as a team, all together” says Jesús, a student from Iglesia Cristiana Esperanza Viva, a new church in Condevilla. “It is amazing to see them work hard to serve God. They have made a great impact in my life just by doing that.”
Not everything went perfectly for team. Woodlands student Logan Koerten said (with a laugh) that getting sick was the hardest part of the trip, but that the prospect of leaving was hard, too.
“I’m happy because I see people’s lives changing, and I am just sad that I have to leave,” Logan says. “I think it’s worth every dollar, and I would have regretted not coming.”
On Wednesday the team held a seminar about sexual purity. On Thursday, a crowd listened to the youth group’s worship team after playing some sports and listening to some testimonies.
“I think people here in Condevilla will be positively affected by what the Woodlands team did because they can see all the love they have and that they don’t ask for anything in exchange when they come to serve us,” says [author’s mother] Flor Gerstein, a Lima resident.
Erickson believes the trip is worth every penny the team spent, and more.
“Trips like this change live—students’ lives, the people who receive our team and people who are served during the week,” he says. “How do you put a price on sharing God’s love?”
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Children in Condevilla play a carnival game during a Woodlands Church youth missions trip to Lima, Peru.
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By Flor Gerstein Gutierrez PHOTOS
LIMA, Peru—Some people think of youth mission trips as fun first, work second.
At least one recent trip to the poor Condevilla neighborhood of Lima put that theory to the test.
By cleaning up the neighborhood park, hosting a children’s carnival, playing soccer with local kids and even playing a live music concert, 19 students and six adults from central Wisconsin tried to show God’s love practically to the people of Condevilla.
“We believe that God has been so gracious to us and has blessed us so much that the only thing we can do is to pour out all that love to other people,” youth pastor Heath Erickson of Woodlands Church in Plover, Wis., says.
Condevilla already had gotten a positive impression of Woodlands from a medical team that visited the neighborhood in February. The student trip kept that impression alive.
“After hearing all the good stories from the medical team and how God used them here, I wanted to come to Lima,” team member Katie Kraeger says. “I like to travel and help people, so I knew this would be a great opportunity to do both and share God’s love while doing it.”
Erickson says that he is encouraged by the strong core of leaders he sees God developing in the Christian community here.
“When the medical team came, I heard all of the stories of what God did through them,” Erickson says. “We could have gone anywhere else, but we wanted to be part of what God is doing here in Condevilla. God is beginning a great thing here; it is an honor to be part of that.”
The week started with the kid’s carnival on Sunday afternoon. There were more than 50 kids making lines to get their tickets and play. The next day everybody woke up early to clean up the park.
Sweeping, pruning the garden, sanding the soccer arcs and painting them again and even picking up the dogs’ poop where some of the chores they did.
“You can see that they work as a team, all together” says Jesús, a student from Iglesia Cristiana Esperanza Viva, a new church in Condevilla. “It is amazing to see them work hard to serve God. They have made a great impact in my life just by doing that.”
Not everything went perfectly for team. Woodlands student Logan Koerten said (with a laugh) that getting sick was the hardest part of the trip, but that the prospect of leaving was hard, too.
“I’m happy because I see people’s lives changing, and I am just sad that I have to leave,” Logan says. “I think it’s worth every dollar, and I would have regretted not coming.”
On Wednesday the team held a seminar about sexual purity. On Thursday, a crowd listened to the youth group’s worship team after playing some sports and listening to some testimonies.
“I think people here in Condevilla will be positively affected by what the Woodlands team did because they can see all the love they have and that they don’t ask for anything in exchange when they come to serve us,” says [author’s mother] Flor Gerstein, a Lima resident.
Erickson believes the trip is worth every penny the team spent, and more.
“Trips like this change live—students’ lives, the people who receive our team and people who are served during the week,” he says. “How do you put a price on sharing God’s love?”
© 2007 Called and Sent Magazine. All rights reserved.