Mission News: Changing Lives

I attended the Puerto Rico missions trip in Caguas with Central's high school youth group. I was amazed at the success of our outreach groups and how, even with a language barrier, we managed to spread God's love and share his blessings with every one around us. The most unexpected thing I experienced was the ease of communication. Even though very few of us spoke Spanish, after a few days it became much easier to communicate without words but through actions and expressions. I was shocked with my group's personal success while hosting a Bible school. I was also amazed at how quickly we connected with these children and how deeply we had grown attached to them. I won't ever forget a little boy named Alex with whom I played for the few days we were there. We did everything together and the only words we both understood were basketball, volleyball, and agua (that's water in Spanish). When I had to leave Alex, his older cousin, who spoke English, told me I was his best friend. I didn't know what else to say other than he was my best friend too. He gave me a big smile and ran up to give me a hug.

God blessed me so much on this trip. He sent me to reach out to the people in Caguas, and while doing that, he changed me to be an even better servant so I can serve and praise him with every ounce of my body. One more thing I want to say is, thank you to all the people that supported me to go on this trip. Without your donations and prayers, I could never have changed those around me and I could never have been changed by them.

In his dust,
Jake Weiss

When we arrived at one of the churches we used in Caguas, we were met by the other youth group from Florida that stayed with us for the rest of the week. We were welcomed by people from the church and even some of the site leaders who were so excited that God brought us there. There were so many people from the Church who stayed and gave of themselves to help us, not because they had to, or because they even felt like they had an obligation, but they simply wanted to see God reach Caguas!

I can sum up my Puerto Rico trip in one experience: at the nursing home my group worked in, we held a small worship service for the residents. I played a conga drum, a girl from the Florida group, Malia, played guitar, the other people from the group did scripture readings in Spanish, and the man who ran the nursing home, Eduardo, translated for us. When a guy from Florida, Pat, led the residents in a responsorial Psalm, I saw an amazing sight. Some of the people in this nursing home didn't speak English and couldn't communicate well with us. Most of the others weren't mentally capable. These people had incredible drive and connection with all of the people in my group who were also responding to the Psalm in Spanish. I felt more connected to God then I ever had in my life! In that week-long journey, I saw more than just a mission trip; I saw so many different people from so many different backgrounds breaking down every imaginable obstacle and uniting to build an eternal community wrapped in God's Love.

Alec Bersch