MISSIONS TEAM

The Missions Team desires for our church to reach outside our community with material and spiritual needs. Our goal is to simultaneously coordinate service oriented missions (feeding, building/repairs, medical/dental assistance, teaching English, etc.) domestically and internationally.

Ultimate Workout 17 to Ecuador - July 2007

A group of 13 High School youth and 3 adults traveled to Ecuador during the last 2 weeks in July to join the Ultimate Workout 17 mission trip. Our group joined 175+ other High School youth and staff. We were then split up into 5 groups, and spread out to 5 different sites, each to build a church and to do outreach in their community.

San Clemente - Located in a huge banana plantation with access by a narrow bamboo bridge over a river. About 750 people work on the plantation and live within the boundaries of the landowner. Their simple lifestyle now includes a new church.
Participants: Mark Knutson, Tristen Cleary, Kyle Broeckel, Hayden Flores

San Carlos - About 30 people join the church each time an evangelistic series is held. The only problem was that there was no place for the congregation to meet. So, only 3-4 people attended and the rest went to the next town. A new church solves the problem.
Participants: Jenny Buchheim, Michael Aguilar, Michael Perez

Isidro Ayora - The church was built across the street from where our group medical center operated. An energetic growing congregation that was happy to have a new church. It solves their problem of continually getting moved from one location to another.
Participants: Meghan McGee, Cailey Lushanko, Juan Hidalgo

Las Mercedes - Not much around this end-of-the-road, very poor village. The people mainly farm and ranch for their meager earnings. The single car garage sized room they were meeting in wasn’t large enough to hold everyone. Their new church was filled with new members.
Participants: Rebecca Jones, Veriah Vidales, Ron Hawkins

Iglesia del Norte - On the poor side of a good sized town. Mud gets dredged from the river to make more land. Leaders from other area churches started this congregation just a few years ago. They have a strong children's ministry and a big need for their new church.
Participants: Cristy-Anna Martinez, Gabe Martinez, Riley Alvarado.

To view the Ultimate Workout 17 blog, click here. To see the photos, click here. Maranatha Volunteers International provides the funding and building locations for the Ultimate Workout projects while Steve Case, president of Involve Youth, coordinates the projects each year. Insight magazine provides support through promotion to young people throughout the church.

Visit from Valle de la Trinidad - January 2007

Pastor Cesar Pompa and Robert Atkinson from the Covatri School in Valle de la Trinidad visited our church on Sabbath, January 21st. The following is a link to the presentation that was shown in that church service. The plaque shown here was presented to us during the church service.


Click here to view a larger picture of the plaque.

Hurricane Katrina Relief Mission Trip - July 2006

On July 3rd through July 11th, a group of 17 youth and adults traveled to the Gulf Coast region for a mission trip to help out the local residents that were affected by hurricane Katrina. Our first thoughts were that since it’s been almost a year since Katrina hit, everything should about be cleaned up. This certainly was NOT the case. We were shocked by the devastation that still exists in the Gulf Coast region. Much of the area is still untouched by cleanup crews and the rebuilding phase seems to be just starting.

Our first job was to help demolish a hardware store that was getting renovated through insurance money. By having us demolish the building, the wood and materials could be used to build houses for people that had no insurance. Other jobs included gutting out a house in New Orleans, helping construct a house, and helping construct volunteer housing. We also cleaned up the area around an apartment complex so people could start returning home from their FEMA trailers.

One of the exciting activities was “Random Acts of Kindness”. We would head to the local Wal-Mart and find items to share with residents (candles, toys, flowers, etc.). We would then break up into three groups and go out into the neighborhoods in search of people. God lead us to many people that wanted to share their experiences of Katrina. We did this in Pearlington, MS and New Orleans’ 9th Ward. All the stories ware eye opening.

We attended the Adventist church in Bay St. Louis as well as a Southern Baptist Gospel church in Pearlington. We were the whole program in Bay St. Louis and the special music in Pearlington.

Click here to see the photo album.

Valle de la Trinidad, Baja, Mexico - March 2006

Twice a year we make trips into remote regions of Baja, Mexico. On March 9th, 2006, a team of missionaries from Escondido Academy and Escondido SDA Church ventured down to Valle de la Trinidad in Baja to serve a school, orphanage, and Indian village. We experienced water outages, power outages, and weathered the cold (including a snow storm!) in our travels to serve other people. Click here to view a photo album from the trip.

The following is an email we received after returning from the trip. Enrique is the principal of the Covatri School where we stayed...

Dear Brothers:
I hope everything came out good in your trip back home. I want to thank you very much for all your help during this weekend.

We really admire your missionary spirit and we wish God keep blessing on you. When we find people that likes to work with us for our school it motivates us to continue in this mission of service.

Your Brother in Christ,
Enrique Dzul


For information on future mission trips, contact Ron Hawkins