ABOVE THE GULF OF MEXICO — There's an old journalistic truism that no one wants to read a story about your big trip or vacation. As important as it might have been to you, folks back home just won't feel it. You had to be there.
And so, as 15 other Lewis County folks (from age 15 to 70-plus) sit in the Boeing 737 seats around me, I'm going to try to tell their stories, not my own, as we return home from a life-changing trip to a tiny village of precious souls in Central America.
We all feel absolutely transformed by the missions trip we just finished to show God's love to 84 formerly abandoned children that are now family members at the Worldwide Heart 2 Heart Children's Village in Honduras.
We went to do work at this foster home for children — re-tiling part of the girl’s house and helping repair a play structure. But our biggest job was to love on the kids. And our biggest reward was all the love they had for us.
Our missions team reviewed each day’s highlights every evening, and I reached out to a few attendees to learn more. Here are a few of their thoughts.
Within moments of arriving, Calvin Singleton of Centralia said he decided he'll be coming back to the village next summer, and every summer after that. And the experience has also inspired him to be even more engaged in serving youth in our community.
“Every day I go to the village and see the smiling faces and kids laughing, I said there's no dollar amount you can give me to not come here and experience this,” said Singleton, who sells flooring and home remodeling services in the Twin Cities.
After our first day in the village, Kayleigh Smith, who lives near Pe Ell and works as an associate youth pastor at Bethel Church, made an immediate close bond with many of the older girls at the village. That night she told us, “The Holy Spirit kept telling me, ‘this is what the kingdom of God looks like.’”
Tony Moreno of Napavine, who sells auto parts in Chehalis, was making his third trip with Bethel to visit the village and loved seeing kids he has gotten to know years ago.
He said the goal of the trip, to show these kids without caring family that they are indeed valuable, gets at the heart of the gospel mission of inviting all into God’s family.
“I wish we could put this in a bottle and share it with the world,” Moreno said. “This gets right to the bone of what it is. We get to love, we get to share the love.”
Dave Batchelor of Chehalis, a retired school counselor, has lost track of how many times he's been down to volunteer at the village and school. Maybe eight, he said, but he'll often stay for a month or two.
Why?
“The kids have a piece of your heart,” Batchelor said. “It's like they're your kids and you want to go see your kids.”
Ian Guiberson of Centralia, who owns his own flooring and remodeling business, said that after our week working alongside these kids in Honduras, the final big barbecue and pool party we all had with our new friends in their simple concrete pool gave him a sense of what heaven will be like.
“We'll all be together. There's no worries” Guiberson said. “We won't be floating on clouds, we'll be fellowshipping together.”
Someone then added, "except we won't have to say goodbye."
Guiberson came on the trip with his daughter Haylee, 15, who jumped in to get her hands dirty and help lead our floor re-tiling project alongside the kids from the village. The vibe was lighthearted as the kids threw themselves into mortaring the new tiles in place. Dad jokes were flowing.
“Dad was saying the fruit of the spirit is a coconut," Haylee said. “We were laughing. I was happy to be in that moment. It was so much fun.”
Teri Bryant, Toledo, a retired massage therapist, said she bonded with the kids almost instantly: “The way the kids grab onto you as soon as you show up. They love on you and you love on them.”
As she tells me this a few days ago, our rental van bounces into the entrance to the village after the daily half-hour trip from our hotel. The kids come running and open the gate for us.
A slender boy comes up to our open window. My son and I greet him by name. We have come to know and enjoy his quiet, gentle, fun-loving spirit.
“Hola, Santiago,” we say as we give him a fist bump and prepare to get out of the van and get to work.
I flash him a big smile and am rewarded with a smile growing on his face. He is aware that he is known and loved.
It's going to be another good day at the village.
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Brian Mittge can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
