Cade Yost, right, of Los Alamos makes new friends with teenagers from Haiti. Courtesy photoCHURCH News:
This summer, a group of 13 teenagers and adults from First Baptist Church of Los Alamos Youth Group headed to Haiti on a week-long mission trip.
The team spent the mornings visiting 10 girls living in a handicapped home and planting fruit trees for residents in the local community. Their afternoons were a little more chaotic as they partnered with a local church to run a Vacation Bible School for more than 800 local children. The team sang songs with the kids, performed skits and played lots of games including teaching the kids to play baseball, and the kids schooling the mission team in soccer.
“One of the things I saw was this amazing church. What a great ministry [they] have and I’m happy we could do a little bit to support [them],” team member Joe Wermer said. “All of the Haitian leaders had lots and lots of energy in their singing, in their speaking and their boldness and I found that really encouraging.”
“I’m so proud of the teenagers.” FBCLA Youth Pastor Mike Brake said. “They really stepped up their leadership for this trip. As we took direction from the Haitian leaders our teenagers were the ones running the activities and delegating assignments to the adults. They were able to really connect with the kids and as a result we saw God do more than we could have imagined in just that one short week.”
“They’re exactly the same as you,” teen Cade Yost said. “Maybe a little different skin, slightly different personality, slightly different looks, but otherwise they are exactly the same. They were all created the same way as you were.”
One result of the mission trip is that FBCLA is now partnering with the women of the local handicap home by selling hand-crafted items that they make. All proceeds will be returned to the women in order to enable them to make a living for themselves.
“We are nearly sold out of our first round of items and working to get more to sell,” Pastor Brake said. “We’re pumped about what the future holds in this unique partnership.”
The mission team is currently making plans to return to Haiti again next summer.
To see a highlight video of the team’s trip to Haiti, visit https://youtu.be/65ORpbrbStg.
To find out more about First Baptist Church of Los Alamos or to contact Youth Pastor Brake about the hand-crafted items for sale, visit www.fbc-la.org.
First Baptist Church of Los Alamos Haiti Mission Team visiting residents of a home for handicapped girls. Courtesy photo
