Category Archives: Mission Trip Journals

Distance

In Nicaragua last year, a few of our team got the opportunity to meet children that they are sponsoring through NRN, the organization we serve through while we are there.  They went to pick up their kids, and with Nicaraguans and Hoosiers jammed into the van, they sped off towards the exotic destination that would provide the backdrop for their meeting and merriment.  As they rattled and bumped through the streets, Ginny shared that many of the people they were meeting that day would never travel more than a few miles from home in their entire life.  Only the ones who were smart, had good jobs, finished high school, or were lucky and tenacious enough would be able to travel outside of the community they were born in.

With that conversation as the backdrop the van reached it’s destination for the day.

McDonalds.

Not just any McDonalds however…a McDonalds less than 3 miles away from their home.

A McDonalds that these children, who were 5 and 12, had NEVER been to in their entire life.

The sponsored students spent just a short time with my friends from Indiana, eating, playing, and talking,  The chased each other through tubes in the playhouse, and drank their ketchup.  They engaged in small talk across the table and shared with their sponsors what they wanted to do when they grew up.   My friends laughed, cried, took pictures and bought them ice cream.

For those moments they were eating at the table of rich men.  They were playing in the home of rich men.  They had in that moment, perhaps for the first time, more than they needed.  And they were less than 3 miles from the place they live everyday.  They were visitors in a world they had never known and were not a part of, and the time came for them to go back home.

My friends watched as their sponsored students walked the distance home that day, rushing to share the last bits of melting ice cream, the last bits of a melting dream, with their family.

They did not return alone however, and as my friends stand beside them financially, we hope that one day, they are no longer strangers to the world of enough.  We hope that they get to grow up, have careers, and opportunities.  With education, sponsorship and a lot of love, we believe they will no longer have to rent a space in the tenements of want, but own a home in the world of enough.

We want them to feel at home in the world of enough.  We seek to close the distance between need and plenty.

As I prepare to travel the roughly 3000 miles to Nicaragua again, the distance and the juxtaposition of our positions is not lost on me.  The opportunities and blessings I have been given, freely and without obligation, overwhelm me.  Who am I that I am given the privilege to share with them just a small part of my communities excess?  Why do I have an education, a safe place to sleep, access to far more McDonalds then I should ever need when they have so little?  How am I able to reach over oceans and nations when they can barely reach 3 miles?

I do not take the distance lightly.  I just wanted you to know.

 

10 reasons I’m going back to Nicaragua

There are plenty of reasons for me to want to go back, I chose a few and put them together below for your enjoyment.   Continue reading →

“Who Do You Live With?”

I have been digging through old Nicaragua footage over the last few weeks, just to get a fresh feel for what the trip was like last year, and as I have done so, I rediscovered a bunch of moving interviews from our last night there.  This is a small section of Karalee’s interview, and one that I know was an unexpected part of her story that night.  It is a good reminder for me that every person we come into contact with has value to God, and could be struggling with something huge.  I often think of the translators and local staff as being perfect and complete, when in reality, they are as human as we are.

I’ve got more great intimate interview footage that I am slowly working through, and I hope to get to share it before we leave on our trip this year.   If you were on the trip last year, let me know what you would like to see!

Russell Concrete


On a bit of a whim, I asked the darling Karalee if she would walk us through the proper way to mix concrete in Nicaragua. As usual, she delivered, with her own unique style.  There are lots of little videos that need assembled from my last trip to Nicaragua, and I’m hoping to find some time to put them together soon.  Maybe even before this years trip!

She will be returning this year and could use your $$ support…if you’re into that sorta thing. If you’re interested in helping and don’t already know her…contact me and I’ll help you make the connection.

 

Each Day Better…Haiti 2014

Gateway Chapel has been sending teams to Haiti since 2011. Each year, the team has stayed at and worked with Mission of Hope Haiti in Titanyen. This year, the team wanted to focus on medical clinics, and chose to partner with Tytoo Gardens in Simonette. We expected something new, but what we got was a glorious mixture of familiar faces and friends, along with new freedoms and ministries. The team began claiming each day as better than the last, and by the end of the trip, it became very difficult to leave. This film is a short glimpse into the 7 days we spent in our new home away from home, Tytoo Gardens.

You can check out photos from the trip here on Facebook.

You can find Tytoo Gardens website here.

I will be traveling to Nicaragua again this summer in a similar media production role…so if you are interested in supporting that trip, feel free to do so using the tip jar feature here on vimeo. Thanks!

This link is my “one take” commentary on the film. If you can only watch one of these films however, make sure you watch the actual film…the commentary is kinda like a bonus feature. I’m hoping to have some more bonus content out in the next day or so…