Spring Break Mission Trip 2007

On March 23th, a team of 25 volunteers left Sunset to go serve in Helene for one week. This was a family oriented trip with 16 members of this team having at least one other relative going along to serve. Eleven of this team had already been on a previous mission trips. Our youngest volunteer was age 12, and the oldest was 55+.

Our goals were to serve the Lord and the islanders of Helene. We brought down 25 duffel bags of full of medical, dental, educational, and sports supplies to assist with the ongoing ministry of the Clinic. We rebuild a wooden walkway in the area known as the Pond. Team Sunset made over 25 home visits, led 5 VBSs, and provided 7 sports camps for the children of Helene. We had one team dedicated to help out in the school with training, and tutoring skills. We were also involved in Clean Sweep. We worked to clean up the public spaces in the village of Bight helping to make them cleaner and more sanitary.

A mission trip allows a person to leave his/her daily roles and responsibilities at home to solely focus on serving Christ and those around them. Our time in Helene was very spiritual with extra time for Bible Study, personal prayer, corporate prayers, and biblical instruction. Each of our volunteers grew in this God enriched environment learning more about the love of God, the joy of serving others, and discovering more about their spiritual gifts.

In the past 27 months, I have seen a good advancement of the Gospel in Helene. A hundred students are getting biblical instruction in the bilingual school; twenty-five (plus) teenagers are attending Youth Program (YP) and praising the Lord weekly. There are one or two strong Christian families in each of the six villages, and ten island men have recently banded together for weekly Bible Study and worship. It seems to me that God is getting ready to break the bonds of indifference and legalism with a grace revival in Helene and beyond to the other Bay Islands.

posted by Scott 4/4/07, recently returned from Helene, Honduras