After attending one of the monthly, Friday evening Missions Nights at Port City Community Church (PC3) I thought I had convinced myself that local and domestic missions were the only ones for me.  After playing the “Luna Game” -a game which simulates something one might encounter when doing an international mission - I remember saying (more than once might I add) that “international missions are not for me.”  This would not be the first time I’d eat my words and I’m sure it won’t be the last as God has a funny way of placing things on your heart that you’d never put there yourself.

Now here I am sharing what I experienced in Guinea, West Africa.  Six months ago I couldn’t even tell you where that was on a world map and now I’ve been there!  After much prayer and one small miracle after another happening, to get me to Guinea, it has happened.

When you prepare for a mission at PC3 you are required to complete something called a “Re-entry” training module, to help you come back from a mission in a healthy way.  Upon re-entering a familiar culture after experiencing an unfamiliar one, some people place their experience in a box on a shelf and keep it separate, never really integrating it into their lives.  Others come back feeling resentful or even guilty of the blessings we have in our culture and the fortunate lives we lead.  Then there are others who come back and share their experiences with others, integrate what they have learned into their lives, and continue to take what they experienced and grow from it.  I am thankful to fall into the last category, and it is for that reason that I share with you some of the things I encountered while in Guinea.

After traveling two full days, we arrived in Conakry – the capital of Guinea – tired but full of anticipation.  It was dark and we were told we are not to take ANY pictures in the airport.  Men in official uniforms checked our passports and papers.  The airport was hot and dimly lit.  One bag didn’t make it from our place of departure in Wilmington, NC.  We were the last to leave the airport and I was amazed by the amount of trash in the baggage claim area (wrappings, paper, tickets, etc.) left behind by the travelers.  Ten of us in total were escorted through check points at the airport by a couple of very helpful people, one being Geno, a missionary who would be hosting our stay in the village that would be our final destination.

Leaving the airport and driving through the capital I must have looked like a kid at Disney World for the first time.  With wide eyes, I stared out the window at the dim often times dark city around me.  There were people everywhere and small fires burned here and there (I later learned this was a way for them to attempt to control their trash from building up everywhere [a goal that was never quite reached]).  Where electricity did not exist, small lanterns were seen along the sides of the streets to throw off what little light they could.  You see, the city runs its power on a rotating schedule, so sometimes there’s power, but more often there’s not!

After a night’s stay in a gated missionary guest house, we were off to meet the people in a village that was to be our destination, a 3 ½ hour ride from the capitol.

As we turned off the highway, the sign indicated the village would be 7 km farther.  We (in our four-wheel drive) were ushered in by the President of the village (on his motorcycle).  As the red dirt gave way to brown sand, we knew we were near our destination.  The missionaries’ houses were simple accommodations, but had comfortable amenities – limited water pumped from a well and electricity run by a generator.  They were very clean and fairly spacious.  After cleaning up, we headed down the road that led to the village.

I have never fallen in love with a group of people so quickly or missed anyone I’d just met as much as I have these people.  These beautiful, strong, loving people stole my heart immediately.  We were blown away by how they embraced us. We were greeted by a parade of villagers singing, beating drums, and dancing to welcome us to their village.  Children ran to greet us and hold our hands.  Those who couldn’t hold our hands, because others already were, would grab a hold of our shirts.  They just wanted to be close to us and make us feel welcomed.  Huts made of earthen bricks and straw roofs surrounded us as we made our way to the center of the village.  The dancing and singing continued and we were invited to join in.  After a while, the President insisted that we be seated.  The people had seemingly brought out some of the only chairs to be found in the village for us to sit on.  In a speech (translated by Geno), we were greeted and given welcome.  The President told us that he and the villagers were grateful to have us there and explained that they, themselves, had nothing…therefore had nothing to give us in return for our visit.  What he did not realize, however was that the villagers were about to give us an experience that was priceless.

Over the next few days some of our team would do dentistry (extractions and teaching of oral hygiene), administer medical aid to some of those in need, give support and comfort for those being seen and treated, install a pump in one of their wells, help the villagers to prepare the foundation for a rice storage shed, and take pictures to be used as icons in a future literacy program.  While we were there, we would learn some of their common phrases, and a lot about their way of life, traditions, and beliefs.  We learned how these happy, loving, generous people also lived in fear.  Their belief in animism left them constantly trying to appease the spirit that is believed to watch over them and when we visited their “sacred tree”, walked by the “sacred forests”, and passed by the house of the spirit, my heart went out to these unreached people.

These missionaries have been in Guinea since 2001 and in the village since 2004 learning their specific language and culture as well as building relations with these people.  Their ultimate goal is to translate the Bible into the language of these people – one spoken by no other group of people – so that they may come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  This is a process that cannot be hurried.  It is not just important, but crucial that they know the language and culture well enough to interpret and translate the Bible with utmost accuracy.  The beginnings of a literacy program are underway currently with PC3’s very own Emily C. helping lay the foundation.

The missionaries have already created a strong sense of trust with the villagers.  It is only because of them that the villagers trusted our team enough to allow Dr. B., Jennifer, and Lisa (the dental group that was a part of our team) to do the much needed work on the villagers’ teeth.

While we were there our goal was to help these people in any way we could.  More importantly was for us to show God’s love to them through our actions.   Even though these people have never been introduced to the Lord, they are certainly loved by Him.  We know he wants them for His own and we look forward to the day when they will meet Him.

No one on our team will ever forget these people.  The President, Mr. B., Jaques, Sorell, Matisumo, Matiama, and Amara are just a few of these amazing individuals who will, forever, remain etched in our minds and hearts.

—Submitted by Reneé DeVos Riggs

On May 30, 2009, our mission team, which consisted of fourteen eager and more than willing individuals, arrived in Chichicastenango (Chichi), Guatemala to work for Pray America, an organization that provides houses for some of the hundreds of Mayan widows and their fatherless children who live there.  The large number of widows in and surrounding Chichi are a result of a civil war that lasted in Guatemala for several decades.  Over the course of our week-long mission, our team built a total of five houses.  We also worked at three different community feeding centers; these are also operated as a ministry of Pray America.  While the entire trip was impressionable for all of us –everything from the bumpy truck rides through the mountains to the building sites each day, to praying and debriefing as a group each night in Jesus de Manos (the mission house where we stayed) – each of us has been left with particular memories in which God’s presence and love was revealed to us.

Despite the language barrier and the limited time we spent with the widows and their children while we were building their homes, we learned as much as possible about the families and their needs.  One of our team members, Jay Hopper was accompanied on the mission by his daughter Kelsey.  Jay – an incredible father whose godly actions spoke louder than his soft-spoken words – displayed immense compassion for the widows.  When asked to describe one of his most memorable moments of the trip, Jay explained “One of the things that impacted me the most was hearing the widow’s story on our last day of building.  This widow’s husband had passed away a couple of years earlier, and she had been left alone to raise her family.  She had to go into town to find work as a maid.  By the time she paid for her transportation, she cleared fifteen “quetzals” (the equivalent of approximately two dollars a day).  She was so thankful and happy to receive a new home and a new Bible.  She told us that she would teach her children from that Bible.  Later, as we were leaving, she came running out to the road to help give us driving directions and she was still clutching that small Bible.”

Like Jay, I too was impacted greatly by the stories of the widows. Although the widows were very appreciative and filled with joy, I could not help but see the pain that was embedded in their eyes under their tears of joy. Even though I was thankful to be a part of providing and building homes for the widows, I wanted the chance to do something more. After exchanging our American dollars for “quetzals” to use in the famous Central American market on Sunday and Thursday, Chichi’s famous market days, I decided to keep 10 quetzals in the bag that I carried with me to the building sites each day. Although I knew I would not need the quetzals while building, I could not avoid the rule of thumb my parents always told me while growing up: “Always carry a little cash on you in case you need it for an emergency.” It wasn’t until the second day of building that my 10 quetzals came into use.  While my team members and I were working on a widow’s house, we noticed that an elderly woman, who appeared to be angry, would not leave the widow’s side and she insisted on taking the gifts that we had brought for the widow and her children. After several minutes of discussion between the elderly woman, the widow, and one of the employees of Pray American who speaks K’iche’, we were told that the widow owed the elderly woman 10 quetzals. We were asked if any of us had any quetzals on us and I realized that I had the 10 quetzal bill in my bag. Once I gave the widow the money and she gave it to the elderly woman, the widow was free of her debt and the elderly woman was satisfied. I was so thankful to have been blessed with the opportunity to help the widow pay her debt and I understood why God had made me make the choice to put that money in my bag.

Not only did God work through us in providing for others, God also worked in us and changed many of our hearts. For Christina Koch, a UNCW student who always has a smile on her face, one of the most impacting experiences for her occurred on the last day of our trip when we visited and delivered school supplies and vitamins to children at a local school. According to Christina, “During one of the debriefings, I had prayed very hard about the Lord breaking my heart for what breaks His and genuinely loving people.  The next day we were out at a local school and I was overwhelmed with empathy.  I was brought to tears and was unable to stop crying.  For the first time in my life, I had felt my heart break like our Father’s does for his people.  I got a glimpse of what God feels for his children.  I am very thankful for the opportunity that God gave me to witness that.”

At the end of our week in Chichi, although I was anxious to return home to see my loved ones and share my experiences with everyone I knew, I was extremely sad to leave the family I had developed there.  As we rode in the hot and dusty bus back to Guatemala City I felt a strong love for the country and its people. Apparently I was not the only one of the team members who felt sad.  Several of us cried as we hugged and said our goodbyes to some of the staff members of Pray America before we left for the airport.  Perhaps Rosemary Smith (better known as Ro) whose nurturing and compassionate character caused her to become a mother figure for all of us during the trip, put it best when she said “The trip to Guatemala for me could be described as being ‘Purposeful’. Not only were we there to do God’s work by building, serving, and ministering, but I know that He put each of us there to build relationships – with the Guatemalan people, the staff of Pray America, and especially within our team itself. My life will be forever richer because of this experience of seeing God’s hand in so many areas, especially in our personal lives. I have been truly blessed!”

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:
to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world.”    James 1:27

—Submitted by Danielle Woods