Mountain View Conference Students Become Missionaries

Story by Liz Bailey

Recently, students, staff and parents from Mountain View Conference’s (MVC) Parkersburg Academy (W.Va.), Summersville Adventist School (W.Va.) and Highland Adventist School in Elkins, W.Va., participated in a mission trip to Puerto Rico.The dual purpose of the trip was to help a local church in reaching its community and provide the students with an educational experience. 

The mission group spent most of their 10-day trip providing services in the city of Arecibo. The local church had identified three projects that needed help in the community to share God’s love.

One project was aimed at helping a member’s neighbor who was unable to keep up her with her yardwork and the physical exterior of her house. The mission group was able to scrape and repaint the outside of the house, pressure wash the driveway and remove the plants that were encroaching on the house.

During their time at her home, God used the team to bless her in an unexpected way. On the first day, she suffered a serious fall. Providentially, one team member was an EMT, providing immediate medical care that otherwise wouldn’t have been available.

The other two projects, which were smaller in scale, were to support local church members who were also unable to care for their facilities. The missionaries spent two days hauling away debris, cleaning roof drains and reclaiming yards that had become overgrown and unusable.

In addition to these projects, the missionaries led out a Week of Prayer for the local church. Jeremy Garlock, MVC Youth and Young Adult director and Education superintendent, led the church’s youth and the MVC students in song  services, where they sang songs alternately in English and Spanish. Various members of the mission group provided testimonies, and Garlock and Walter Cardenas, MVC executive secretary, preached the messages. On Sabbath, the group also joined local members in visiting a nursing home as well as homebound members.

This trip was not without educational opportunities. The students spent one day at the El Yunque National Forest, where they were able to hike to the top of the mountain and spend time at the El Yunque National Forest Education Center. They also visited the historic site of Old San Juan.

This trip was a blessing to all who participated, say MVC leaders, as they were able to experience another culture, learn, serve and have the experi- ence of following God’s call to tell someone about Jesus.