Puerto Rico
Back in September 2017, Puerto Rico and many other islands in the Caribbean were devastated as Hurricane Maria swept through. The Category 5 hurricane left Puerto Rico in ruins, with nearly 3,000 casualties. Two years later, the country is still trying to recover.
Over the summer, Asbury’s volleyball team flew to the island of Puerto Rico with Chad Mayes, the head coach of the women’s basketball team, and his wife Chandi. The couple are the founders of The LYNC8 Project, a non-profit organization committed to raising awareness and connecting young adults from the United States to the social injustice issues of Latin America.
While the Asbury team was in Puerto Rico, they spent time helping the people rebuild and recover. The team repainted a church and cleaned both a home and school of debris.
As the volleyball team was working and helping the missionaries present the gospel in Puerto Rico, they also got to lead volleyball clinics for the girls on the island. “They were all so sweet and had a desire to build relationships with us,” senior Charis Wiechhaus said. “They desired to work hard and get better at their sport.”
Since returning to the United States, sophomore Bethany Fye said, “God has changed my view of the world by reminding me that even when things are going well where I am doesn’t mean they are going well in another area.”
Peru
Other Asbury students joined a World Gospel Mission team traveling to Peru. The team stayed with Daudi and Cathlene Strong, WGM missionaries serving in Peru, and after a few days staying in Cusco, had the opportunity to hike the Salaquantay Trail to Machu Pichu.
Daudi acted as a translator for the team while they hiked, and along the way, team members met various strangers and made intentional conversation with those to whom they felt led to speak. “Sometimes this conversation led to prayer and sometimes it just covered the basics, like where they were from,” junior Megan Token said. “Either [kind of] conversation showed [them] that they mattered.”
But as hard as a language barrier can be, for some students the most difficult thing about a mission trip is the transition back to the U.S.
“When you come back home from a mission trip it is easy to believe the whole thing was merely a dream,” Token said. “It is hard to experience the greatness of God and come back to normal life and to feel distant again. In my mind [are] the questions, ‘Now what?’ and, ‘How do I apply what I experienced there, to here?’ That is the hardest part.”
