Concordia Students Serve the World through Mission Trips
Sophomore Hayden Rensner with children she met on her mission trip with LCMS Mercy Medical Teams to Koidu, Sierra Leone
Photo courtesy of Hayden Rensner
By April Bayer
Concordia students traveled around the world this summer to share God’s love and serve people from a variety of cultural backgrounds.
Some students traveled in groups organized by the Global Opportunities Center, while others arranged individual mission experiences.
A group of seven students and two faculty and staff members traveled to the Santa Cruz Mission in Lake Amatitlán near Guatemala City, Guatemala, in early May to teach English at local schools, lead vacation Bible school activities, and volunteer at a Christian mission. The group also had the opportunity to explore the homes of locals, visit churches, and learn about everyday life in Guatemala.
“What I learned from this trip is that God’s love is shared through the talents that He (has) given us and our ability to use these gifts to serve others,” sophomore Hope Hoyer said. “Mission trips do not need to be big and extravagant. Giving your best to people and receiving from them is so important.”
The annual Guatemala trip has also inspired students who were part of previous Concordia groups to return during times of crisis. When the volcán de Fuego erupted near the village of San Miguel Los Lotes on June 3, senior Kim Sleeper, who had traveled to Amatitlán with a group in the summer of 2017, felt called to action.
“I knew immediately that I needed to go, or I needed to help in some way because I really valued the experiences that I’d had down there (in Guatemala),” Sleeper said. “I love the people that I connected with, and even though I technically went on a mission trip the first time, I felt like they served me more than I served them.”
Sleeper got in touch with the Central American Lutheran Mission Society and returned to Guatemala in July to join a team led by Dr. Elry Orozco, a medical doctor and Lutheran pastor who runs the Santa Cruz Mission with his wife, Liz Orozco. Dr. Orozco and the team journeyed to several villages affected by the volcano and provided medical care while sharing the Gospel.
Sophomore Hayden Rensner also served on a medical team when she went to Koidu, Sierra Leone, with one of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Mercy Medical teams. The team traveled to the remote village of Yardu each day to provide medical care and pray for locals affected by the recent civil war and Ebola outbreak. Rensner said that sharing God’s Word with the locals was especially important to the team because 75 percent of Sierra Leone’s population is Muslim. In a week, Rensner’s team was able to treat about 1,450 people.
“I have so many brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world, which is mind-blowing to me,” Rensner said. “In one week, I fell completely in love with a village full of people that were strangers to me upon arrival. And even though we didn’t speak the same language, follow the same religion, or share the same culture, I still was able to love and form relationships with the people of Sierra Leone, young and old alike.”
Other students who went on mission trips included seniors Krista Stanford and Tiffany Smith, who traveled to Jacmel, Haiti, to help with feeding programs for children and the elderly, assist with medical care in a maternity ward, and lead vacation Bible school activities for children from a local orphanage.
Juniors Victoria Cameron and Sonja Brandt spent time in Akiachak, Alaska, leading a Bible and basketball camp. Cameron enjoyed playing games with the students and attending church with the locals.
“Their faith was incredible and humbling,” Cameron said. “Seeing an old man talk about not stressing about medical problems because it’s in God’s hands made me realize all over again that faith isn’t about knowing the right answers and saying the right words and having the correct denomination. It’s about trusting in God and putting Him before everything.”
