Esperanza (Spanish for “Hope”) Essay

Near the end of school each year, about fifty other people and I become ecstatic. Not just because summer is coming, but because the Esperanza Mission Trip is about to begin. Mountain Park Church’s youth pastor, Chris Henderson, coordinates a mission/service trip up to Vancouver Island, B.C., where, among the lush and beautiful mountains and forests, located on the flattest land available, a First Nations refuge and rehabilitation center exists. Historically, the camp was used for a resting place when most of the locals traveled the waters by canoe. In 1937, Dr. McLean built a hospital at this location and since then, it has been a place of hope and healing. This trip is very important to many people and just about everybody who experiences Esperanza leaves a piece of their heart behind.

On Father’s Day, the journey up North begins. All the kids and their parents mingle in the parking lot of Mountain Park Church. Five fifteen passenger vans are lined up on the curb, which is stacked full of fluffy pillows, sleeping bags, and duffel bags with the occasional over-packer bearing a full sized suitcase. A group picture is taken, the head pastor prays for the trip and the vans are stuffed full of supplies and bags. After the parents hug their children, the vans are loaded with their respective passengers, and the caravan launches the voyage.

For the past three years, I have been one of the privileged passengers who rode in first the x-wing and then the y-wing. The x-wing was a decrepit Oldsmobile; however, that was the coveted van. Since the class of ’10 were freshman when Chris became youth pastor, we have been the backbone of the youth group.  Because of this, my buddies and I have significant influence on which car we ride in, and we have invariably chosen the x-wing. My friends: Daniel, who has been my good friend since second grade; Cully, who has been my friend since kindergarten; and Kyle, an amazing fellow whom I met freshman year, are my closest friends at the youth group, and I spend a significant amount of time with them. However, this past year the x-wing was decommissioned, thus we dubbed the newer van the y-wing.

Esperanza ’09 trip begins, the y-wing bringing up the back of the pack. I settle in for the long ride ahead as our first rest stop is in Centralia. The music starts playing the first of many John Mayer songs, Portland flies by the window, and I try to fall asleep. After two stops, one at which we discovered and fixed one of the van’s flat tire, the caravan approaches the border crossing into Canada. Now, we have been indoctrinated that we are going “to hang out” or “have a meeting” but not to “work,” as that would require work visas for each of us. The vans split up to get in the lines they think would be the fastest. On the slow crawl up to the border patrol stations, we start joking around about how they have sound sensors to hear what people are saying inside the cars and satellites are watching our car because we’ve said the wrong word, bomb. When it’s finally our turn to talk to the border patrol, the border agent proceeds to ask Mark, the driver, why are we going up to the camp, who we’re going with, and what we will be doing at the camp. However, Kyle, my friend riding shotgun, thinks that Mark’s answers aren’t sufficient so he mumbles, “Hard manual labor” to the question what will we be doing at the camp. As a result, the only van that had to be parked in order for the passengers to be asked more questions was our van. The car that was hauling a trailer that could have had anything inside it wasn’t even stopped to be checked. My friend will never live that moment down.

The rest of the trip goes without a hitch and we arrive at the camp on schedule. The next four days at the camp are jam-packed with work, food, worship, and friends. Our main goal of the trip is to help keep Camp Esperanza operational and take care of maintenance so that the full time people who work there can devote their time to ministering to the First Nation tribes. Various crews cut down trees, mow yards, trim trails, fix water pipes, and carry large loads of materials. This last year we assembled a play structure. The crew I was on chopped down twelve trees and felled thirteen, and we chipped wood for two days in rain for ground cover so that the kids wouldn’t have to play on gravel. Chris, our pastor, calculated that our whole group accomplishes so much work that a full-time staff employee would have to work eight months to finish what we did in four days. This huge amount of labor completed blesses the staff at the camp in many ways. Some other goals of the trip include advancing my personal faith in Christ through personal devotion time, worshiping, and cultivating and creating friendships. The individuals in this youth group develop a deep sense of community with each other that builds each year and will endure for a very long time.

When I first heard about the opportunity to go on this mission trip my freshman year, I was excited because that meant I could hang out with my friends. However, Esperanza has helped me impact a portion of the world, a community, and, most importantly, my own heart. Worship means more to me, I make time for personal devotionals in my day now, and I encourage others to do the same. My service helps people in a culture. I help the Mountain Park Church members, parents, and friends of the youth group to see the great influence service has on both others and themselves. Finally, Esperanza has impressed upon me that I need to develop a habit of distancing myself from distractions, seeking the Lord, and serving with a willing heart and not personal gain.