Almost six years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Nueva Santa Rosa, Guatemala on my very first international mission trip. It was a life changing ten days that I will never forget. I hope to be able to return and serve there again one day, but in the interim, I have loved hearing stories about how Christ’s faithfulness continues in that tiny Central American nation day by day. The most recent report came to me from a group of local missionaries from Living Oaks Church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. This past fall I had the opportunity to sit down with a portion of their mission team who had recently completed a trip in the summer of 2015 – team members Pastor Jared and Ariel Richardson, Sam Hagenbuch, Mary Kaye Hagenbuch, and Bianca Urbanowicz.
Living Oaks partners with Casa Shalom, an orphanage that was founded in 1986 by a group U.S. missionaries. It’s beginnings were humble, with a mere three children, but in the last 30 years the facilities and resources have grown to the point that Casa Shalom is now home to 106 children from all over Guatemala. The majority of the children are legitimate orphans, but that is not always the case. Many have been abused, neglected, and abandoned by their parents. Some are even left at the orphanage because their parents simply cannot afford to take care of them. For these lost little ones, all might seem hopeless, but at Casa Shalom, which means House of Peace, this is far, far from true.
Each child receives three healthy meals a day from a menu designed by a professional nutritionist, making the malnourishment many of the children have endured a thing of the past. Quality health care, education, clothing, and a clean and safe environment where the children can thrive is also a top priority. However, the most important priority of all is to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with each child every single day. It is the desire of the staff at Casa Shalom that every boy and girl at the orphanage come to know Christ as their personal Savior. The staff at Casa Shalom is committed to being Christ’s hands and feet to “the least of these” in this process. It is into this loving environment that the missionaries of Living Oaks Church have come to serve each summer since 2013.
It all began back in 2012. Living Oaks had been sponsoring Josh and Jessica Hanson, the directors at Casa Shalom, for several years. The Hansons had spoken at Living Oaks, but the church had never visited them in Guatemala. In 2012, God laid it on the heart of Ariel Richardson to organize a mission trip for their church. Having been on four previous mission trips to The Dominican Republic, Ariel wanted the students and members of Living Oaks to have the same kind of life changing opportunity that comes with a mission experience. As Ariel’s husband, Youth and Worship Pastor Jared Richardson, put it, “Helping on a mission trip helps build community in the church.” It would not take long for the passion of this community to catch fire, and soon a solid team had formed. However, in January 2013, Living Oaks received a rather interesting challenge from Casa Shalom.
Every short-term mission team visiting Casa Shalom is required to choose a ministry project to focus on during their stay. These projects might include things like construction work, leading a Vacation Bible School, or even providing medical and dental services. Due to the orphanages limited budget each team is required to raise 100% of the funds necessary to complete their project. The missionaries of Living Oaks were asked to raise $3,000 to start the process of building a chapel at Casa Shalom. This request came in January, and with less than six months until the team would leave in June, there was little time to spare. Fundraising began in earnest with a bake sale, a few spaghetti dinners, and a huge church-wide garage sale. As should definitely be no surprise for anyone who has ever been involved in short-term missions, God proved Himself faithful, and over $2,000 was raised from the garage sale alone. The rest of the funds were raised in short order, and in seemingly no time it was time to head out for Casa Shalom Orphanage in San Lucas, Guatemala.
This missions effort has continued each summer since 2013, and every member of the team has had their own personal motivations for being a part of the work. Bianca loved hearing the stories of God’s faithfulness from previous groups and joined the team for the first time in 2015. Sam was part of the original team in 2013, and though he had been on previous mission trips, this would be his first international trip, and he was a bit intimidated by the expected language barrier. However, with the encouragement of his pastors and the enthusiasm of other members of the church, he let these worries fall by the wayside and joined the team.
Pastor Jared Richardson was motivated both by the previous experiences he had had as a student missionary with Jupiter Christian School, and by Ariel. In fact, it was while digging trenches for the new chapel at Casa Shalom that Jared first proposed to Ariel, and they have been faithful partners in life and ministry ever since. Mary Kaye originally heard about the trip through her son Sam, and wanted to become involved. She was familiar with the Spanish language from being an exchange student to Spain as a teenager, and she wanted to become a part of the work at Casa Shalom. As she put it, “We should go after what God is already doing.”
I am sure the rest of the team, including those I was not able to interview have shared this attitude over the years, and I know the work of Christ has progressed at Casa Shalom because of it. Over the last three years, the teams sent from Living Oaks have had a chance to see their chapel progress from the ground up, and finally in 2015 they got to hold church services inside of it. Additional ministries have included starting other building projects, dental services, and even ministering in nearby mountain villages where the poorly built homes are in constant danger of mudslides. However, serving at Casa Shalom has remained the top priority, and one of the most profound things the team has been able to be a part of has been welcoming new children into the orphanage.
As Mary Kaye put it, “It beautiful to see and be a part of welcoming them in.” The team has actually had the chance to be a part of this process every year. The first few days after a new child arrives are always very rough. The child will usually find a corner, sit down, and cry relentlessly. Most will ask for their parents because they aren’t even orphans and cannot understand why they have been left behind. As Sam explained, “This can make you feel useless as a missionary. You want to help them, but you don’t know how.” The best solution Sam and others found was to simply sit down next to them and just be a presence close by. They would not ask them any questions or try to comfort them; they would just be there. Says Sam, “Don’t let your heart grow so cold that just because you don’t know what to do, you don’t do anything.” Each year the team from Living Oaks has gotten to see these kids go from lost to part of the family.
A passage that has always been close to my heart is James 1:27 – “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (ESV). The missionaries of Casa Shalom and Living Oaks Church have been fulfilling this requirement faithfully and giving Christ all the glory in the process. I am excited to hear further reports from Living Oaks as they plan to continue ministering at Casa Shalom each summer for years to come. As I closed out the interview, I asked my classic question, “What advice would you give to someone considering short-term missions. Bianca’s advice was spot on. As she put it, “Pray a lot before going and make sure that is what God wants you to do. When you are there you will be tired and sore, but it will only be your body that is tired. The rest of you wants to keep plowing ahead full force. You know He is working because even though you are physically exhausted you keep going forward and you never run out of love…ever. And they never run out of love…ever.”
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Copyright © 2015 David Scott Fields II. All Rights Reserved.
