DBU students devote fall break to Guatemala trip_111003

Posted: 11/07/03

DBU students devote fall break to Guatemala trip

DALLAS–Fall break brought a respite from study but not from ministry, as 25 students and staff members from Dallas Baptist University traveled to Guatemala with Buckner Orphan Care International.

“We love working with college students, because they have the time and energy to travel, and also because of the special love they have for children,” explained Eraina Larson, mission coordinator for Buckner Orphan Care International. “Specifically, we partnered with DBU because of the quality of the students and their passion to help in countries like Guatemala where the situations are so desperate.”

The team, led by DBU Executive Vice President Blair Blackburn and Ozzie Ingram, assistant vice president for administrative affairs, served 100 children and teenagers at an orphanage in Xela, Guatemala.

The experience was life-changing, both for students and staff, said Adam Wright, director of freshman recruitment.

“Our journey to Guatemala put a whole new perspective on life for me,” he explained. “Sharing the love of Christ and the hope we have in the Lord with orphans in Guatemala was a moving experience I will never forget, and it made me realize, more than ever before, how blessed we are to live in a country like America. We don't have to be in another country to work for the Lord; there is a mission field in our own backyard.”

DBU senior Jason Hatch expressed a similar sentiment.

“It was amazing to be able to go into the orphanage and minister to all the children,” he explained. “Two young Guatemalan teenage boys approached me one night and told me they were Christians but they had no idea what they needed to do now. God has placed a sincere love in my heart for Spanish-speaking people, and after seeing what I saw on this trip, I am praying about going back to Guatemala on a long-term basis to help disciple the orphans. They desire to live godly lives and are hungry for someone to teach them.”

DBU senior Brance Barker entertains a Guatemalan orphan.

The team provided daily Bible school activities for the children as well as fellowship and evangelistic exercises for teenagers. These activities included Bible stories, Scripture memorization, crafts and recreational sports.

Twenty children and teens professed faith in Jesus Christ.

Working with the staff that manages the orphanage helped Katy Matthews, a senior English major, redefine the meaning of commitment and hard work.

“What impacted me the most during the trip was the encouragement we received from the staff that worked at the orphanage in Xela,” she said. “They are understaffed and often struggle to take care of more than a hundred children, several with special needs. They ministered to me because of their dedication and genuine love for the children.”

DBU students involved with the trip were enrolled in a course titled “Mission: Servant Leadership.” The course provided a study of servant leadership theory, but the trip provided hands-on training in the area of servant leadership.

And the lessons learned came more from personal experience than textbooks.

“It was such a blessing to go and work with the children in Xela,” said Candice Wright, a master's student. “You can tell they long for love, and we had the opportunity to not only love on all of them, but to share with them how much their heavenly Father loves them. The faces of each of these orphan children will forever be engraved on my heart.”