Every
year the XCHS/LCA Costa Rica ministry team brings another collection of servant
hearts ready to share with others what they have learned in their walk with
God. In the upcoming blogposts, we will
introduce to you the mosaic of hearts and souls enthusiastic to work together
on this March mission.
Lyndsey
Phillips, a
junior this year at Legacy Christian, “simply loves mission trips.” She states, “I love getting to share Christ
with others. I've been on other mission trips before and I always come back
changed in some way.” Lyndsey always
looks for those opportunities in her life, and when this trip invited new
members, she was ready to try it.
Lyndsey’s
own family experienced prepared her for exactly this adventure. In 2010, with her family, Lyndsey traveled
and lived in Africa for nearly five months.
While she was only ten years old at the time, she shares that the trip
impacted her life in a great way. “My
eyes were opened for the first time to an entirely different culture. While
traveling there we also got to visit London for a few days and while traveling
back we got to visit Germany for a few days. It was a trip of a lifetime that I
will never forget.”
In 2014,
Lyndsey had the opportunity to travel to Guatemala. Now older, Lyndsey feels
this trip had even a greater impact. She
remembers that everyone there always had a smile on their face. The kindness
was so powerful and so different from America.
This
year, Lyndsey looks forward to getting to know the students on the team
better. They are not in her usual
circles, so she looks forward to new friendships. She is ultimately looking forward to serving
and helping others, whether team members or those on the field.
Lyndsey’s hobbies include theater, shopping at Bath and Body Works, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends. When asked what she would like to be able to do if she were a super hero, she responded, “I would be known for being able to read people's minds. I would be able to know everything that goes through their mind.”
Not
sure how that ability would help mankind, she did want to encourage our
audience with these thoughts: “I know a lot of girls struggle with self-confidence.
They always compare themselves to other girls. I would tell those girls that
outward appearance doesn't matter. Inward appearance is what a person should
focus on. We are all beautiful in God’s eyes and we were made just the way he
wanted us to be. Love yourself the way God created you.”
Rene regularly enjoys serving the Lord by providing in many
different capacities to those people the Lord puts in her path on a daily basis.
She currently volunteers at Legacy Christian Academy by leading Mom's in Prayer
and providing support to the teachers and staff; she also volunteers at her
church, Dayton Avenue Baptist, and in the community.
Married to husband Mike for almost 30 years, Rene has two young
adult children: Stephen (an XC alumni who served on this trip and many
subsequent trips with the Salley family) who is married to Anna (Stephen and
Anna are also nurses and desire to serve as medical missionaries in Costa Rica,
in the future.); and daughter Stephanie who is also an XC alumni and who has served
in Costa Rica several times throughout high school and college (Stephanie presently
teaches first grade in the Dominican Republic).
Although Rene is a first-timer on this trip, she states that
she has gained a lot of knowledge about the needs of the Ticos by hearing the
many stories over the years from the Salleys and from her own kids as well as
from other team members. Rene shares, “I'm
very excited to serve on this trip, as I have enjoyed sharing the love of
Christ in our own country for many years.... I know there are many needs around
the globe. While raising our children in our Air Force moves, I was always
delighted to connect with the church and jump right into the activities of
sharing Christ's love with others….In May, while in Dominican Republic, I was
privileged to connect with some of the local youth and share in praying and sharing
testimonies.... the love of Christ was evident there too.”
During that Dominican work, Rene shared about spending time
visiting and praying with two dedicated ladies who cared for preschoolers in a
very poor little village. “I was
reminded that even when we don't speak the same language,” she says, “God hears
our prayers in one accord! I really enjoyed "humming along" familiar
hymns in the church there even though I don't speak Spanish. The Love of Christ
prevails when we just go and follow his lead and be there for others. I
was reminded at the time of the verse from the very first Costa Rica trip in
2011: ‘How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good
news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who
say to Zion, Your God reigns.’ Isaiah 52:7.”
“Going to Costa Rica my freshman year changed everything,”
she remembers. “Looking back, I know
that trip was a huge stepping stone towards my calling into ministry and my
passion for helping people around the world.”
On this trip, Caroline looks forward to anything and
everything, but in particular, she is most excited to help with Vacation Bible
School and to show love to the kids.
Caroline’s hobbies include writing, singing, and playing
piano. If she were a super hero, according to Victoria Howarah, Caroline would “shoot
rainbows and always make it sunny.”
Caroline does that simply with her smile.
Caroline would like others to know that “whatever is
happening if life, good or bad, Jesus loves them, I love them, and that
everything will work out the way the Lord has planned.”
Camille Clements, our team leader, comes from a family of
teachers and felt the Lord calling her to teach even as a young person.
She has been teaching at Xenia Christian/Legacy Christian for twenty years.
Before that, she spent two years as a missionary in Barcelona, Spain teaching
at an international school. She has been going on ministry trips to various
Spanish-speaking countries with Dayton Christian Schools since 2001.
In 2010, the
opportunity presented itself to her and another trip leader to set up a new
mission trip venue. Another co-worker, who had spent several years working in
Costa Rica as a missionary, connected Miss Clements with the Salley family who
serve as church planters in that Central American country. The Costa Rica
Ministry trip came into being. At that time, Miss Clements was only planning on
playing a support role, as a co-leader, but God had other plans.
Miss Clements recalls,
“I became the trip leader through a series of events that only the Lord could
have orchestrated. I am generally a behind-the-scenes kind of person who enjoys
serving and supporting, but the Lord wanted to grow and stretch me, which he
has done by putting me in charge of this trip. I am always amazed that God
continues to choose to use me and give me the opportunity to take part in
overseas ministry. It is both humbling and exciting to be able to take young
people on ministry trips and to see how God works in and through them to change
lives and to draw people to himself.”
Beyond teaching and
using the Spanish language, Miss Clements also enjoys reading, cooking,
traveling, and participating in half marathons. This past summer (2016), Miss
Clements had the opportunity to spend a month in the country-side of Costa Rica
with her sister and niece. They enjoyed
living the lives of ticos and
exploring the country and culture at their own pace.
QUESTIONS asked of interviewees:
1. Name,
year are you in high school, and if a senior, your plans for next year.
2. Why are you interested in doing a short-term
missions trip? What about Costa Rica particularly interests you (if anything)?
3. If any, what other mission trips have you gone
on? How did it impact your life/heart/ministry/whatever?
4. What are you looking forward to on this
particular trip?
5. What are your hobbies or other
interests? (Or what would you like readers to know about you?)
6. If you were a super hero, what power would you be known
for (and of, use for the good of all mankind)?
7. If you could encourage someone else today, in
any way (emotionally, friendships, spiritually), what would you say?
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