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Church Members Help In Nicaragua

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By JAMIE PILARCZYK, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 1, 2007

HYDE PARK - The children's rhyme "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" was still playing in their heads a week after the mission team returned from Nicaragua.

Not just in English, but in Spanish as well.

"We're still singing that in our sleep," said Vicki Walker, Hyde Park United Methodist Church's outreach minister.

From Nov. 10 to 17, Walker led 25 church members on the second annual mission trip to Nicaragua. They built a medical clinic and taught songs and basic English in local schools. Team members who are medical professionals volunteered in a clinic.

"We were overwhelmed by the simplicity of life there," Walker said, "but there was peace and love and joy abounding."

Dirt floors, shacks and outhouses were common sights in the outskirts of the city of León, the team's base. Sharing cultures, despite the language barrier, was a trip highlight. So was the peace found in the absence of everyday distractions.

In the evenings, team members sat on the porch of the El Ayudante Mission, which provided lodging and food and coordinated the team's activities, and just enjoyed each other's company.

"We'd sit in rocking chairs. It's quiet. The value is in the people you're with," Walker said.

Reaching out isn't new to the church, 500 W. Platt St. A thick booklet details local, national and international organizations for which the church provides prayer and financial and volunteer support. Service opportunities include helping at Metropolitan Ministries and America's Second Harvest of Tampa Bay, providing disaster relief and recovery, and after-school tutoring.

"Not all of us feel called to international missions," Walker said. "You are uniquely gifted to minister and need to act on your heart."

Walker said team members went to Nicaragua to share their faith with the people but found God was already there.

"It's still evolving in our peoples' lives," she said. "I think our people were surprised by how they were changed."

Before packing her bags in November, Lisa Rorrer recalled that mission team members from the 2006 trip to Nicaragua said baseball was almost a national sport in the Central American country.

Since both her sons played for Palma Ceia Little League, she coordinated an effort to collect new and used balls, gloves, hats and shirts to take on the trip. The Tampa Bay Rays chipped in with gear, too. In Nicaragua, she saw pickup games everywhere.

"They had some equipment, but certainly not every kid had a glove," Rorrer said. "These kids are worried about their next meal. Some don't have shoes and were wearing clothes that had clearly been donated. It was quite a moving experience."

TO READ MORE

Mission team member Trish Krider kept an online diary of the trip. To read it, go to hydeparkumc.org and look for the link.

NICARAGUA FACTS

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Nicaragua

CAPITAL: Managua

SIZE: about 60,000 square miles (the same size as Florida)

POPULATION: 5.4 million

LITERACY RATE: 67.5 percent

RELIGION: Predominately Roman Catholic with growing Protestant populations

LANGUAGE: Spanish, with English and indigenous languages on the Caribbean coast

Source: U.S. State Department Web site

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 835-2114 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com.

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