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Shocco team offers helping hand in Guatemala

Five kernels of corn spilled upon the Guatemalan ground, tiny morsels from a basketful of food meant as a gift from Americans on a mission for Christ.

As the Americans looked back, seeing women on their knees digging in the dirt to rescue but five kernels of corn, they knew they had not come in vain.

Theirs was a special mission, travel that took them into the heartland of abject poverty to spread the word of Jesus Christ.

While those on the mission returned just a week ago, this trip and those that came before and those yet to come had their beginnings a decade ago when Shocco Springs Executive Director Buster Taylor and Cory Horton envisioned a staff dedicated to mission work.

For 60 years, Shocco has been the mission point for other groups to go forth and share Jesus’ teachings. But Taylor had an idea that the staff who served in furthering others’ mission work ought to be involved in missions themselves. It started with high school and college summer staff but soon involved the year round commitment of permanent staff led to mission work.

First came missions to Venezuela, and for the past few years, Camp Eden — known as the Shocco Springs of Guatemala — has been the beneficiary of good works by staffers from Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center.

During the weeklong trip, they labored in the heat to build a wall around the camp, a means of keeping it safer in this poverty stricken country. They visited families and schools and shared an uplifting message of salvation.

Fresh from the March mission, Horton, Taylor and others were visibly moved by what they encountered on the trip. They had traveled to San Pablo — a 30-minute boat ride from where they were staying — as the first American team to go into the village and hold activities for the children in the school there and to share the Gospel. “It is the poorest of the poor,” said Horton. “It is a place to go back to because it needs a lot of attention.”

They also visited 30 homes, bringing them staples like corn, coffee, sugar, salt, soap, cooking oil and beans. “That is a month’s worth of food to them,” Horton said. “It’s poverty you can’t imagine. They’re homeless in their own home.”

Tara Stracener recounted the story of the five kernels of corn that dropped in the dirt on their way to deliver the baskets. When she saw the women accompanying them on the trip digging for what would have been left behind, she realized just how critical their delivery was going to be. “Those women knew those five kernels were going to make a difference.”

But food wasn’t the only delivery they made that week. They delivered the message of the Gospel, and they prayed together. And despite their own circumstances of need and poverty, they prayed “for us and our ministry,” Stracener said.

Barbara Miller, who went on this as her first mission trip with her twin teen-age boys, called it “very eye opening,” shedding a tear as she spoke. “As we went into the homes, to see how they lived, and yet they prayed for me, it was very touching.”

And the impact on her sons was evident. They now realize just how much they do have and how they can help others. Upon their return, they gave testimony in their own church, sharing what they had learned and seen.

Joined by a youth group from Pelham Baptist Church and a group from Florida, Taylor said the “cooperation of the three groups made it 10 times more successful.”

The youth went into the schools, teaching the Gospel through an Evangicube. “They shared Christ through the cube and bracelets they gave the children and gave them a chance to pray. Teachers had tears in their eyes,” Taylor said.

In the schools, teachers are not allowed to talk about religion, and Horton said one of the teachers told him, ‘I’m not supposed to talk about this, but these kids need Jesus.’

In the airport going back, some of the youth from Pelham shared their experiences of the week. “Seeing them and their faces, knowing I made an impact on their lives is going to stay with me forever,” said Maegan Sisk, 17. “I have so much, and they have so little.”

Her sister, 15-year-old Mallory, talked of what Americans take for granted. “These kids didn’t have anything. They were grateful for the corn and beans we gave them. It will sit with me forever.”

The trip taught Kelsey Culbreth, 16, “how God can use us through a basket of food or a piece of candy. They were so grateful for just a bag of beans or one prayer from someone they didn’t even know.”

The week gave Stephanie Bunch, 18, the opportunity to help people, she said. “Seeing how grateful the kids were, responding to us being there. I’m glad I came.”

Josh Wheeler, 17, reaped rewards in seeing the wall at the end of the week —  “to see what we had done together.”

And their youth minister, Donnie Sisk, said it truly was the Great Commission — going to all parts of the world and making disciples.

It was the first time in 28 years that his entire family traveled on a mission trip together. “I have been a big fan of Shocco for years, and it was so refreshing working hand in hand, side by side. You couldn’t tell one group from the other. It was a great opportunity for my family, my church family and for my Shocco family.”

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