Southeastern California Conference (Below) Students from La Sierra Academy rebuild horse pasture fences for La Vida Mission School in northern New Mexico. The students spent a week working at the school in November.
(Above) The mission team from La Sierra Academy poses for a photo. Over 40 students endured the cold of northern New Mexico to help a sister school, La Vida Mission School.
A Mission Trip Creates a Partnership
Between Two Schools By Becky St. Clair
N
o phone services. Freezing temperatures. Minimal internet. Such is the experience more than 40 La Sierra Academy (LSA) students chose to endure in November at La Vida Mission School (LVMS) in northern New Mexico. “This was far from what they’re used to. It was a different world,” said Walt Lancaster, La Sierra Academy principal and trip participant. “The kids very quickly learned that not everyone lives like they do.” With a total enrollment of 21 students, the self-supporting LVMS serves the local Navajo population. During the week-long mission trip, LSA students, staff, and some parents assisted in the classroom, rebuilt the school’s horse corral, and began tearing down and rebuilding horse pasture fences. “The corral was in such bad shape they couldn’t insure their equestrian program,” explained Steve McClain, mission trip coordinator and
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LSA science teacher. “They are now insured and can restart the program.” Interactions between the two schools’ students were so positive, LVMS seniors plan to visit LSA on their senior trip. McClain has coordinated mission trips for LSA since 2005 and has taken groups to various domestic and international locations. “Projects like this are immeasurably important,” he said. “It gives us an opportunity to see needs inside and outside the U.S. and allows us to give not just money, but ourselves to serve others.” By the time they graduate, some LSA students have participated in three or four mission trips. “We could pay locals to do the work,” McClain said. “But it’s important to me what the work does for the students’ mindset. If you don’t give them these experiences when they’re young, then when they’re my age, they’ll think the needs of the world are someone else’s problems.”
McClain paraphrased Matthew 24-25, where Jesus tells His disciples to take care of their fellow humans while they wait for His return. “These projects solidify for our students the service mindset Adventist education develops throughout their school years,” he said. “And, as the Bible says, when they are old, they will not depart from it.” This summer, Lancaster and his wife will be taking donated solar panels to LVMS to help them begin their own solar farm, and LSA has begun preliminary plans for a future trip to build a barn. “We’ve built a powerful and meaningful community interested in and supportive of mission service,” McClain said. “It makes a huge difference to us and to the people we serve.” For information on how you can support missions at La Vida Mission School, e-mail smcclain@lsak12.com.