Arizona Conference
(Left) Senior Kylee Leski spreads her positive spirit as she paints. (Above) The team launches one of the floating gardens. (Above right) Dr. Troy Anderson (left, in hat) and ADRA translator John (right) take time to talk to the children about healthy habits. (Bottom right) Village children challenge senior Adriel Flores to see how many he can carry.
One of the main tasks for the mission group was building wooden boxes for floating gardens. Since that part of the Amazon floods five months of the year, local residents are not able to maintain vegetable gardens. After the boxes were constructed and painted, they were then tied to two tree trunks. The trees are buoyant and used in that region for mooring platforms and docks. Several of the volunteers were medical professionals who visited with people in the community during the day. These visits were important for the emotional spirit of the local people as well as for their physical needs. One afternoon the team visited the public school and met with staff and students to address any medical concerns, which included everything from wound care to headaches to concern over memory loss. By far the most impactful part of the trip was the relationship
between the Thunderbird students and the local children. From the moment the students set foot in the community, the local children were a part of the lives of the mission group. “My favorite part of the trip was spending time with the kids,” Elisabet Espinoza said. Espinoza, who is a senior at Thunderbird Adventist Academy, describes her favorite moments as “just being able to play with them in the middle of the rain and spending time in the houses with the people.” Erika Esparza, also a senior at Thunderbird Adventist Academy, believes the kids were the highlight of the trip. “They are just so sweet,” she said. “You are a stranger to them, but they still just love you and want hugs and want to play with you and get to know you even though there is a language barrier. They still find a way to bond.” One of the more challenging aspects of the trip was the living quarters. Nearly 30 people slept side-by-side in hammocks on the upper deck of the boat. On evenings when there was a breeze, the
sleeping conditions were not terrible. However, a couple of the nights the air was still, and the humidity made the atmosphere stagnant. An early morning breeze was a welcome respite. Junior student Kylee Leski found a silver lining in the close quarters. “It was kind of challenging at times because we were so close together in the hammocks. But it also made us bond a little more, kind of like a family living together.” The volunteers worked hard and played hard and learned a great deal about the world and themselves. And by the time Lucas said for the final time, “Hello, my friends, it’s time to go,” many lives had been changed.
Correction: The Arizona Conference welcomes Dr. Jorge Angel Ramirez as Executive Secretary and Ministerial Director. We apologize for the misstating of his first name in the April Recorder.
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