Laying the Foundation

As the plane took flight to Nicaragua, I prayed that the Lord would use our team however He willed for this trip. I had plenty of my own expectations and even desires for this trip as I have been a part of countless mission trips before, but this mission trip was quite different from all of the previous trips that I’ve been on. All of the mission trips that I have been on previously have consisted of doing ministry in service of the people in the community in that specific location; this trip we actually spent the majority of our time serving the teams of people that would come in the future on their own mission trips.

Usually when you go on a mission trip, you stay at a host home or a mission base. In our case we were staying at the new Ride Nature mission base for Latin America, La Casa De Ride Nature. We were so stoked to be the first mission team to stay at the base! But when we got there, there was nothing inside the building. I mean there was no furniture, no sinks, no shower heads, no kitchen–it was just an empty building. And this was why we were there: to help transform the building into a mission base able to be used by future teams.

When you think about laying a foundation, it is crucial, but the foundation is rarely noticed or recognized afterwards. Our trip consisted of getting furniture, hanging ceiling fans, buying appliances, and much more like this. When you go on a mission trip, you typically don’t think about who went out and bought the plates and utensils that you are using to eat, but someone had to go buy those things. You don’t think about how the bunk beds got there, but someone had to go pick them out, buy them, transport them, then carry them up the stairs and assemble them, not to mention loading them up with the mattresses and bedding. This was the kind of service that we provided on this trip. 

This was a humbling trip because I now recognize the need for servants to lay the foundation for future teams. While we were not directly serving the local community this time around, we were serving the ministry itself and serving all of the people who would come to La Casa De Ride Nature to serve in the future. I am excited for all of the teams able to use the new mission base in the future and I am honored to have helped lay the foundation for those that will serve in San Juan Del Sur.

- Brooks Driver // Discipleship Director