Last summer, a high school trip from Spring Branch Community Church went down to Nicaragua. Mission work with high school students? What can they do, really? The leading trend in mission work abroad with youth is to talk about the positive impact another culture has on our youth.
It’s true too, and that’s why it’s so pervasive: mission work transforms the workers. But ORPHANetwork is committed to high school students because they tangibly make a difference in our orphans’ lives.
Last summer, Kristen Huenerberg took a trip to Nicaragua. She had just finished her junior year of high school. “Needless to say, I fell in love with Nicaragua,” she says. “I felt the presence of God so clearly and I felt I was making a difference in the lives of others.”
But she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what sort of response would continue to make a difference once she returned home. “Coming back to the States was rough because I didn’t know how I could make a difference with so many miles between Nicaragua and me.” Nicaragua had changed her, and she didn’t know how to return the favor.
So many stories stop there: with an American changed. But not Kristen’s. “I decided to sponsor a child,” she remembers. So she talked with ORPHANetwork, and paired her a little girl new to the orphanage, Jahaira (nicknamed Ya Ya). The little girl had been undernourished and in poor health before coming to Casa Bernabe—she needed support, and Kristen took up the cause.
“I am very blessed because my Mom agreed to split the cost with me,” says Kristen. “I do chores around the house, to help me earn my half of the money…it helps me remember. It is so easy to fall back into the routine of everyday life and forget about Nicaragua, but as I do chores, I think of Ya Ya and pray for her.”
Kristen committed to contacting Ya Ya. She wrote letters and sent pictures and goodies, and continued to pray for the little girl throughout her senior year of high school.
Then a second trip to Nicaragua came around, and Kristen arrived at Casa Bernabe in the midst of a huge group of gringos. “I was very excited to see what God had in store for me…but I was nervous; I didn’t think Ya Ya would know that I was her sponsor and I wasn’t sure how I should react when I met her,” she says. But God had more in store for her than she could have expected! When the team arrived at Casa Bernabe, Kristen recalls, “I was in a crowd of people…kids were running around and acting crazy. I turned around and saw this tiny little girl with my team leader, kind of looking at me funny and holding a picture in her hand. I recognized her right away and saw that she was holding a picture of me that I had sent her. I opened my arms up and she crawled right in!”
After having prayed for her, supported her, and talked to her, Kristen finally got the chance to meet Ya Ya. And what a joyful meeting it was. “It was such a precious moment, to finally meet the girl I had been thinking and praying for and to have her recognize me and be excited to see me.”
Kristen learned, this past trip, how to live in the tension between American provision and Nicaragua poverty. “The key to living in the tension is relationships…it is a ‘we are the body of Christ’ kind of thing. Who knows where God can take me with these relationships? And who knows how I will be able to impact the children!”
Who knows how Kristen will continue to transform the lives of children in Nicaragua? But we know and believe that she will. Her life is a response to God’s call to care for the oppressed, the widowed, and the orphaned, and there is no better action than what God has shown us in her life!
If you are interested in sponsoring a child like Kristen, please read more about the One Life at a Time sponsorship program to hear how you can make a difference through sponsorship!
It’s true too, and that’s why it’s so pervasive: mission work transforms the workers. But ORPHANetwork is committed to high school students because they tangibly make a difference in our orphans’ lives.
Last summer, Kristen Huenerberg took a trip to Nicaragua. She had just finished her junior year of high school. “Needless to say, I fell in love with Nicaragua,” she says. “I felt the presence of God so clearly and I felt I was making a difference in the lives of others.”
But she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what sort of response would continue to make a difference once she returned home. “Coming back to the States was rough because I didn’t know how I could make a difference with so many miles between Nicaragua and me.” Nicaragua had changed her, and she didn’t know how to return the favor.
So many stories stop there: with an American changed. But not Kristen’s. “I decided to sponsor a child,” she remembers. So she talked with ORPHANetwork, and paired her a little girl new to the orphanage, Jahaira (nicknamed Ya Ya). The little girl had been undernourished and in poor health before coming to Casa Bernabe—she needed support, and Kristen took up the cause.
“I am very blessed because my Mom agreed to split the cost with me,” says Kristen. “I do chores around the house, to help me earn my half of the money…it helps me remember. It is so easy to fall back into the routine of everyday life and forget about Nicaragua, but as I do chores, I think of Ya Ya and pray for her.”
Kristen committed to contacting Ya Ya. She wrote letters and sent pictures and goodies, and continued to pray for the little girl throughout her senior year of high school.
Then a second trip to Nicaragua came around, and Kristen arrived at Casa Bernabe in the midst of a huge group of gringos. “I was very excited to see what God had in store for me…but I was nervous; I didn’t think Ya Ya would know that I was her sponsor and I wasn’t sure how I should react when I met her,” she says. But God had more in store for her than she could have expected! When the team arrived at Casa Bernabe, Kristen recalls, “I was in a crowd of people…kids were running around and acting crazy. I turned around and saw this tiny little girl with my team leader, kind of looking at me funny and holding a picture in her hand. I recognized her right away and saw that she was holding a picture of me that I had sent her. I opened my arms up and she crawled right in!”
After having prayed for her, supported her, and talked to her, Kristen finally got the chance to meet Ya Ya. And what a joyful meeting it was. “It was such a precious moment, to finally meet the girl I had been thinking and praying for and to have her recognize me and be excited to see me.”
Kristen learned, this past trip, how to live in the tension between American provision and Nicaragua poverty. “The key to living in the tension is relationships…it is a ‘we are the body of Christ’ kind of thing. Who knows where God can take me with these relationships? And who knows how I will be able to impact the children!”
Who knows how Kristen will continue to transform the lives of children in Nicaragua? But we know and believe that she will. Her life is a response to God’s call to care for the oppressed, the widowed, and the orphaned, and there is no better action than what God has shown us in her life!
If you are interested in sponsoring a child like Kristen, please read more about the One Life at a Time sponsorship program to hear how you can make a difference through sponsorship!