Mexican yellow jackets swarm from their hole in the ground around his legs, stinging him several times, but the 28-year-old bank president continues to hold the stick until the surveyor gets his reading. "Hey" he says, "we needed the reading from that point to build this orphanage. If I hadn't done it, someone else would have had to do it."
This banker is just one of a growing number of young adults who are plugging into a new resource for pastors and interested others. Called Service Station, the organization is based in Boise, Idaho. Its purpose is to create short-term volunteer opportunities for young adults (high school and college students) that helps them see the impact they can make on the lives of others. Currently the Service Station operates in Mexico, Guatemala, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Thailand helping to build orphanages, clinics, and schools. Service Station also operates sites in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, where volunteers assist in soup kitchens, food banks, homeless shelters, environmental projects, and safe houses for runaway teens.
Pastor Dennis Nikel, from British Columbia, who traveled with groups of volunteers to San Francisco in 1995 and Mexico in 1996, says, "Our members had a rich time learning about all the needs that are out there—and how we can help meet those needs." Amy Pallo, 19, who traveled with both groups, says, "I've never seen the things I've seen there. It is totally different from my life back home. I kind of hate to go back and start my own little selfish life again. I want to do more things like this where I live."
Service groups have come from different parts of the world—Europe, Asia, and North and South America. No matter where they come from or where they go, the result is the same: their lives change on these trips, making them more aware of what people's needs are back home, and most important, how they can help meet those needs. In a very real way, participants are becoming the "gospel with the skin on" to the people they serve.
Helping those in need
She always wanted to be an attorney. She had good grades, is charming, and possesses a drive that leads her to fulfill the goals she focuses on. Asked why she wanted to be an attorney, she replied, "The money is good, and you hold clout." Then her life changed. After spending time with Service Station, she decided that she still wanted to be an attorney, but for a different reason altogether. Now she wants to start her own law firm and help battered women and other struggling people to get the legal care they need but can't afford. She says, "I've discovered that true fulfillment in life comes from using my talents and skills to help others." When people emulate the life of Jesus, they become more caring and contributing people.
It has been observed that Jesus did more healing than preaching. But can the same be said of those who claim to follow Him today? Far too often we excel in preaching and come up lame in healing. However, through experiences such as those provided by Service Station, many are becoming healers of international and domestic wounds.
Changing the way a generation thinks and lives is a huge challenge. It is one that carries with it an equally demanding responsibility. Intentional exposure to community and global needs creates a shift in the basic thinking and attitudes of young adults, families, schools, churches, and civic groups. That shift transforms them into a positive force in their neighborhoods. In their inmost being they begin to see their neighborhood, country, and world in a different way. They strive to help others because they know from experience, such as the experience found through Service Station, that they can make a difference in people's lives.
What actually happens on the trips?
So what kinds of things happen on Service Station trips? Each site is a completely different experience. Inner-city projects might find participants spending one night in a cardboard box, simulating a homeless person's life. The next day might find them as part of a team of 20 helping to feed 4,000 people. Experiencing the situation (homelessness) and then becoming involved in a practical way to help the homeless (assisting in a soup kitchen) is an example of intentional planning.
Michael Stevens, 17, of Cleveland, Ohio, describes one of his nights this way: "I knew people lived this way— I'd seen it on TV. I just had no idea what it was really like. It blew me away! I'm starting to understand the homeless problem a little better." The night may be over, but the experience will be with him forever. After serving breakfast for others and themselves at a local soup kitchen, volunteers may help at a local recreation center, where urban kids, some of them homeless, do crafts, receive tutoring, and play games with Service Station participants.
Kari Johnson, a counselor with 15 years' experience, says, "It is impossible to understand the homeless situation by simply spending one night in a cardboard box. However, the sounds and smells of the street that the homeless experience every night are etched in my mind. Seeing what people are doing for others and actually getting involved with their shelters, soup kitchens, and recreation centers really sparked my interest. I hope to be involved in some kind of outreach to the homeless when I get home to Phoenix."
International outreach
International trips involve building projects. Each project offers highly meaningful experiences as volunteers get to know other cultures and interface with varied problems. In Guatemala an orphanage operated by International Children's Care (ICC) attends to more than 220 orphans. The needs in this area urgently call for this ministry to expand.
One boy who is now being cared for at the Guatemala site tells of his father's suicide in jail. The father had just been arrested for the murder of his wife, whom he had killed two years earlier. This boy and his two younger sisters tell a graphic story of unimaginable horror involving them personally, as they lived through their mother's murder by their father. These children are one example of the kind of ministry Service Station volun teers become involved in.
In Mexico it is estimated that 20 to 25 children are abandoned each day in Tijuana as parents flee to the United States in search of a better life. Service Station volunteers manage more than 600 people a year for ICC as they build a receiving center and orphanage that will help care for these children.
Opportunities to serve offered through Service Station
Want to change your congregation, your youth or young adult group, or the families in your community? Check out these opportunities.
Los Angeles, California: December 26, 1996-January 3,1997. Teens 14-18 years of age are needed to clean up graffiti, help families get the immunizations they need, and work with soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and food banks. Then we will head over to Venice Beach for beach cleanup, and work on several Habitat for Humanity homes in sunny southern California. (Call for other dates and age group opportunities.)
San Francisco, California: December 26, 1996-January 3, 1997. Young adults (19-35) are needed (call for other dates and age group opportunities). Few cities are capable of conjuring up the images of progressiveness and romance that San Francisco does. Constantly rated as one of the top 10 cities people around the world want to visit, San Francisco is a mix of the best and worst of humanity. More than 7 million people claim the Bay Area as their home, but tens of thousands live in conditions unfit for human beings. We'll be involved in service projects such as food banks, feeding more than 8,000 people per day, beach habitat restoration, and Habitat for Humanity!
Washington, D.C.-.March 23-29,1997. (Call for other dates.) Open for all age groups. The stark realities of living in Washington, D.C., are almost incredible. Home to the most powerful government in the world, the city is also home to some of the most discouraging living conditions. What can be done?
There are many potential answers, but the biggest challenge is to try to turn lives around in a personal way. You will find yourself assisting at homeless shelters, soup kitchens, orphanages, and Habitat for Humanity homes. You will be mending much-needed clothing, renovating existing homes and run down shelters, and more.
Baja, Mexico: year-around. Open for all age groups. Nestled in the mountain region of the Baja, Valley of the Trinidad is home to a real need. Operated by International Children's Care, the Oasis, an adoption and orphanage organization, is under construction. The Oasis will be home to about 150 orphans from the Baja and other parts of northern Mexico. Abandonment, death of parents, and other human tragedies plead for a safe place for these children. You and your group can help make the orphanage operational by being involved in completing the facilities.
For brochures and other information on our sites in Guatemala, Haiti, Thailand, the Dominican Republic, and all the opportunities listed above, please call our toll-free line, 800-617-2498. You can access our homepage on the Internet at http:// www.servicestatio n.org. E-mail addresses are [email protected] or CompuServe 74617,335. Our address is P.O. Box 190167, Boise, ID 83719-0167.
