By Wood-Mizer, Europe
February 26, 2020
Teaming up with Youth with a Mission (YWAM), several Wood-Mizer employees and family members travelled to Costa Rica to build a housing structure for visiting missionaries in the area. Here are a few first-hand experiences from the mission team’s travels.
Dave Meyer
My wife, Rose, and I went on the trip because we feel it’s important to share the blessings and talents God has given us with others. As James 2:26 says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Our primary task was to start building a cabin, but we also felled a huge tree, cut and treated lumber, pulled weeds, dug post holes, and cleared brush. The full impact of our efforts won’t be realized until the cabin is completed and used to house missionary couples coming to learn the skills needed to minister to the spiritual and physical needs of the poor in developing nations.
Some of my most memorable moments of the trip were experiencing the local food and culture, meeting new friends, strengthening existing friendships, running a sawmill for the first time, and literally saving a life. However, the biggest take away for me is knowing that, in a small way, we helped spread the word of Christ to remote corners of the world. The trip was the first opportunity Rose and I have had to share a missions trip experience together without our children and are definitely planning on going on many more. Rose and I went on the first two Wood-Mizer sponsored missions trips. I went on the Poland trip in 1999 and she went on the Ukraine trip in 2000. The experience moved us to start a Sr. High missions program at our church where we are now preparing for our 18th missions trip this summer.
Tim Volz
I can say that the Costa Rica trip was amazing! Sure I was taken out of my comfort zone a bit, because I was eating unfamiliar foods and living in a different culture for a week. Since I have been on other mission trips before I was prepared, but this trip was different for me, because my daughter Savanna was able to enjoy this trip with me! I was able to build a stronger bond with her as we worked as teammates of the mission team. This allowed me to forget all about being out of my comfort zone. I believe the Lord had a hand in how great we worked as a team and allowing us to help others while building friendships with the YWAM staff that will last forever!
Recently I was able to host our friend Lukas from YWAM Costa Rica at my house and show him our culture and it was the first time I’ve ever done anything like that. It too was amazing…what a great feeling! At Wood-Mizer, I deal with helping others improve their life at work. This trip allowed me to better understand that we need to get out of our comfort zones in daily life, thus continuously improving ourselves….trying to become the best version of ourselves as God challenges us to do! What a blessing it is to improve ourselves while helping others.
Deanna Bunten
In my heart and in my mind, I always wanted to go on a mission trip to serve others and the Lord while stretching myself spiritually. I really didn’t know where to start because missionary work wasn’t familiar territory for me. The Wood-Mizer mission trip to YWAM Heredia provided an excellent opportunity for both my 16 year old son, Evan, and I to give our gifts of time and labor. Spending a week together, Evan and I worked alongside each other and our Wood-Mizer team doing many construction projects at the camp that will allow them to further their outreach. We worked, talked, ate, laughed, dreamed, prayed and played. All the while, witnessing not just God’s love at work through the mission, but in our own lives as we received the biggest blessing of time spent together.
