Over spring break in March, a group of students and adults from Kansas churches traveled with the Kansas-Nebraska Youth Department on a mission trip to El Salvador, partnering with a team from the Washington Conference to serve alongside local leaders and churches in the Eastern El Salvador Conference.
The trip started in the dark. The group left in the early morning hours, driving through snow and freezing temperatures, and landed a few hours later in the warmth and humidity of Central America. The contrast was hard to miss, and it only grew from there.
One of the stories that stayed with me came from a simple tin shed where a congregation meets faithfully. That church exists because of a man named Alfredo. When he heard that a group of Adventists had lost their meeting space, he offered them a shed on his small farm. Week after week they gathered there, and Alfredo started showing up too. He became part of the church family. By the time our group arrived, he was not just worshiping in that shed. He was at the worksite with us, helping build a permanent church for that same community. His story alone was worth the trip.
The week was physical work. The team dug trenches through rocky ground in the heat, carried cinder blocks, and learned from local leaders how to build well. But the other work happened in between—playing with kids at Vacation Bible School, singing together, sharing meals that neighbors brought to the worksite. We saw Jesus in a hundred small moments: a child checking on someone who felt sick, a community giving generously from what little they had.
Those moments carry weight. We may have more resources at home, but we were reminded that spiritually, there is still much to learn from people who depend on God every day. James 2:5 says God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith. We saw that.
The clearest lesson was also the simplest. Mission is not a destination. The same willingness to go is needed right here, in our churches and schools and neighborhoods, where people feel unseen every week.
This was never just a project. It was partnership…God bringing His people together to carry His mission forward. That mission continues today, through all of us.
We invite you to pray for the young people who went, for the communities in El Salvador, and that God would help all of us live as missionaries where He has placed us. If you feel called to support this work, your generosity makes opportunities like this possible.
Nick Snell is youth & young adult director for the Kansas-Nebraska Conference.
