Here are the updates for the High School Nicaragua Mission Team.
The biggest thing to remember is that your support letters are DUE on Sunday, May 2nd. Please refer to the below information with details regarding support letters and other deadlines.
Nicaragua Mission Team
April 20th Checklist
April 20th Checklist
□ Blog: http://wccstudentministriesmissiontrips.blogspot.com/
o We will post all training information, as well as trip updates, here.
□ Subscribe to updates via text messaging:
o Parents: Text “nicaparent” to 41411
o Students: Text “nicastudent” to 41411
□ Support Letters
o Turn in your support letters (in addressed, stamped envelopes, w/ self-addressed, stamped envelopes enclosed) by Sun, May 2
o Support Letter Instructions are included in your folders
□ Passport
o If you don’t have a passport, begin the application process IMMEDIATELY to ensure that you receive it by June 22nd!
o Here are some helpful websites to assist you with the application process:
§ http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
§ http://www.usps.com/passport/
o If you already have a passport, check the date to make sure that it does not expire on or before July 2010
□ Forms: bring your completed forms to our second Nicaragua Team Meeting on May 11th
o ORPHANetwork Release Form
o WCC Parental Consent Form – this form must be notarized (Please check with Alexis if you need your form notarized or want to see if you have a current form on file for the 2010 school year. If you turned in a Parental Consent Form for this year’s ski trip or CBA Day, you do not need another one. Parental Consent Forms from last year’s mission trips are no longer current.)
Next Team Meeting: Tuesday, May 11th from 6:30-8:30pm
Support Letter Instructions
Due to the volume of students going on this trip and the continuing stress on our economy, it is necessary for all of us to work together in order to raise funds for our trip. Here are your action points for completing and sending out your prayer/support letters.
1. Using the attached documents, write your support letter. Ask your parents or a leader to check/edit your letter.
2. Make sure to include in your letter that support checks should be made payable to “WCC” and should have “your name” and “HS Nicaragua Trip” in the memo line.
3. In your letters, you should also make sure to invite everyone who supports you with prayers or financially to join us for Missions Night on Sunday, August 8th from 6:30-8pm in the Chapel’s Main Worship Room.
4. Once all the content is ready, print your final drafts. Address all letters, seal them, and stamp them. (It is usually a good idea to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope to make it easier for your friends and family members to mail back their checks.)
5. Return your completed (addressed, stamped) letters to Student Ministries by Sunday, May 2nd. You must turn your support letters into us and we will put them in the mail for you. We do this in order to know how many support letters you are sending, as well as ensure that the letters get in the mail by a specific date.
For any questions regarding support letters, please email Alexis at akincaid@wcchapel.org
Support Letter Outline
Your Street Address
Williamsburg, VA ZIP
Your phone number
Your email address
Date
Dear (leave blank to type in their name),
Your first paragraph should introduce or reintroduce yourself to your potential supporters. Bring them up to date on where you are, where you’ve been, and what you’re up to. Tell a specific story from the past month that gives them a glimpse of what God is doing in your life.
Explain to them that you have an opportunity to participate in a mission trip with the Williamsburg Community Chapel Student Ministries, June 22-July 1, 2010. Describe briefly where you will go, with whom you will go, and that you have a financial need in order to participate in the trip. There are 81 students and 20 leaders going on the trip this year.
Describe the conditions or need in the area you will be going to. Try to be specific. You want to convey the need and help them to understand what it is that we will be doing and why we need to be doing it. Tell them why you are personally excited to go on the trip if this is your first time/why you are excited to go back if this is not your first time.
Invite them to participate in the mission trip through your service, by:
o Praying for the people that you will be serving
o Praying for you and the team that is going
o Partnering with you financially
Encourage them to pray and carefully consider their involvement with your
support team, then give them instructions for contributing should they be willing. (Make checks payable to “WCC” with “your name” and “HS Nicaragua Trip” in the memo line, have the checks sent to your home address—including a self-addressed envelope in your letter is a good idea.) Invite them to our SM Missions Night on Sunday August 8th from 6:30-8 pm in the Chapel’s Main Worship Room, where we will share about our trip.
Thank them for their involvement regardless of their contribution, and sign the letter personally by hand.
Thank you,
Type your name
Write a hand written personal note here to each potential supporter
Important Facts for the Letter
Our Trip to Nicaragua:
Working with ORPHANetwork
Our WCC Student Ministry team consists of 81 students and 20 leaders
$1150 (this is the price since you have already turned in your $300 dollar deposit) per person (covers air fare, food, in country travel, missions projects/materials, activities with children, donation to orphanage, EVERYTHING!)
While in Nicaragua we have three goals that can be easily summarized in three words: expose, engage and impact. First, we will be exposed first hand to third world poverty and the factors that create and sustain a country where many of its citizens live in desperate conditions. Second, we will engage this poverty and the people who live in it through building relationships that we hope will develop overtime into genuine friendship. Third, we will make a positive impact by serving the people we meet in such a way that we alleviate some aspect of their physical or spiritual poverty. Every activity we participate in will help our team achieve one of these three goals. Some examples are listed below:
Expose- Touring orphanage grounds, local villages, the city of Managua, Nueva Vida Refugee Camp, and La Chureca city dump.
Engage- Living on the same property as the children from the orphanage, long bus rides that provide much needed time to interact with the children, sharing meals the children, helping children with their homework and other everyday chores and spending time with the orphanage staff to learn about their work and call to ministry with orphaned and abandoned children.
Impact- Making financial contributions to the orphanage, doing work projects at the orphanage and throughout the surrounding villages, like digging trenches to install piping to bring running water to families, helping with projects at the Orphanage, throwing a birthday party for all of the children with a personal gift for each of them, taking the kids on educational field trips, leading a Bible study night complete with games, music and teaching, distributing food and clothing to the surrounding village, the city dump and the refugee camp and most importantly offering our faith, hope and love in a sacrificial manner as we attempt to shine Jesus’ light in a dark world.
Again, checks should be made payable to “WCC”, can be mailed directly to you, and are tax-deductible. Tell them to write “HS Nicaragua Trip” and “your name” on the memo line.
Please mark your calendars to join us for our Student Ministry Missions night on Sunday, August 8th from 6:30-8 pm in the Chapel’s Main Worship Room, where we will share about what we saw and learned on our trip.
Sample Letter #1 – First Time Student
April 9, 2010
Dear
Hey, I hope you are doing well! This past year of my life has been so eventful! From field hockey to swimming, to school and just beginning to drive I have definitely been staying busy. Something that has had even a greater impact on my life more than any of these things though would be my small group and church. I have belonged to a small group since the sixth grade, but this past year I truly committed to getting involved. I have been rewarded by being surrounded by a loving group of peers and a leader who I can not thank enough for giving to us as much as she does! Through this I have been leaded closer to Christ who is strengthening my faith every day.
As the school year is coming to an end with summer on the way, I have been offered an opportunity to participate in a mission trip to Nicaragua with the Williamsburg Community Chapel Student Ministry from June 22- July 1, 2010. I will be one of 81 students and 20 leaders going to serve the people and orphans in Nicaragua. While there we will engage in Nicaraguan life by living on the same property as the children from the orphanage, helping them with their chores and homework, and playing and spending time with them while sharing Jesus’ light and love. We hope to impact the area by doing things such as work projects at the orphanage and surrounding villages, like digging trenches to install piping to bring running water to families. Among many other things we will throw birthday parties for children, lead bible studies, and distribute food and clothing.
Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere; 75% of its citizens live below the poverty line. They struggle to provide for their children and feed their families, which is why many of these children end up in orphanages. In this area there is inadequate health care and social security. Corruption has also lead to further weaken their already unstable economy. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes further devastate the country, as they do not have the resources to prevent or recover from them.
I send this letter in hope that you will partner with me in prayer for the people and orphans we will be serving in Nicaragua, and our whole mission team. If you would be willing to contribute financially to my trip, you can write a check made payable to “WCC” with my name and “HS Nicaragua Trip” on the memo line, and return in to me in the enclosed envelope. While any contribution will help, please know that your prayers are the most important thing I can ask of you! I appreciate your involvement and support!
Thanks,
Sample Letter #2 – Returning Student
Dear Friends and Family,
I am excited to be writing you this letter from warm and humid Williamsburg, Virginia. I have had an eventful year in 2009-2010 which has challenged me spiritually and intellectually. In the
fall I started my first job at a Chick-Fil-A in order to start purchasing my own things instead of begging my parents. This spring I have been training to become a future small group leader of sixth grade guys and it has been a very time consuming process for me.
The purpose of this letter is to update you on my latest plans and seek your assistance. I have committed to spend the beginning of my summer break (June 22-July1) serving orphans in Vera Cruz, Nicaragua. I will be headed to Nicaragua along with about 89 other high school students through the Student Ministry at the Williamsburg Community Chapel. The trip is an opportunity for high school students at the Chapel to serve orphans and the surrounding village and distribute food and clothing to people in need throughout Vera Cruz. We will throw birthday parties, take children out to eat, and go to the beach – among many other things. But most importantly, we will be sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and loving each and every one of the children.
Most Nicaraguans are not afforded the same opportunities as we are in America. Currently, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The country is still recovering from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Mitch in 1998, a civil war which has led to the centralization of political power, and an ailing economy attributed to falling coffee prices. The statistics speak for themselves: one in three children suffers from chronic malnutrition; another one out of every three children is illiterate; and an estimated 167,000 children in Nicaragua are forced into child labor. Clearly, these facts are devastating. Imagine amidst these challenges, the children at the orphanage in Vera Cruz must grow up without parents.
I would be honored if you would share this amazing opportunity with me. The most important contribution to my trip is prayer for me, the other students, and most importantly, the children at Vera Cruz. I am also hoping to raise the remaining $1,150 for the expenses of the trip – travel, room and board, donations, and activities for the children. If you feel moved to contribute to my trip I would be very grateful. If you or your family decide to support me, a check can be made out to the Williamsburg Community Chapel (WCC), and please write “HS Nicaragua Missions Trip” and my name in the memo line. You can mail the check back to me, and I will make sure that it gets to the church. Please remember, your prayers are also just as helpful as a check, if not more important.
Again, I feel blessed to have this opportunity to serve the children of Nicaragua, and would be thrilled if you would prayerfully consider supporting me.
Sincerely,
