Mission work at First United Methodist Church of Blue Springs is taking an about face. Instead of members going to Costa Rica this summer, the church is hosting a reverse mission trip team from Costa Rica.
Wil Bailey, the missionary for Costa Rica Mission Projects, is bringing 15 people to Blue Springs Aug. 5 through 12, to work on projects in Kansas City and Eastern Jackson County. During the week, they will sort food at Harvesters, serve lunch at the Grand Avenue Temple UMC in Kansas City, and provide labor for Habitat for Humanity and Hillcrest Ministries.
Jack Marker, VIM coordinator at First UMC, said Bailey told him his group wanted to come to the United States on a mission trip for several reasons. One was that the U.S. always responds to global catastrophes, but who helps the U.S. in times of need, like after Hurricane Katrina. A second reason was they wanted to experience the joy the mission teams seem to experience when they come to Costa Rica. Lastly, the group thought it was time they gave something back to the U.S.
Some members of First UMC have been going to Costa Rica on missions since 2005. Marker has taken groups there four times, and in 2007, he led a First UMC team that worked with a Costa Rican mission team led by Bailey on the U.S. Gulf Coast, where they did clean-up projects following Hurricane Katrina.
On Aug. 8, the community is welcome to a service and picnic beginning at 5:30 p.m. Bailey will lead the service and several members of the visiting mission team will provide music. Rev. Sally Haynes, senior pastor at First UMC, and Rev. Steve Cox, superintendent of the Heartland North District, will speak briefly. The picnic will begin after the service.
The mission team members range in age from 17 to 92. Among them: Felix Barbas Padilla, 92, who has never flown or been to the U.S.; Francisco Suarez Vargas, 17, who is coming for his second mission trip to the U.S.; Hugo Gonzalez Arave, a former construction company owner who is head contractor for the Costa Rica Mission Projects; and Christian Picado, a high school music teacher, who also is coming for his second mission trip to the U.S.
