A youth group from the Trinitarian Congregational Church (TCC) of Wayland took a group of high school students from the metro-west area to Nicaragua for a missions trip over April vacation.

The group stayed and worked at an orphanage in Vera Cruz, Nicaragua. They played with the children and brought donations from church members. They also painted and did other manual labors around the orphanage.

The group brought clothes, shoes, and other donations for the orphanage and areas around it. Donations were collected from other members of TCC. The group brought a total of 58 suitcases filled with donations, two for each of the 29 students and leaders going.

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The youth group  ran fundraisers to cover the expenses of the trip. Fundraisers included a bake sale at the Senior Show and t-shirt making after Sunday church services. Families from the church painted and stamped their hands onto t-shirts and then wrote their names under their hand prints. These shirts were given to children at the orphanage “to help them feel a connection [to metro-west families],” said Antonell.

The TCC group raised money before leaving “so the kids can get to do things they don’t usually get to do, such as field trips,” said Antonell. In addition, the group brought many pairs of cleats because of the popularity of soccer in Nicaragua.

“I thought that the mission’s trip to Nicaragua was a really great chance to experience another culture and get to know the kids there,” said sophomore Hannah Sacra. “It helped open my eyes more to life in a third-world world country because, even though I’ve been to other very poor countries, I never got to know the people like I did in Nicaragua.”

Last year, the group worked in the Dominican Republic.