Evangel Heights junior makes mission trip
Riley Schuffert's faith took her 2,007 miles from home.
“It reminds you more people are out there, more than just the U.S. It's hard to get in that mindset if you are here your whole life or it's the only thing you know,” said Riley, who is a junior at Evangel Heights Christian Academy in Sarver.
She recently spent seven days in Guatemala on a mission trip as part of a group of 11 people from the Christian Life Fellowship Church of Florida that provided medical and youth ministry to locals.
“The reason I went was because I have such a passion for sharing the love of God and helping people,” she said. “It was my first mission trip ever, and my first time out of the country,”
Riley, who is originally from Pennsylvania, once lived in Florida for about a year when her family moved for her father who is in the military. Her parents are Troy Schuffert of Leechburg and Jessica Schuffert of Natrona Heights.
Riley and her mother flew from Pennsylvania to Florida and departed the states March 5 and landed in the country's capital, Guatemala City. They stayed at the Porta Hotel del Lago in Panajachel, a town in the Guatemalan Highlands, west of Guatemala City.
During her time in the Central American country, she spent a day sightseeing in Antigua, San Jose and the volcano, Volcán de Fuego.“I really love the Spanish and Hispanic culture,” she said. “Guatemala was a great place to go.”Each day her group drove two hours to remote villages situated on mountains and volcanoes, Riley said, going about their mission work.The villages were secluded, she said. While there, the residents showed the visitors their trades, textiles and culture.Riley's basic knowledge of Spanish helped her communicate.“The goal was to spread the love of God,” she said. “That's what I embody as a person.”The people welcomed the missionaries.“They work so hard for what they have. They don't have a lot of material things that we do in the U.S.,” she said. “They have joy, love, faith and community, but most importantly, they have God.”Two nurse practitioners provided basic medical care to about 70 patients each day, she said. They noticed the people had gastritis problems and joint damage because they are primarily farmers.Riley, who was part of the youth ministry team, worked with about 150 children each day.She taught them the Bible verse 1 John 1:9 and used poster boards, games and candy.Riley missed nine school days, but worked around it as she read her textbooks in the hotel after her mission work.On their last day, the people performed their national song while they wore their national dress for the missionaries. They also cooked several cultural dishes.One food for the tasting was a soup made of beans and milk, Riley said, adding it is a dish the men eat when they come in from farming for protein. They also had sweet plantains.
During the event, the locals laid out pine needles as a sign of respect and thanks, Riley said.“That was a culture thing I hadn't experienced,” she said. “I loved it.”While there, she learned that some villages had different gods, such as gods of corn and harvest, which they depicted on their handmade clothing.“Every little thing they make for a specific purpose,” she said.The colors of those clothes each had a different meaning. Women wore belts around their waist to symbolize strength, she said.Along with the warm greeting from the Guatemalans, Riley was also welcomed with warm, sunny weather with temperatures in the 70s.Driving was “crazy,” she said about people constantly using their car horns. People drove tuk tuks, small covered vehicles similar to motorcycles that could carry five people, on sidewalks and maneuvered in and out of traffic, she said.Although she was extremely nervous at first to be in an unfamiliar place, Riley's nerves faded.“I didn't feel unsafe,” she said. “I felt more love than anything.”One takeaway is getting to know people through cultural immersion and faith, Riley said.“Don't make assumptions about what you see or hear,” she said. “Experience it because it will surprise you.”Riley said she would recommend others make a mission trip when they are young.“It changes your whole mindset,” she said. “There's always more people that need God and Jesus, so just go and do it.”
The Maya civilization flourished in Guatemala and surrounding regions during the first millennium A.D.After almost three centuries as a Spanish colony, Guatemala won its independence in 1821. During the second half of the 20th century, it experienced a variety of military and civilian governments, as well as a 36-year guerrilla war.In 1996, the government signed a peace agreement formally ending the internal conflict, which had left more than 200,000 people dead and had created, by some estimates, about one million refugees.The Central American country is slightly smaller in area than Pennsylvania.Spanish, the official language, is spoken by 68.9 percent of the population with Maya and other indigenous languages accounting for the rest.The 2003 Law of National Languages officially recognized 23 indigenous languages, including 21 Maya languages, Xinka, and Garifuna.The religions are Roman Catholic, Protestant and indigenous Mayan beliefs.Guatemala is a predominantly poor country that struggles in several areas of health and development, including infant, child, and maternal mortality, malnutrition, literacy, and contraceptive awareness and use.The country's large indigenous population is disproportionately affected. Guatemala is the most populous country in Central America and has the highest fertility rate in Latin America. It also has the highest population growth rate in Latin America, which is likely to continue because of its large reproductive-age population and high birth rate.Almost half of Guatemala's population is under age 19, making it the youngest population in Latin America.Guatemalans have a history of emigrating legally and illegally to Mexico, the United States, and Canada because of a lack of economic opportunity, political instability, and natural disasters.Emigration, primarily to the United States, escalated during the 1960 to 1996 civil war and accelerated after a peace agreement was signed. Thousands of Guatemalans who fled to Mexico returned after the war, but labor migration to southern Mexico continues.The country's agricultural sector accounts for 13.5 percent of its gross domestic product and 31 percent of its labor force: key agricultural exports include sugar, coffee, bananas, and vegetables.The 1996 peace accords removed a major obstacle to foreign investment, and Guatemala has since pursued important reforms and macroeconomic stabilization.The distribution of income remains highly unequal with the richest 20 percent of the population accounting for more than 51 percent of Guatemala's overall consumption.More than half of the population is below the national poverty line, and 23 percent lives in extreme poverty.Poverty among indigenous groups, which make up more than 40 percent of the population, averages 79 percent, with 40 percent of the indigenous population living in extreme poverty.Nearly one-half of Guatemala's children under age 5 are chronically malnourished, one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world.Guatemala persists in its territorial claim to half of the neighboring country of Belize, but agrees to a line of adjacency to keep Guatemalan squatters out of Belize's forested interior, Mexico must deal with thousands of impoverished Guatemalans and other Central Americans who cross the border looking for work in Mexico and the United States.Its proximity to Mexico makes Guatemala a major staging area for drugs (particularly for cocaine); money laundering and corruption are major problems.— CIA Word Factbook
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