Trinidad In Green Bay Project - MissionGuides International

MISSIONARIES WORK HARD TO GIVE BACK TO COMMUNITY
Nine from Trinidad use week to learn leadership skills
Article by Sara Boyd
Photos by H. Marc Larsen

For Mark Miller, a 21-year-old missionary from Arima, Trinidad, coming to the Green Bay area for the first time revealed one major difference in the two communities: the cold. "It's been pretty cool since we have arrived," he said. "They say we have missed the sun."

It is the first of many lessons for Miller arriving in the country a week ago. Miller, along with eight other members of the House of God Ministries in Chaguanas, Trinidad, will spend two weeks in Green Bay learning leadership skills they can bring back to their community. What started as an effort to get people involved in missions programs on a long-term basis has now turned into a 10-year relationship with the Trinidad church, said Jeff Hollenbeck, director of MissionGuides, a nonprofit missions-mobilization in Green Bay. "It's part of our lives now," he said. "We're part of their church and they're part of us." And now, the church that at one time received missionary help is hoping to give back to another community, he said.

Through a partnership with MissonGuides, Spring Lake Church and Young Community, the Trinidad missionaries will participate in service projects throughout Green Bay, including cleaning police cars for the De Pere Police Department and serving meals at local pantries. Along the way, they will learn about Wisconsin culture and hopefully bring back valuable lessons, Hollenbeck said. "We want to give them a little training on what it means to be a leader of a church, what it means to have a passion for God É and how they can plug that into their home church," he said.

Thirteen-year-old Daniel Pramsook said his church is small, with only about 150 people, and he was surprised to see more than 500 people at churches around Green Bay. "The churches are very different and have a lot of different experiences than back home," he said. Christie Snaggs, 17, said she was excited to come here and share her talents, perhaps on a common ground. "I'm a dancer, and I like to use that to reach out to people about the gospel of God," she said. "I could even teach someone out there about dancing. Show my moves."

Through the program, Miller said beyond helping others and spreading the word of God, he hopes for a new perspective. "I believe it was the will of God to have me here," "I hope to expand my imagination, like, open my visions," he said. "I'm not that confident, so I am hoping to gain more confidence."

Hollenbeck said that is exactly what some of these missionaries need to strengthen the communities they are coming from. "I want these people to feel like they have something important to offer, have that confidence to say, 'This is it. I can do this. I'm a leader,'" he said. "These people can literally change a nation."