TriTech employees have been busy making the world a better place this summer.

Allen, TX--(August 15, 2014)--Suicides, genocides, dying children, and countries devastated by war. Recent headlines have reminded us that it is indeed hard to be human. It’s easy to get lost in the darkness of this whole life on Earth thing. But here at TriTech, bright spots in our humanity are closer and louder than the riots and missiles.

Sally Agreda and Kassidy Stroup recently returned from a mission trip to Panama to spread the Word of God and help build a Youth with a Mission base to serve the local community. Karen Sourber’s daughters, Faith and Julia, went to Ecuador on mission focused on giving the tribal children unconditional love while sharing the love and salvation offered by God.

Robby McCollom and his son Colton kept it closer to home by doing construction work for a nonprofit Arkansas organization called S.T.A.N.D. that gives troubled women a free place to live, and helps them get a G.E.D. and learn teachings from the Bible.

"They were the happiest kids I have ever met!"

- Kassidy Stroup

Panama

The Panama missionaries embarked on their long journey by bus deep into the Panamanian mountains. There was no water suitable for drinking and no electricity, so they brought their own water and enjoyed meals cooked over fires by the indigenous people. They showed movies, hiked to visit different families in the area and pray for the sick, and shared Jesus along the way when opportunities arose. None of the people spoke English so they used a Spanish translator. In some cases, the people didn’t even speak Spanish very well, but spoke their tribal language, Ngobe. Sally was reported to be the best translator on the trip.

In the mornings they spent time with the children at the school. They taught the children phrases in English, sang songs, did crafts, and put on silent skits acting out Bible stories. They also played softball, kickball, and Frisbee.

Kassidy Stroup was touched by the simple happiness that each child possessed that just doesn’t exist here in America. “I remember hiking with an indigenous boy named Carlo and he stopped us in the middle of our hike and picked up a string that was lying on the ground. He had the biggest smile on his face and you could just see how much joy he had with nothing. Every child was like that! It didn’t matter if they were climbing on our backs or dancing with us or us just talking to them. They were the happiest kids I have ever met,” Kassidy said.

Ecuador

Faith and Julia Sourber braved the area of Ecuador where the famous missionary Jim Elliot was killed in the 1950’s when attempting to reach a tribal people for Christ. He, his pilot and three others were killed by the tribe. The tribal people were later reached by Jim Elliot’s wife and are now Christian due to her willingness to forgive and still be used by God to reach the very people who killed her husband.

Faith and Julia’s group helped prepare three meals a day for the youth of the mountains and jungles, prepared Bible studies and devotions, played team building games, and spent time forming relationships with the kids in a fun, safe environment intended to nourish both body and soul.

The children were so eager to join the camp that most of them traveled by themselves through the jungle or mountains and by boat across rivers over several days to attend. They were the happiest, most grateful kids Karen’s daughters had ever encountered. Though it was very hot and humid in the jungle, the kids never uttered a single complaint. Faith and Julia can’t wait to go back and want to intern themselves so they can stay much longer.

Arkansas

Robby and Colton McCollom took a mission trip with high school students that started out as a group of volunteers going to relieve some of the damage done by storms that hit the Arkansas area. They ended up looking for another project where they were more needed and they found themselves doing work with the Habitat for Humanity of Faulkner County's "A Brush with Kindness" Project (ABWK) through S.T.A.N.D.

The organization was forced to waitlist many women in need because they had nowhere to place them. Robby and Colton’s group swooped in and rebuilt a donated trailer that will double the number of women that S.T.A.N.D. can serve. There will now be less homeless women on streets in Arkansas thanks to the hard work of these Texas volunteers.

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who chowed down on some Panda Express on Tuesday, and thank you in advance to anyone who decides to purchase a t-shirt (for sale in the break room) to support the Ecuador organization. And the biggest thank you goes to people like our TriTech missionaries who are busy lighting up the dark spots in our world.

He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)