By Eric Litke

You never really understand the beauty of a mountaintop, the pain of poverty or the joy of service until you've made the journey to see, smell and experience them.

Now I have.

I joined 10 other Sheboygan-area teens and adults for a nine-day mission adventure to Ecuador, spending time in and around the capital city of Quito, and returning Feb. 15.

Our team - organized through Campus Life in Sheboygan - delivered much-needed medication and supplies and then dug trenches, painted playground equipment, played with the world's cutest children, climbed a mountain and made memories that will last a lifetime.

Three team members (myself included) were making our first trip out of North America, but we were walking a well-worn path. Some 300 people have made the trip since Campus Life started sending teams in 1992.

"People have decided to go into full-time missions and ministries because they went on these trips, and for other people it has helped focus their direction in life because of the things they have seen and experienced in Ecuador," said Jim Green, trip leader and executive director of Campus Life.

"It really gives people a chance to experience missions work in a different culture, different language, just in a shorter dose," said Green, whose Christian-based group I have worked with occasionally for the last six years. "Our mission statement is to communicate the life-changing message of Jesus Christ to every young person, and really this is just one more avenue to do that."

The journey for the 2009 team began early the morning of Feb. 7, when we groggily headed for General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee with our 22 suitcases.

Fourteen of those bags were packed to the 50-pound limit with thousands of dollars in supplies donated for use in Ecuador: vitamins, toys and bibs for an orphanage and children's school; defibrillators and associated equipment for a hospital; vitamins, medical supplies and candy for a nursing home.

We affectionately referred to ourselves as "drug mules."

We flew two hours to Houston, and then a little over five hours to Quito, which at an elevation of more than 9,000 feet is the second-highest capital in the world. Every piece of our valuable baggage arrived intact (an improvement from last year, I'm told) and passed unhindered through customs.

We were met at the airport by Don Schuler, an Elkhart Lake native who has been in Ecuador for 40 years and works as head of maintenance at a Christian school there. He has served as Campus Life's primary contact, translator and trip organizer for the last five years.

"I do enjoy meeting people from the Sheboygan area who have a love for Jesus Christ and want to do something for others in another country," said Schuler, 62. "The teams have always been willing to work hard and to demonstrate their love for Jesus through their willingness to labor in love for those who have less. They have always been a blessing to those they have served."

Our first task was Camp Alianza, a half-finished youth retreat at the foot of the mountains that frame Calacali, a small city just north of Quito. We quickly discovered that project planning and organization aren't taken as seriously there as stateside, but we adapted.

The group spent Monday and Tuesday becoming intimately acquainted with shovels and dirt piles. Our primary responsibility was shoveling dirt into and later out of a pickup as a tireless local used a shovel and bucket to excavate a septic tank hole some 20 feet deep and 8 feet across. There was also a healthy amount of ditch-digging, window washing and painting.

One of our most memorable moments came at the end of the workday Tuesday, when I joined several other adventuresome team members for a hike up the closest mountain. The two-hour trek took us to the densely forested mountaintop, where we could briefly see for miles before dense fog rolled dramatically across the landscape and blanketed our mountain.

"I will remember how amazing it was when we climbed up the mountain and really took in how God put in so much detail into everything he created," said fellow climber Erica Landwehr, 18, of Kiel.

The next three days were spent at Camp Hope in Quito, a mainstay of the Campus Life trip that over the years has grown to include an orphanage, school and care center for impoverished children who in some cases have been abandoned in this city of 1.5 million people.

We spent three days rebuilding the playground, teaching English and playing with children in need of a hug and a smile.

Projects included repainting a playhouse, swing set and play car, re-tying a rope bridge and painting the bottom three feet of every tree.

"I knew we would be doing hard work, but they really appreciated everything we did," Landwehr said. "I will remember how happy all the little kids were when we were fixing things on their playground and how they loved it when we would go play with them. The hardest part of the trip for me was to leave all those kids behind."

Our biggest difficulty hit during the days at Camp Hope, as numerous team members fell ill with a flu-like virus. By Thursday, eight of the 11 of us had spent between one and two days in bed.

It was discouraging being left behind as the few, the proud and the healthy tackled the projects (and children) at Camp Hope, but those who remained pulled together and finished all we started.

"When physically a team is kind of down, it causes everyone to step it up a notch and work that much harder and that much more together," Green said. "You push through it as much as you can, you deal with it and in the end I think you come out stronger."

Jim Hesselink, 48, of Adell, making his 15th trip to Ecuador, said the number and severity of the sicknesses was the worst he's seen. But that did little to dampen the enthusiasm of our team's elder statesman, a heavyset man who children and adults alike referred to as "Papa Noel," their term for Santa Claus.

"For me it's God's calling to go out and do missions and help," Hesselink said. "Whatever you do and think is just a little bit, they think is a lot. You've helped them."
That was our goal, at least - helping by the things we brought and the work we did - but we agreed by the end we had received so much more.

At Camp Alianza we saw the infectious and seemingly boundless vision of a man with a passion to create a retreat for Christian youths. At Camp Hope we saw incredible perseverance and joy amidst poverty and hardship none of us will likely ever experience.

And we all had our eyes opened a little wider to the beauty of this world and its people. It's no wonder Hesselink has fallen so in love with this Colorado-sized country that he's planning to head back on a 90-day visa as early as next year, and may stick around permanently.

"It's not so much what I give, but they give so much more back than we give in terms of love, kindness, friendship," Hesselink said. "It is a real eye-opener for what we as Americans have. You go to a country that has absolutely nothing except the Lord, and wow, those people are happy."