Michigan—Five young people from the Metropolitan Church—Courtney Tait, Justin, Jeremy, and Jessica Weaver, and Valerie Walker—traveled to communities in Peru to participate in the 2005 Ultimate Workout (UW) church building project. Courtney and Jessica went to Iquitos, Jeremy and Valerie traveled to Santo Tomas, and Justin worked in Caballa Cocha.

Despite uncomfortable living and sleeping conditions, the youth contributed greatly to the completion of their assigned projects. Courtney helped masons get mud, filled cracks, and buttered bricks with mortar. She also helped prepare food and painted a local Adventist church. Justin served as a construction superintendent. Jeremy was a head mason. Jessica was a mason and music leader. Valerie worked on the building project and served as photojournalist for Insight magazine.

Work started at 6:00 a.m. and ended at 3:00 p.m. in order to avoid the 90-plus, high humidity heat. The Metropolitan youth participated in building three churches on their trip. They also helped with Vacation Bible Schools, painted local churches and schools, assisted in medical clinics, and reconstructed a walkway.

The young people were motivated to participate for different reasons, but no matter what motivated them, each said they want to go on more UW missions.

Jeremy said, “This trip had the most visible miracles of any trip I’ve been on.... On the fourth or fifth day of work, we had less than ten blocks [remaining]. Our construction superintendent, Wils, called everyone together to pray individually and then as a group. He said “Amen,” and we went back to work, laying the last few blocks. Less then ten minutes later, as the last block was laid, the truck arrived with the rest of our block. Amen! I thought it was amazing that those bricks had been traveling down the Amazon for months and had been lost and stuck (and who knows what else), and God has the timing to get them there within a minute of when we needed them.

"A mission trip is the best way to expand and test your faith. It’s [the] closest you will come to being totally dependent on God for things you would not be able to do without His help. Two years ago on the UW, I decided to be baptized. I recommend it very highly to anyone.”

Justin suggests, “For high-school age kids looking for a great time and for God to use them, but you feel like you can’t go because of money, work, friends, or whatever, sign up, and leave the rest to God. He will work out the details!”

Joy Hyde, Metropolitan Church correspondent