PUC Joins Maranatha on a Memorable Mission Trip to Pucallpa

From March 21-31, three professors and 13 students from Pacific Union College served in the sweltering Amazon basin of Pucallpa, Peru. With Maranatha organizing the mission trip, they brought leaders and a construction team to supervise their work on a church. While PUC’s mission trips have always provided healthcare services, Vacation Bible School, and construction work, this year, academy students joined them for the first time since 2015.

Five students and three teachers from Orangewood Academy traveled to Peru to further PUC’s mission. “I would like to partner with more academies during future mission trips so their students have more opportunities to participate in mission service, potentially take our College Early courses, and be more inclined to attend a SDA college or university—hopefully PUC!” said Floyd Hayes, PUC professor of biology.

Their team also included PUC Nursing Professors Iris Engelman-Tompkins and Nicolette Piaubert, alongside a spouse, parent, and two nurse practitioners from ComuniCare+Ole in Napa Valley. PUC student Areli Castro organized and led their team, which worked with the AMOR Project led by Dr. Guillermo Gow-Lee, and fundraised and successfully implemented the medical outreach.

During the trip, news broke that the Ucayali River had flooded homes, forcing hundreds of locals to evacuate and relocate to temporary shelters. Once PUC heard about this, their medical team traveled by bus, boat, and moto-taxis to assist them with their healthcare needs.

For 10 days, PUC cared for 624 patients, worked on constructing block walls at the Iglesia Adventista 3 de Noviembre church, and taught Vacation Bible School to 35 children. To provide students with a well-rounded experience, they rotated through three different projects. Eight PUC students were able to obtain academic credit for courses in biology, nursing, and global health.

Outside of working, students and faculty went swimming and explored the town. At the end of the mission trip, 13 PUC members spent a weekend touring the ancient Inca ruins in Cusco and Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes. At the same time, the remaining seven members stayed in Pucallpa, where they enjoyed a boat trip, hiked to a waterfall, and participated in the inauguration of the church they built.

This year's mission trip was a memorable experience for all the students. Despite some students getting sick, everyone worked hard together. One highlight was PUC student Jose Azamar preaching in English and Spanish for the first time at a small, rural church in the Andes. Moments like this are what Hayes hopes his students experience when they go on these mission trips.

“I want our students to appreciate getting acquainted with people who live less comfortably and conveniently than we do and have fewer opportunities in life, yet are often more cheerful about their circumstances than we are with ours,” Hayes explained. “I want them to realize that relationships with fellow human beings matter much more than acquiring material wealth. I want them to realize that millions of young people across the planet would love to have the opportunity they have to study at PUC, live in the dorms, and eat in the Dining Commons, but will never have such an opportunity. I want them to realize how fortunate they are, to become more sensitive to the needs of others, and to use their education at PUC to help them better serve others across the street and around the world.”