The brand new, bright white church, set atop a hill overlooking an Asian valley, glistens in the wet sunshine. Hundreds knock the sticky red mud off their shoes and gather to celebrate the completion of the Mae Taeng Seventh-day Adventist Church, located at Chiang Mai Adventist Academy in Thailand.

This special moment represents closure for 97 people, including 30 youth and college students, and the family of the late Kenneth Smith, former missionary to Thailand, whose many years of service are memorialized by the new church.

This is the 10th mission trip organized by the La Sierra University Church (LSUC) in recent years, and the fourth to Thailand. Though rain and mud challenged volunteers daily, the team completed five major projects in Chiang Mai this past July and August—the academy church, the International Children’s Care (ICC) orphanage, a medical missionary training center and two village churches. A week of prayer at the academy concluded with 13 baptisms.

“My experience in Thailand was one of the most gratifying I ever had in my life,” said Joao Martins who helped build a village church.

Under the leadership of Dan Smith, La Sierra University Church senior pastor, the congregation has developed a “mission culture.” Enthusiasm and participation have grown, contributions have increased and impact has been widespread.

A quick summary of LSUC mission trips documents this trend:

Thailand—1997, 2002, 2003. The mission teams conducted weeks of prayer and extensive public evangelism in cooperation with lay leaders, resulting in a total of 113 baptisms. They built an orphanage house and vocational training center at ICC and a medical clinic. The La Sierra University SIFE team (Students in Free Enterprise) launched a shampoo manufacturing business at the academy. Participants: 40, 9, and 48 respectively. Amount raised: $56,000.

Philippines—1997, 2002, 2003. Two major crusades and mini-crusades resulted in 1,100 baptisms in San Francisco, Dumaguete and Tigoan. Volunteers remodeled nine churches, built a new one, finished the mission office, built a four-room school, paved roads and parking lots, purchased computers, paid to remodel a girls’ dormitory (adding 12 rooms), and built a new student center at Naga View College. Participants: 17, 42 and 7 respectively.

India—1999. Volunteers conducted a youth congress at Spicer Memorial College in Pune. They also painted the administration building and raised money for the girls’ dorm. The LSU SIFE team raised $10,000 for a Cow Bank project in Karandi Village. Participants: 22. Amount raised: $13,000.

Jamaica—2004. The mission team helped build a youth summer camp (cabins, water system and tanks, kitchen appliances) and conducted evangelistic meetings in Carlyle with four baptisms. Participants: 25. Amount raised: $40,000.

Thailand—2004. A beautiful 650-seat church will serve the Chiang Mai Academy community for years to come. At the ICC orphanage, the mission team purchased house fans and computers. They installed a septic tank, yards of fencing and painted a house. At the medical missionary training center, they constructed a main building, a kitchen, and installed a water tank and filter, funded a boys’ dorm, road, and pastor’s house. At the villages of Amper Prow and Mae Daw they built two small churches. The grand total raised for projects on this trip: $238,000.

Other projects supported without travel. Kenya—money for a college church roof ($3,000). Philippines and India—satellite dishes at the Adventist University of the Philippines and Spicer College for Net ’98 ($9,000). Thailand—money for a future Chiang Mai Academy administration building ($80,000), with another $45,000 needed to complete the project.

Jim Torres, an experienced mission trip participant, likes to help people. “But, more important, I see [something happening] in my fellow team members. I see energy… I see dedication… I see hard work with a smile. Young people were actually running while working as though they were in a sporting event!”

How?

How has $563,800 been raised for these mission projects? (This is beyond travel costs, which are paid for personally by each participant.) Funds have come from a variety of sources—major donors, matching funds from local missions and hundreds of individuals. The Mae Taeng church project attracted gifts from people wanting to memorialize D. K. (Kenneth) Smith who died in a hit-and-run accident in May 2002.

Why?

Why spend $1,600 and two weeks of your vacation to go to a third world country? Why deal with sweat, heat, blisters on your hands, mud stains on your clothes and swarms of mosquitoes? Why do this when, no matter how much you do, there is still so much more to do?

“We try to help where we can make the most leverage, make the most difference in the long term,” says Dan Smith.

As one donor puts it, “I know, with absolute confidence, that my contributions have been used in full for the stated projects. And I have been blessed with a return not only of that money, but far more to take its place.”

“When you share fun, mud, laughter and, sometimes, tears, bonds are formed that will remain forever,” adds Beth McCalla, another Thailand mission-tripper.

“We did everything for the simple reason that we love God and all our brothers and sisters in Christ,” says 21 year-old Kristopher Malit. “What better motivation is there?”