Rio Lindo Academy made history this past March by being the first Seventh-day Adventist youth group to minister in Trinidad, Caribbean. The group of 45 youth members teamed up with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Trinidad during their two-week spring break.

The mission site was Camp Balandra, located in Northeastern Trinidad. For more than 40 years, this youth camp has served as a location for retreats, training ground for pastors and a campsite for Trinidadian youth.

Now, after years of heavy rains and erosion, the road adjacent to camp was coming apart, even falling into the sea in some locations. With any additional eroding, the expense would force the church to sell the property. Rio’s mission was to build a retaining wall to keep the road in place, allowing Camp Balandra many more years of service.

To establish the retaining wall, Rio students dug a trench four feet deep and 250 feet long with just a few shovels and pickaxes. They also hand-mixed cement to put in the footing. Because tools were scarce, they made many shovels and tools by hand. The digging and laying of the footing, which should have taken up to three weeks, took the students only six days.

By 8:30 a.m. on the second day, the temperature had already reached 85 degrees with 90 percent humidity. Due to the intense heat and lack of supplies, a few people from the local church in Trinidad stopped by to pray.

“It was amazing,” said senior Yvonne Buscher. “I’ve never heard people pray like that before. We totally felt the Holy Spirit.”

Along with working at Camp Balandra, the group also traveled 10 miles up the road daily to a school with more than 120 students. The Rio students did a week of prayer about faith for the children. “There was nothing like working with the kids at Trinidad,” said Casey Miller, a freshman. “They just gave us so much love.”

While at the Cumana school, the Rio group noticed that there was no playground for the children. With extra money remaining for the trip, the group decided to build the kids a playground. In four days, the students cleared the area, built a seesaw, monkey bars, tire and rope swings and also put in a fence to surround the playground.

“It was so rewarding to see the kids playing on the equipment we had just built,” said Steve Martin, project manager for the playground.

Colt Sherman, a senior at Rio, was also blessed. “I have been on other mission trips before, but never before had I experienced people who were so on fire for God!” said Sherman. “Being with the people from Trinidad and seeing how real God was to them changed my life. I hope that I can have that same experience throughout my own life.”