"Exciting!” “Incredible,” and “Awesome!” are adjectives usually reserved for use by people who have just been part of an extraordinary event, such as witnessing a natural disaster or winning the lottery. They’re definitely not a usual part of a report from someone who has spent two weeks mixing mortar and stacking bricks in the heat of a foreign country.

But working on construction sites for their vacation is exactly what inspired these glowing reviews. Of course, these were not ordinary construction sites. These were Maranatha Volunteers International mission trips.

In February and March 2005, three Northern California church groups set out to spread the Gospel by building churches for Adventist congregations in Peru. As part of Maranatha’s 1,000 Churches in 1,000 Days, a program to provide urgently needed churches around the world, volunteers from the Placerville, Roseville and Carmichael churches headed to separate areas of Peru to help local congregations who had spent many years in faith and prayer, waiting for God to provide a permanent place of worship.

“It was awesome to be part of that answer to prayer,” says Leonard Grado, the coordinator and construction supervisor for the Placerville team.

Fifty-six members of the Placerville church built a temple for the El Cortijo congregation, which had prayed for 25 years for a place to worship. The volunteer team also provided a Vacation Bible School for an average of 80-120 children each day, held evangelistic meetings and a dental clinic, and provided a doctor who performed 12 surgeries, including cleft palate repairs.

Like other Maranatha volunteers, Grado found that the church construction was an aspect of gospel outreach that fills people’s practical needs, offering incredible blessings for those who gave as well as those who received.

“To experience the zeal that local church people have at every level… the people are so receptive,” explained Grado. “It is a ripe area for the gospel, and I think doing what we do with Maranatha follows exactly what Jesus expects us to do—to go fill the need and then share who you are. I think that’s what it’s really all about. It’s a recipe for success.”

The Roseville team, which funded and constructed a temple for the congregation of Mocan, made a significant impact on the small, impoverished community of 2,700 residents. From Feb. 14 to March 4, 20 volunteers, coordinated by Judy Leeper and supervised by Virgil Starr, built a church and provided Vacation Bible School to an average of 300 children.

“Despite this being a poor town with little electricity and no running water, the children came well-dressed for Vacation Bible School, clean, scrubbed and combed,” said Shelley Stokstad, a Roseville team member and longtime Maranatha volunteer. “You could tell the program was receiving a lot of support from the parents.”

Stokstad said that the team gradually became aware that the town had taken note of them, and that their efforts were being observed and appreciated. When a local baby died tragically in childbirth, volunteers went to assist and pray with the bereaved family. Later, as the baby’s funeral entourage made its way through town, the team stopped their work and bowed their heads to acknowledge the solemn event. A local police officer was moved by the gesture, and told them, “You really love our people.”

For the Carmichael church, their first Maranatha trip provided blessings that were felt not only in Peru, but in their home church, as well. For a congregation of more than 2,000 members, the decision to fund a church, sponsor 100 volunteers and construct two temples became a unifying project. The volunteer slots quickly filled up, creating a waiting list. For those who didn’t get to go on the trip, they supported fellow members by forming prayer partnerships, organizing a church yard sale, coordinating fundraiser dinners, and even taking Spanish classes.

Says Steve Case, project coordinator, “We started to experience a closeness we don’t get on Sabbath morning. There was high involvement by the rest of the congregation.”

To help with the church funding project, Carmichael member Arnold Meert came up with a unique way to demonstrate the progress on the donations. He created a Lego church, where each Lego represented one block at a cost of $10 per block. Each Sabbath, members could see exactly how close they were to reaching the goal.

“It was very, very popular,” says Laura, Meert’s wife. “The children were the ones that seemed to be the most excited about it.”

Two weeks before the trip was to start, the Lego church had only one block to go. On Sabbath, one little girl brought all her savings to church in her little purse.

“When she came and dumped all of her monies out that Sabbath morning, it was so touching, because she had given everything she had to buy a brick, and she put that last brick on,” says Laura.

From March 13-29, Carmichael volunteers built two churches, held Vacation Bible School, evangelistic meetings, and a medical and dental clinic for the Sacred Valley tourist town of Pisac as well as for the town of Calca, about 20 minutes away.

Mervin Eva, head deacon of Carmichael, took his entire family on their first-ever mission trip. He said it was worth all the preparation.

“This is the first time I’ve ever walked away from my business for 14 days straight. It was a step out in faith, and the Lord blessed us immensely,” says Eva. "It was a great experience for the Carmichael church. For the members that went, we got to know each other really, really, really well. We got to know people on a whole new level, which was really nice.”

Carmichael volunteer Dennis Schall sums it up succinctly, “We’ve become one.”

In the tourist town of Pisac, the Adventists had experienced challenges based on their beliefs. When new Adventists declined to participate in the tourist-attracting local festivals honoring saints, they were blamed for the drop in tourism and had even been asked to leave. “The medical clinic, the children’s ministry, and painting the community hall built good will," explains Case. "Before we left, people were coming up to the local Adventists asking to be told about Adventism. The fact that they were there for two weeks had more staying power than those who come for market day. It made a difference.”

The effects of all of the volunteer teams’ efforts in Peru will remain in their own hearts, in their congregations, and not the least of which, in the lives of the Peruvian people. Each team returned with many inspiring stories about their encounters with the locals.

“One afternoon we were giving out invitations to the evening meeting, and this one guy ran up,” remembers Eva. “He tells me, ‘Adventista!’ and he points up to heaven and says something to the effect of ‘Much power!’ And he hugged me, as though he wanted to transfer the power of heaven from me to him. It was very awe-inspiring, that’s all I can say.”

Others agree. “I look at my life now in two parts — pre-Peru, and post-Peru,” says volunteer Dieter Butsch.” It was an incredible experience.”

Maranatha Volunteers International, based in Sacramento, Calif., is a non-profit organization committed to constructing urgently needed buildings through the use of volunteers. Since 1969, Maranatha has mobilized 55,000 volunteers to 61 countries all over the world.