In the rolling hills of Guatemala, Plant City resident Rick Bateman and a group of missionaries chipped their way through hard, packed clay. They meticulously poured about 30 yards of concrete and lugged more than 40 trips of dirt to the site of a future orphanage.
“This is not a cush mission,” Bateman said of the hard labor.
Bateman and members of the First Baptist of Lake Placid were part of a Little Lambs International trip to Jalapa last year.
Paul Somero founded Little Lambs specifically to build an orphanage for some of Guatemala’s 370,000 orphans. The orphanage will house about 250 orphans and 40 senior citizens. The 120-acre site also will be home to a school, church, clinic and mission house.
This year, Bateman along with his wife, Lesley, have spearheaded a second trip to Guatemala. They teamed up with First Baptist of Lake Placid again. But the Batemans have managed to recruit 11 Plant City residents, as well.
As new members of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Batemans didn’t know how much support they would receive when they proposed the mission earlier this year. But, the congregation was eager to help the cause.
“I had just hoped one or two people would be interested,” Rick said.
“It was neat to see individuals come up to us in the church,” Lesley said. “From the moment we announced it, people were coming up to us, saying they wanted to go or that they couldn’t go but they still wanted to help.”
Without ever stepping foot on a plane, women at the church contributed to the mission in a big way by sewing dresses for the children.
The Batemans loved the idea but thought they would only receive about 20 dresses. Instead, they received 104.
“It’s neat to see all the people come together,” Lesley said.
In addition, congregation members and others have donated clothing, sports equipment and other items for the missionaries to hand out.
Comedy troupe Humor 2 Outreach helped the group raise about $1,700. The cost for each member was $1,250. There are about 30 members on the trip, ranging in age from their teens to their 70s. They left July 22 and returned July 31.
One of Rick’s favorite parts about mission work is meeting and working with the team members.
“Some of the greatest things are personal,” Rick said. “What you get out of the team working together. When you sweat together, it helps you to get to know people.”
In addition to construction work, the team also was able to interact with the locals. Every day, they taught women from the nearby village how to knit. They also visited children in the village to do crafts.
“You smile at one of them, and then, all of a sudden, you have a new buddy,” Rick said. “At the end of the day, you just want to pack them up and take them with you.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.
LITTLE LAMBS INTERNATIONAL
For more information on Little Lambs International, visit littlelambsintl.org.