# In which someone almost torpedos a mission trip...(long) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 22, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-someone-almost-torpedos-a-mission-trip-long/412778 "2007-07-22T21:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-someone-almost-torpedos-a-mission-trip-long/412778/1 "2007-07-22T21:34:28Z")
As some of you may be aware, I lead mission trips to a small barrio in San Jose, Costa Rica called Pavas. There is a church there we partner with. We have been deliberate since the beginning of this partnership that the relationship be an EQUAL one. There are too many white churches dropping into Latin American countries to “rescue” them, which usually means teaching them how to do things the America way. There is always an undercurrent of “we have the money…I am sure you will see things our way”. There is also a sense of “poverty tourism” where you get to go to exotic places and feel good because you helped some poor folks while you were there. This is not a short term relationship where we will be looking for the next project for next year. So I am taking a group down in August. It is mother’s day the Wednesday we are there, so we are teaching the kids some songs and they are making a craft. The last day they will give it to their mothers and sing the songs for their mothers. We will have blood pressure and diabetes screening. We will also be taking the older folks from the church in Pavas on a retreat. We will also be doing some repairs on local houses. We have about $3500 to spend on materials. I sent an email yesterday to our contact there to tidy up some details. Here is the body of the text: > [@](#): > > I wanted to give you some details that may be helpful for the folks planning for our arrival in Pavas. > > We will have 5 men and 8 women now, for a total of 13. I know this is a lot for Rebeca’s house, but if it is at all possible I would like to keep the group together. Some of us can sleep on the floor. I have told them it will be about $18 per night, and I hope they will feel blessed and want to exceed that if they are moved to do that. > > Transportation - It would be helpful if the people in Pavas could arrange for our transportation. Last time we were there they had a van and driver available. We paid $300 plus a gratuity to the driver. We have more people this time, so I expect to pay more. Also, I think Wednesday when we have a free day the group will want to split up and go to 2 different places, so we may need to take that into consideration. Please get an estimate of costs and let me know. > > I think it would be good for our people to work on two homes while we are in Pavas. Is it possible to work on the roof and the stairs we mentioned? I can get ($1730 + $600) $2330 wired to Pavas next week if you think this is ok. > > Our group is so excited! I look forward to hearing back from you. Imagine their confusion when they got the following email the same day from a guy who is not even going on the trip!: > [@](#): > > I have tried to reach you via telephone, but with no success. I would like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss what you reported to **newcrasher**. I have concerns. > > For one thing, CHURCH NAME does not have the money to repair the roof of the Contreas family. In fact we have less than $1000 that we can spend on all contruction projects. I know the family and love them dearly, but it does not seem right to me to spend so much on just one family. I understand how important they are to the church, but there are so many other needs that are less expensive. We cannot go to our people again and ask for more money since we have already contributed over $10,000 to Pavas. > > A second concern is the apparent one-sidedness of the relationship between our church here and the Pavas church. Your father is very concerned about this too, so there will be small things that will be done when the group goes in August to show the love that Pavas has for Mechanicsville. We have missions other than in Costa Rica that we much fund, so our monies are not endless. > > Please understand this position of our Missions Committee of which my wife and I are part. We do not want anything to impair our relationship with Pavas, especially since my wife and I along with Judy plan to lead another group in January. > > To change the subject, we are also very concerned about your mother. She is in our prayers both personally and as a church. I hope that the surprise fiesta en junio went well. Please keep us posted on her progress. > > Yo amo nuestros hermanos y hermanas en Cristo en Pavas, y mi esposa amare’ sus tambien. Nosotros aun estudiamos espanol. El clase ha ido (?) muy bien, y la docencia me ha gustado. Yo planeo ensenar tambien en otono. Isn’t this letter…bitchy? Who does this guy think he is? The folks in Pavas did not come to us begging for money. We ASKED them what we could help with while we were there and they told us! This letter sounds like they are coming to us with ridiculous demands. Not to mention I emailed them the same day saying we have the money we need. How confused do you think they were to receive an email from someone else contradicting what I had just said? ARGH! Just the overall tone and spirit of the email was so shitty. The relationship we have with the church is young and fragile. The are still waiting to see what kind of long term commitment we have to what we SAY we will do. Just had to vent. My contact is the son of the pastor in Pavas. The son lives in the USA. He called me confused by the other email. I apologized and told him that the letter does not represent the views of my church. He agreed to forget about it and not forward it to his father. But WTF?