Staff Writer 

Later this month, 15-year-old Lauren Purdy will skip a week’s worth of classes to spend some time next to a scenic lake surrounded by volcanoes on the tropical Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. Purdy, who has been practicing her Spanish skills since sixth grade, said she is excited to see a different culture and meet some new people – but the trip is anything but a spring break getaway.

Her mom and grandmother are tagging along. 

The trio will join nearly 30 other volunteers – ages 11 to 69 from all over the country – who make up a short-term mission team partly sponsored by the Stroudwater Christian Church in South Portland. Michele Purdy – a retired music teacher and self-employed dog groomer and Lauren Purdy’s mother – said the church sends a team of volunteers abroad annually “to bring the party” to otherwise impoverished areas. 

“We bring pizza and cookies – they don’t normally get cookies at all – and watermelon,” 69-year-old Alene Nelson, Lauren Purdy’s grandmother, said. “You get back 100 percent more than you give.”

The trip isn’t all fun and games, however. Michele Purdy said the team typically takes a single day to shop for food and supplies before tackling a list of projects the orphanage directors prepare prior to their arrival. Some of the tasks take creative engineering to accomplish since areas they visit have little or no money for supplies, she said. 

“We say that you get ‘MacGyver points’ for some things,” she said. “We were going to paint and you can’t just go get a bucket to put it in. So I found an empty Coke liter bottle, cut it in half and used that.”

Often the areas the group visits are so poor children are actually better off at the orphanages – where they are fed, clothed and educated – than they would be at home. Michele Purdy said some children there are visited by their parents, a sobering experience to witness. 

“It’s just so sad,” she said. “There was one girl who was over 18, but she had been admitted a few years earlier and only had a third-grade education. It was just better for her to be [at the orphanage].”

Michele Purdy said they will stay at the orphanage with the children during their trip, which enhances the experience for volunteers and Nicaraguan orphans alike. 

“They marvel at ‘rich Americans,’” she said. “They know Hannah Montana and Disney, that’s probably what they picture America is like. Then we’re there, staying with them.”

Some volunteers are more impressive to the orphans than others, Michele Purdy said. 

“Some of the team members are from the south, and they are a lot more relaxed about things,” she said. “Then there we are, crazy New Englanders, saying ‘Come on, let’s go, what’s next?’ They must just think that we are so bizarre.”

Michele Purdy and Nelson both said they were surprised at the amount of work they completed during their first excursion to an orphanage in Mexico two years ago.

“At first I thought ‘I’m not really physically capable to do a lot of work, what can I do?’” Michele Purdy recalled. “Then we got down there and my first job was to paint the inside of a metal roof. I had a ladder – and it’s not like the ladders we have here – propped on a beam and I was holding a half a Coke bottle filled with paint, painting over my head. I thought ‘This is so cool, I’m on a ladder and it’s OK.’”

During subsequent trips to Mexico and Nicaragua, the two women have helped build walls, repair roofs, lay tile and install plumbing at orphanages, but Nelson said she enjoy helping in other ways as well. 

“At first I didn’t know what I would do, then [the group leader] asked ‘Can you love on babies?’ and I said ‘Oh, yeah,’” Nelson said with a laugh. “The main thing is to shine and be a servant.”

Nelson said mission members share their faith with the children through song and dance. Although she and Michele Purdy may not know all the words, they both said the spiritual connection is undeniable. 

“You don’t need words, just your eyes and a smile,” Nelson said.

Children at the orphanage aren’t the only ones mission members form new connections with; Michele Purdy said it is often difficult to leave the other company of other volunteers when they return to South Portland. 

“When you’re out of your comfort zone, you rely on each other and work as a team,” Michele Purdy said. “You’re always out of your comfort zone when you’re in a foreign country and when you get back it’s weird not to have that connection with the rest of the team anymore.”

Saying goodbye to other mission volunteers is just one aspect of readjusting to life in the U.S., Michele Purdy said.

“When you’re there it’s so peaceful, you’re out of the rat race but in this impoverished area surrounded by natural beauty – your faith guides you,” she said. “When you’re in America and you have so much, it’s almost like a handicap to faith. These people have huge amounts of faith. It’s very humbling.”

The trip costs $1,200 per person, but Michele Purdy and Nelson said it’s worth every penny, and then some. 

“People end up leaving clothes, toothbrushes, everything they brought down with them, behind,” Nelson said. “You leave without a penny in your pocket and barely a shirt on your back.”

Lauren Purdy said her teachers were understanding when it comes to time she will miss in class; Michele Purdy said she is in for a different kind of lesson, but isn’t completely off the hook at school. 

“I’m sure I’ll have to give some sort of presentation when I get back,” Lauren Purdy said.

When it comes to making the decision to volunteer, Michele Purdy and Nelson said spending time with the orphans is a way to give more than “just a check.”

“What does a check do?” Nelson asked. “To a kid, it’s just a piece of paper. But when you can sing and dance with them, that’s something they, and you, will remember.”