"Service is Plan A" is the motto accompanying this year's Caleb Mission project, led by the Youth Ministry of each Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chile. With this commitment, young people from the Pacific Chilean Mission (MChP), the Church's administrative headquarters for the Coquimbo and Valparaíso regions, joined efforts to extend the love of Christ by providing aid to victims of the massive fires that occurred in the Valparaíso Region at the end of January and beginning of February this year. "My daughter's house burned down, but thank God, the help from the Seventh-day Adventist Church's youth was a blessing that came from heaven," shares Víctor Olivares, a relative of the victims.
The Caleb Mission project usually takes place annually during the summer and winter holidays in Chile. Initially, it had been determined that each church in the MChP would carry out this service project. However, due to the great need left by the devastating fires, all the churches decided to merge to provide assistance. From Valparaíso, Viña del Mar, Quilpué, Villa Alemana, San Antonio, Limache, La Calera, and La Cruz, motivated to help and serve their neighbors who are currently suffering the loss of loved ones, their homes, and other material goods, they resolved to jointly initiate the Caleb project from February 19, 2024, offering various types of assistance.
Leaving Marks
"Young people have gathered from various places to work on different projects," comments Eduardo Astudillo, pastor of the SDA Quilpué Centro, from where the aid is being deployed. In different affected areas of Viña del Mar and Quilpué, emergency home construction, debris removal, cleaning, food delivery, and spiritual support are being carried out, and assistance was also provided in the ADRA Humanitarian Aid Mobile Unit.
Martín Maynou, one of the participants of the Caleb Mission project in the V Region, comments with notable emotion: "we have been very blessed, with everything we have done, we have received a lot of affection, also a lot of help... the community is very grateful to us." In this way, all the "Calebs" are leaving marks of love, solidarity, empathy, unity; reflecting Jesus in every act of service.
Community Dining Hall
Elia Rojas and her husband, members of the SDA Valencia in Quilpué, decided to forego their vacation plans to another city and open a community dining hall for their neighbors, who lost their homes.
"We couldn't leave our neighbors," Elia says. "They lost everything. Our house also burned down, but only a section of it. Grateful to the Lord for that, my husband told me we would not go on vacation, and the money we would spend on that, we would invest in buying food to cook for the neighbors," adds Elia. After a few days, other people joined to support the work they were doing; among them, the "Caleb" youth, ladies from the Adventist missionary program "Mothers on Knees," and other church members. Supplies and donations also arrived, allowing them to continue with this noble work, delivering 200 lunches and 200 dinners each day.
"This is a great blessing from the Lord, I thank the Lord and ask that he strengthens us to continue with this mission he has placed in our lives," expresses Elia.
The original article was published on the South American Division Spanish news site.