Azed Jean-Pierre
Azed Jean-Pierre
Azed Jean-Pierre
Hillsborough, N.C., Church members teamed up with members from the Monticello, Ariz., Church for a service project in Southern Peru in August 2025. The team was rallied by Monticello’s volunteer pastor, Roy Robinson, who has relatives in Hillsborough. Their trip was organized by Maranatha Volunteers International, a supporting ministry of the Adventist Church. The 13-member volunteer group laid the block walls of a new church structure for the La Voz de la Esperanza Adventist congregation. These worshippers were stuck meeting in a small shack that leaked when it rained because they didn’t have the means to build a permanent structure on their own.
“We ate our lunch in the previous structure that they had, which is right next to the building being built, [and] experienced a couple thunderstorms and got wet,” said Robinson. “It produced some empathy and some desire to improve their lives and worship service as far as a church.”
The volunteer team was inspired by local worshippers’ perseverance, and applied the same grit to long days of manual labor. “It was frustrating at times,” said Robinson about laying block. “I don’t think anyone in our group was really familiar with it.” Maranatha’s in-country construction crew members provided valuable guidance for volunteers. “They were very patient, and we got acquainted with them and appreciated them very much.”
La Voz de la Esperanza Church members were eager to pitch in as well. “It seemed like a loving church and a committed church,” said Robinson. “We had several church members come out and help us with the construction.”
The project gave Robinson and fellow volunteers a perspective shift that followed them home. “When you go on a mission trip, you go back with a broader visualization that the World Church is much larger than your local church,” he said. “It creates a desire to share the Gospel and provide. We’re all part of the same family, so we should be interested in each other and aware of each other …. There’s a wide open opportunity where we can really make an impact if we choose to think more globally.”
Maranatha Volunteers International mobilizes volunteers to build churches, schools, water wells, and other urgently needed structures around the world, including North America. Since 1969, Maranatha has constructed more than 16,000 structures and more than 3,500 water wells in nearly 90 countries.
Carolina | February 2026
Comments are closed.