When Hannah Kyle, 18, and a recent Mahomet Seymour High school graduate, was on the long plane ride to her first Peruvian mission trip, she said she prayed to God “please bring me back home safe.” After two weeks of working with children and families in the South American country, her prayer changed.
“I prayed, please God, bring me back” to Peru, said the Judson University, Elgin, IL, freshman.
Her prayer was answered. Hannah has returned two more times since. Hannah’s mother, Jill Kyle, talked about that first trip.
Hannah went on her first mission trip, July 2013, with Grace Church, Mahomet.
“It was mostly Hannah’s idea,” said Mrs. Kyle.
Hannah was interested in going, so both mother and daughter raised the necessary funds to travel to Trujillo, Peru. And both say the trip had a powerful result.
“The trip was incredible and I’m glad we shared it,” said Mrs. Kyle.
Hannah “developed a heart for Peru,” Mrs. Kyle remembered. “It opened her eyes to another world. She saw the extreme poverty and the need. She saw how blessed we are. It created a new path for her.”
Indeed, the then high school senior changed her university major from bilingual education to intercultural leadership with a minor in youth ministry.
Hannah went back to Peru in December of 2013, and then she decided she needed to go again and to stay for longer.
“It took a lot of faith to let her go for two months,” Mrs. Kyle said. “She was doing what she was called to do.”
Hannah echoed this statement.
“My faith grew a lot. I really had to rely on God. It takes a lot of trust in God to get on an airplane and head out for two months,” Hannah said.
Hannah boarded an airplane for Trujillo, a city she says has about 750,000 people, on June 4. Depending on connecting flights, it can take up to 24 hours to travel there. Trujillo is the capital city of La Libertad region, and a major metropolitan city in the northwestern part of the country.
While in Trujillo, she worked at a local orphanage, Hogar de Esparanza, teaching older kids computer skills, and playing with the younger children. In addition, she worked at a Saturday ministry program at the local landfill, called “Elim.”
People build shacks next to the local landfill. There are many children who live there, and the mission group provides a church service and fellowship for the children on Saturday mornings, Hannah explained.
One thing that surprised Hannah about the residents of the landfill is “the kids are really happy. They are living on nothing and yet, they are joyful and grateful.”
Hannah said she lived with a host family in their apartment, and Trujillo has some of the same things as any other major city. “There was a mall down the street,” she said. Hannah’s host family helped her with her Spanish, but she was very glad to see members from Mahomet’s Grace Church come down for their part of the mission trip in July.
“I was able to communicate with my friends at home through Facebook, but it was good to see people from home,” said Hannah, adding with a laugh “they were so tall!”
Alex Amatyleon, Mahomet businessman, brought that group down to Peru in July of this year. He said 13 people, both young people and adults, have made the two-week trip since July 2013, when Grace started sponsoring a summer trip. Previously it was sponsored by Windsor Road Christian Church, Champaign. Now both churches sponsor separate trips. Amatyleon said he takes another group, independent of Grace, for two weeks in late December and early January.
He is proud of the young people who have gone on the trip. “About 1/3rd of them have gone back on their own,” like Hannah did, he stated.
In addition to the orphanage and the landfill ministry, participants in the mission trip have worked with residents at a transitional home called Luz de Vida. Residents of the transitional home are taught life skills, such as cooking, so they are better able to take care of themselves.
Like Hannah, Amatyleon has developed a heart for the people of Trujillo. He said he has made seven trips to Peru and he goes every six months.
Grace Church supports the summer trip, Amatyleon said. “In January, we are on our own.”
Amatyleon said he has three clients and a high school friend who partially fund the January trips. Whether participants go with Grace in July or with Amatyleon in January, they need to pay $2,400 to go on the trip. Travelers raise that money through fund raisers and through the generosity of locally owned businesses.
The trips are open to anyone. Young people less than 16 years old need to have a parent with them, said Amatyleon.
Hannah said she hopes to go again on the winter trip, and on future trips. It is in her heart to do so.
“It was the right thing to do to let her go down there for two months,” said Mrs. Kyle. “It created a new path for her and I’m glad she had the opportunity.”
One theme that echoed throughout the conversations with Hannah, her mom and Amatyleon was Hannah’s “heart for Peru.” Among the things in her heart for Peru is a memory of a young boy in the orphanage. “He was being adopted. I was there when he met his family for the first time,” Hannah recalled. That sight, the joyfulness of the children living near a landfill, the call to serve others, all are a part of Hannah now.
With her college degree, Hannah said she too can one day organize the lead mission trips to places like Peru. With her minor in youth ministry, she can share her love and trust for God with youngsters. And maybe pass along her heart for mission work to someone else. She has already touched the hearts and lives of people more than 3,300 away.
