Tour of duty - Working holidays take local residents all over the world, to make their chosen destinations better places to live when they leave.

www.simcoe.com Bruce Hain: The Advance Mar. 11, 2003

How would like to spend your annual vacation keeping an eye out for deadly snakes, or being offered fresh dog meat for supper? Or having to negotiate with a hostile group of Amazonian natives?

If you're a member of the congregation at Heritage Baptist Church in Barrie, or contractor Ed Donnelly of Springwater Township, these cheery scenarios have all been just part of a typical work day, while being on 'holiday'.

For the past decade, members of Heritage Baptist have been helping construct new churches in exotic locales such as the Philippines and Venezuela. It all started back in 1990 when Pastor Leroy Pennell was invited by a minister in the Philippines to visit one of their work sites.

"I really wanted to see first-hand what some of the issues were in that country," Pennell recalls. "I spoke in a church over there, sort of a storefront operation, and I came home with a real burden."

Pennell realized there was a pressing need for a new building to house the far-away congregation.

"I told the pastor if he could get land, I could arrange to build a new church."

The property was acquired, and the Canadian campaign began to raise funds for building materials, and to seek out volunteers who would accompany Pennell back to the island nation archipelago. Pennell was hugely successful on both fronts.

"For about $10,000 Canadian, we were able to put up a 20-foot- by 40-foot building. It was our first project."

Pennell says back in 1990, his congregation initially raised approximately $13,000 for their mission work.

"Now, we're on schedule to raise $130,000 this year," he says.

And members of his church have returned several times to the Philippines.

"We went back and did a church campground, and then built an orphanage," Pennell states. "Last year, we built dormitories in Venezuela."

News of these good deeds have spread throughout the congregation, making the task of finding volunteers easier.

"A large number of our people have gone on one, or more of these trips," Pennell says. "It gives them a real sense of the mission field. In two weeks, you get a real bond with the people you go with."

Pennell and his followers have always been warmly received by their hosts, wherever that might be.

"One of the things is that we've been treated very well," he says. "They were surprised at first to see us getting dirty, and watching us work hard. They always thought of North Americans as businessmen. I think it broke down some walls."

"Some of them were amazed to see our pastor get down mixing mortar, getting blisters," Bob Martin adds. "In turn, they taught us a lot about reaching out and ministering to children."

Pennell says, "we leave behind a building, but we're taking away a lot more. It enriches your life and you're grateful for the experience."

Brothers Ben and Jonathan Langman of Elmvale are two of the youngest members of the Heritage Baptist Church who have participated in the mission work.

"It's one of the best things a teenager can do," Ben says.

"We had a great time, too," Jonathan says. "It was fun to do."

"It's just a thing that makes you appreciate your own family more," Martin says. "It's a time to grow spiritually, and you rely on Him to overcome any challenges."

"We've never had any real problem getting people to go," Pennell says. "People have taken their own vacation time, and rather go lie on the beach in Florida, buy a air ticket and go work for two weeks. You see Christianity in its barest form, stripped of the materialism. You see joy, laughter, singing, which is a little harder to come by in this country."

The church's next project is on tap for 2004.

Born and raised in Springwater Township, contractor Ed Donnelly shares many of the sentiments expressed by Pennell and his flock.

"At one point in my life, I used to just fly south to some island," Donnelly says. "But I just didn't like sitting around in the sun."

He found out about an organization called Maranatha Volunteers International, based in California, which organizes working expeditions to developing nations.

"I had a chance to go help build a church in Brazil," Donnelly says. "It was quite eventful."

Journeying to far-away lands is one of the best forms of personal growth, he believes.

"It's such an opportunity to get to know the flavour of a country, and get to know the people. We don't have a clue up here what it's like in the poorer countries."

Donnelly made his first trip in 1989, and has made six in total. His passport includes stops in Brazil, Santo Domingo, Mexico, Chile, Honduras and Panama.

"The big high is helping the local people," he states. "Churches are really community centres. They are used seven days, and seven nights a week."

Being handy with his hands has served Donnelly well. Jobs he has performed include masonry, roofing, general labour, painting, carpentry, and even helping out in the kitchen.

One of his most memorable anecdotes happened in Brazil.

"We had put up a building in a village. It was complete, and we were on our last day."

They were just about to leave, when the group encountered some tribal politics along the Amazon River.

"Some canoes came up river," Donnelly recalls. After some heated discussions, and through interpreters, "we appeased them by giving them all of our medicine, and sent our dentist to remove their chief's mother-in-law's abscessed tooth.

"However, we had lost four hours, so we decided to take a shortcut. The rudder of our boat broke, and we started to drift in the river. It took about five hours before we could get back ashore. It was just like 'The African Queen.'

"It was pretty scary. The Amazon can be more than a mile wide, with whirlpools and sandbars. We finally landed in a village. There was only one phone, and it was broken. We fixed it, and got a boat to come and get us. A bus picked us up, and we caught our flight - with about an hour to spare."

Other excursions have been mercifully less exciting.

"In Chile, we worked for 11 days, and then took a two-day excursion into the Andes," Donnelly says.

"It was very exotic, and very beautiful."

Even though they are foreigners in a distant land, and there is little, or no English spoken, Donnelly says he, and his fellow travellers, know they are welcome.

"In Chile, the chief of police came to see us. He said they had some building materials, but didn't know how to build the structure. We accommodated them. We built it, and made sure it was safe. They threw us a banquet - complete with costumed dancers.

"The people are ecstatic with their smiles, they really appreciate your help. If you went for a walk at lunch time, they would invite you into their house. It was a very warm feeling," he states.

"You're in a village, say the size of Stroud, and you're building a school. Everyone knows why you're there."

Donnelly doesn't stop at just donating his time and talent, either.

"I go down fully loaded with clothes to give away - socks, shirts, and anything else I can carry."

Being away from home also brings out Donnelly's creative side.

"When I go down there, I write poems and music of my experiences. Some day, I'm going to put them on CD."

For those wondering if they could pass muster on such an adventure, Donnelly offers these words of encouragement.

"Don't be concerned about your age, or lack of expertise. There's a job for you!"