Senior Mission Trip 2026
April 11–18, 2026
The Senior Mission Trip is one of the highlights of our discipleship program at Westlake Christian Academy. It's an opportunity for students to live out their faith through serving others.
This year, Westlake seniors will be traveling to Costa Rica to serve local children.
You can partner with the Class of 2026 by praying for them and/or giving financially toward the cost of their trip. Your support is a huge encouragement to these students, who will be stepping out of their comfort zones and offering the love of Christ through hands-on ministry opportunities.
Our prayer is that through this trip, God will use our students in ministry, and that they would also grow in their faith and be changed through the experience of serving others.
Donations to Westlake Christian Academy are tax-deductible. In the event that this trip is canceled, donations will be used toward a similar purpose.
Trip Updates
The senior class will be posting updates on this page throughout their trip. Please check back regularly to see pictures and hear testimonies of how God is working in Costa Rica!
Day Six: Painting & Kid's Ministry
By: Josh
Today after waking up, having breakfast and leaving at 8:30, we drove over to a school to help them with some manual labor. Our job was to repaint the small basketball court. So first we had to sand down a top layer, so the paint would stick, then scrape off any other bumps of old paint or rust spots to be even. After that, we had to tape the existing lines, so the paint wouldn't get over them. Then after that, it was time to paint. We used green and orange paint to cover it in a coat. Sadly, we only had time to do 1 coat and not finish the lines, but it still looked so much better than it was before!
Then, after that, we had lunch at the church, then headed out to a different school that was really close by. At that school, we then did a kids ministry program for 2 groups, 2nd and 3rd graders, which included singing songs and doing motions with the kids. Jeremy doing a magic trick. Performing a bible skit for them. Doing stations, which included watercolors, bracelet making and balloon animals. Then we also did some parachute games with the 2nd graders before they had to go. After that, we went back to the church where Salvador gave us a devotional. We ate dinner then headed to Walmart to do some shopping before heading back to the hotel to end the night.
Day Five: Waterfalls
By: Kaylee
Today we took a break from the mission work and visited the zoo and some waterfalls! We left in the morning and drove up the mountain to get to the hiking area. We almost hit a cow with the bus during our drive.
Once we arrived, we started by visiting the zoo. There were so many different animal exhibits there, like toucans, butterflies, sloths, monkeys, and jaguars. We were able to go inside many of the exhibits and see them up close.
After we finished the zoo, we hiked to the waterfalls. There were so many stairs, but it was worth it because all three waterfalls were so beautiful. We had a good time and took a lot of photos!
We ended our day with devotions, and tomorrow we are going to do a painting project.
Day Four: Food Distribution
By: Moine
Today was a good day! It started off the morning with a really good breakfast, so that was great.
We started off the morning with grocery shopping for the food distribution that came later. Salvador showed us which items we were supposed to get, and we mimicked the person in front of us. After getting our groceries, we checked out and then headed to the neighborhoods where we distributed the food.
We went into multiple houses and some of the seniors, including myself, prayed for people. Ramon translated our prayers as well. Hearing each person's story broke my heart because, despite the terrible things that happened in their lives, they still had joy. A lyric from the song "How Does a Moment Last Forever" kept playing through my mind: "How in the midst of all this sorrow / Can so much hope and love endure." It applied so much to the food distribution because they all have such strong faith in God despite all the sorrows in their lives.
After the food distribution, we had lunch—white rice with chicken sauce with salad and chips on the side—and it was really good!! After lunch, we headed to a school to work with more children. The first group we worked with were fourth graders, yet they didn't want to do any of the dance motions. (I know that Mrs. P's fourth graders would!) It was honestly kind of embarrassing since they didn't do any of the motions, but they did do the crafts and the bracelets, which was nice! We only had thirty minutes with them, so there wasn't a lot of time to make some bonds.
The second group we worked with were first and second graders, and they were very responsive. They danced and enjoyed the same crafts as well! After crafts, they played a parachute game, then school was dismissed for everyone, so we cleaned up. We received a lot of hugs from the younger kids, which was so sweet! Some of them waved to us when we were on the bus and about to leave, and it was so sweet!
Once we arrived at the church for dinner, we had spaghetti and ground beef sauce! It was delicious!! We had some free time after dinner, so Sophia and I were spinning some colones (Costa Rican currency) and Dr. Flemming, along with a few others were playing with a hacky sack. Some of the other girls were also making a lot of noise, so post-dinner was very lively in a good way!
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and had our devotions. We talked about poverty and what the Bible says about it. It was very interesting! After devotions, we separated, but Zoe, Josh, Alice, Cody, Eva, Holden, Jeremy, Katie, and I played a card game, and it was hilarious! We all had a good time. So, that was day four of the mission trip!
Day Three: Local Kids
By: Zoe
On Monday morning, we worked at a Christian school in a community experiencing poverty. We taught both 4th and 6th graders the story of the Good Samaritan. The school asked for prayer for the students that they would be a light in their community and for the principal who is going through a difficult time.
Overall we had so much fun teaching the kids, playing parachute games, and doing crafts with them. After lunch at the church, we went to a daycare. We played outside with the kids and used the chalk we brought. The kids had so much fun with it.
Once we were done playing outside, we went inside and did songs as well as perform the story of the Good Samaritan again. It seemed as though we all built great relationships with the kids.
We finished the night with devotions. Tomorrow we are doing food distribution. If you could please be praying for our team to have confidence in our interactions with the community, that would be great. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.
Day Two: Attending Church
By: Eva
First we started our day with church. Their service was a little different than ours back home. First a 30-45 minute sermon, then a 15 minute break to get coffee and food, then back to worship and more of the sermon. Afterwards, we went straight to lunch at a pizza place, where their pizza was around 1.5 feet tall. Then we went back to the hotel. As a class we played some card games; the boys left and the girls did some bracelet making. Then we went to buy some souvenirs for around two hours. Afterwards, we went back to the church and had some homemade dinner. Finally we did our devotion and some spent the rest of our free time going to the pool, checking out the hotel or going to the festival that was happening across the street.
Day One: Traveling to Costa Rica
By: Katie
Today we got to school at 3:15am. Once everyone was there we packed the cars, said a prayer, and headed to the airport. We made it through TSA pretty quickly and after, we got breakfast and drinks at Dunkin’. We boarded our flight to Orlando at 6:00am and arrived at 9:40.
Once we landed, we got some snacks and walked around the airport as we waited for our next flight. They were a little behind, so we boarded the plane to San Josè, Costa Rica, later than scheduled. Once we were on the plane and in the air we experienced some turbulence because of the strong winds in Costa Rica. The landing was bumpy, but we all made it out in one piece.
Once we got off the plane, the guys waited in the immigration line, while the girls headed to the restroom. Unfortunately, the guys and the girls got separated so they had to wait an extra 30 minutes for the girls to get through. Once we got our suitcases we met up with Salvador, the missionary here in Costa Rica, and he drove us to the hotel.
After we were checked in and were given our key cards, we went up to our rooms and got ready for dinner. We walked to a restaurant down the street from the hotel and had a traditional Costa Rican dinner called Casado. Casado is chicken, black beans, cheese triangles, plantains, salad, and white rice. Then, after dinner, we went back to the hotel, did our devotions, and had time to relax before bed.