Four years ago I met Chad and he said “we are going down to Nicaragua to love on some people and do some surfing, you interested?” And I was like, I like to surf, so heck yeah. Now four years and five trips later, it’s been an awesome opportunity that has helped me in so many ways. I’ve seen it expand from just a couple guys to multiple groups going down each year and doing some amazing things. Now we just want to share our stories to hopefully encourage others to do the same thing.
I had gone on a couple surf trips prior to the Surf Fish Serve trips, but nothing like heading to Nicaragua or anything like that. I lived in California right across from the beach for nine years and I had never been anywhere other than Mexico surfing. When I first asked my wife about it, she was like, it sounds like just a guy’s surf trip, but if you think it will help you, ok. So going down there the first time, I didn’t really know what to expect.
It’s been fun to watch it evolve over the years and like most mission opportunities, you go down there and it keeps you busy, keeps you distracted, keeps you humble and also breaks you emotionally when you see how a lot of people in the world live. At first we didn’t know what to do, we didn’t have any real connections in the community, but we did our best to set up small projects and put everybody to work helping someone besides ourselves. We’ve done all sorts of things like put cement floors in people’s homes, paint houses, distribute water filters and all sorts of other projects. That’s all good, but now we are seeing it’s really not about the doing, it’s about building relationships and helping people in need. We have always done our best to help and serve others throughout the week, but with SFS, we have also learned how much it helps us who go on the trips. We all have our own issues in life whether it’s parenting or marital or something else and nowadays it’s hard to have a group of guys that you can actually share that stuff with.
When you are on these trips, sitting on a boat or out in the lineup and someone asks you what’s going on man? You hear things like, “well my wife and I are considering getting a divorce” and all sorts of other stuff and by the end of the trip you’re sharing stuff and bouncing ideas off of each other. It is crazy what focusing on and serving others will do to humble yourself which allows you to open up about your life. You think you’re going down there to have fun and also help others along the way, but you end up serving yourself and getting so much more out of it by the time it's over. It’s more than just digging a hole and feeling fulfilled, now you are filling someone else up that was struggling and now they feel good and so do you. I think the service projects we do in the community are fantastic and a great part of the trip, but for me it’s also about bonding with the guys. We are all professionals and no one wants to share about how miserable our life might be, but the great thing is the brotherhood that forms throughout the trip which allows us to do life together. The SFS trips have helped me in so many ways and have proven to provide experiences I will never forget.