Traveling to various countries over the summer on mission trips, students and teachers will spend part of their summer serving and impacting others. Photo by: Katie Sommers
By Katie Sommers
As summer is just around the corner, students and teachers are preparing to take mission trips to various foreign countries to assist and serve as well as learn about and share in the culture of the people.
Senior Michaila Nate has she the privilege to travel to Costa Rica this summer. “My youth group is headed to Costa Rica. It will be myself and fifteen other [Plymouth High School] students along with several adults.” This team will be flying out of South Bend into Chicago, and then to Costa Rica. The mission trip is one week long, from July 20th to the 27th. “The main goals are to grow spiritually as well as to serve the people of Costa Rica.” Nate is going on this trip because this has been on her heart for a long time, loves to travel and help people, and going to Costa Rica will give her a perfect opportunity. Nate is not sure how this trip will change her, but can not wait to see what it does to her and the people of Costa Rica. As of right now she is in the progress of, “finding financial and prayer support. We are also meeting for weekly training meetings and doing daily devotions to prepare ourselves emotionally as well as physically.”
Traveling to Nepal over the summer, Mr. Ryan Rust, junior Alli Rust, and sophomore Megan Rust are preparing for their 14 days mission trip. During a their time in Nepal, they will be staying with a few missionary friends. Many steps are needed to leave the country on a mission trip. Some steps include, “getting passports, write and send out support letters [for financial aid and prayer], and buy the plane tickets. We have done the main planning for the trip off and on for the last three or four months,” M. Rust said. These three are going to encourage and support their friends in Nepal as well as get some missionary experience. Mr. Rust is going on this trip because he has, “a connection with the work our friends are doing as they care for young girls that are in abusive situations. They show them the love of Christ.” Going on mission trips can be life changing and give different perspectives on life. “I think this trip is going to make my relationship with God stronger. I also think I will be more thankful for the things we have here in the United States that we take for granted. I also think I am going to be a lot more compassionate after this trip,” A. Rust said. Lots of preparation has been taken before the trip and these three can not wait to see their friends and have a new experience.
“Some of my church youth group and youth group leaders are going to Balaclava, Jamaica,” said junior Sarah Puglisi. In preparation for this trip, Sarah has meetings every month for team building, fundraising, sending letters, doing things to learn how to work together, and raising money. This trip is about a week long in July, from the 19th through the 27th. Puglisi’s goal on this trip is to, “bless people and share God’s love to with them!” On this trip they will be rebuilding and painting parts of a school and having a vacation bible school for children. This mission trip will impact Sarah by, “[allowing her to ] realize how much we do have here in America, how much we take advantage of! It will show us how fortunate we are.”
Along with Nate, junior Breanna Morrow is also traveling to Costa Rica with her youth group over the summer. “Right now, we are raising money and going to start fundraising. We also have meetings where we talk about the trip and prepare our hearts with devotions and prayer,” Morrow said. The main goals and purposes of this trip is to witness to the people of Costa Rica by teaching them about faith and God. Morrow is going on this trip because she, “loves to go on missions trips, and not only will it change my perspective and I will get to share God to a different culture, but it will change me spiritually and emotionally and physically as well.” Morrow thinks this trip will impact her by giving her an eye-opener and it will bring her closer to, “God and to my fellow teammates, as well change my perspective on the way I chose to live life.”
In the progress of preparing for the trip, many items and events need to occur as in getting a passport, sending support letters, and learning about the culture. Photo by: Katie Sommers
“My group from Crossroads Church are going to Haiti,” said sophomore Andrew Gerard. To prepare for this trip those going have had team building activities, learning about the culture, what their plan is, vaccinations, and sending out support letters. This team consist of 10 people from Crossroads Church and the trip is from July 26 to August 3rd. “The purpose of this trip to give medical care to the Haitians, but we will do some other things also. What we do and what happens is all up to God,” Gerard said. He is going on this trip to reach out to the people in Haiti and it gives Gerard some medical experience since he wants to become a doctor. Gerard said this experience will, “make me more into the man that God wants me to be.”
Along with Puglisi, sophomore Katelyn O’Neal has the chance to travel to Balaclava, Jamaica this July with Plymouth Missionary Church. In preparation for this mission trip they have general meetings, getting passports, sending out support letters, and doing weekend fundraising events. Their team consists of six adults and ten teenagers and most of their support is coming from family members, friends, other church members, and relatives. “Our main task is to bring God’s word and salvation to the people we meet. We want to touch lives and bring joy to those in need. We also want to help in some constructional ways as well,” O’Neal said. She is going on this trip because she wants to use the gifts she was given and help lead people to salvation. “I’ve always had a very caring attitude towards these situations and want to seize every opportunity I get to reach out to the world for God’s glory,” said O’Neal. Looking forward to after the trip, O’Neal thinks this experience will teach her how blessed she is, and she believes her relationship with others and God will grow.
As the school year is quickly coming to an end, students and teachers are patiently awaiting to go on their mission trips. The majority of these individuals have goals for their trip, but these people may come back from this trip changed and impacted in a variety of ways.