“I learned a lot and cried a lot, but if I would need to describe the trip with one word, it would be hopeful,” Sophomore Samantha Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez had the chance to attend to one of the four trips that were facilitated by the Student Ministry Leadership Team during spring break for John Brown University students. The mission trips are an opportunity for students to experience God’s presence and serve others in different contexts around the country.
The trip that Rodriguez attended was in El Paso, Texas and was led by Mayfield Resident Director Sarah Cordle. It was formed by a group of eight students that learned about migratory laws and help shelters located in the border.
“The whole trip and experience have been difficult for me since I got to see with my own eyes what my family and many others experience while crossing the Mexican American border,” Rodriguez said.
Among many other stories, she recalled a particular one that, as Rodriguez expressed, impact her life completely.
“We went to a shelter called Holy Family and I met Gilbert, a 5-year-old Venezuelan boy who just reminded me of my brother. As I helped his mother to find clothes, he stared at me waiting to hear any greetings from me, like [as] if he has been restrained from talking for a long time,” Rodriguez said.
The students engaged in several different activities to serve others and learn from God. They described their experience as fulfilling and lifechanging.
“Some tend to visit these shelters with the purpose of helping these immigrants, but what really happens is that these immigrants end up helping you and changing your perspective towards everything,” Rodriguez said.
JBU students also visited one of the most divided cities in the U.S., Chicago. The goal for the Chicago trip was to learn more about Sunshine Gospel Ministries, an organization with more than 100 years of serving the community of Woodlawn, as well as understanding the challenges of economics and racism for the people in the community.
Seth Sears, Walton Scholar Program Director at JBU was the leader of the trip, was in charge of facilitating discussion among students and said he really enjoyed the experience.
“My job was to deal with their response and feelings about it and encourage conversations about what they were learning,” Sears said. “I was very glad to get to spend a lot of relationship time with students and getting to know them better.”
“The most challenging part was seeing the racism and injustice in a city that I loved,” Sears said. “It was very hard to hear some of the stories of what people have gone through.”
Junior Ismael Hernandez, one of the nine students that attended this Chicago trip, shared his story and recalled the impactful time he had there.
“The mission trip consisted in raising awareness among students about what racism truly entails and the magnitude of injustices in the Black community in the United States,” Hernandez said.
“Many discussions encouraged us to foster empathy and learning about the root causes of poverty. We also talked about other topics like gentrification, which is a big problem in Chicago.” Hernandez said. “The most profound experience, in my opinion, was going to the museum and seeing how much individuals had given up for their community and how much suffering they had to go through to get to where they are now.”
The mission trips held impactful experiences for the students and allow them to develop a deeper understanding of social issues by actively serving and learning about God’s kingdom.