Close your eyes and imagine you’re climbing into a cramped, suffocating minivan, awkwardly arranging your body to successfully fit into the collaborative puzzle of people stationed within the chosen transport.
Dawn has barely broken, the skies shyly sharing the first glimpse of a new day as the vehicle’s engine breathes to life with a shaky rattle. As you take in your tight surroundings, your heart begins to pound with a growing sense of excitement.
Sharing a tired smile with your neighboring companions, you lean back in your seat and gratefully rest your eyes in preparation for the long journey ahead.
At approximately 4 a.m. on Sunday, March 1, this visualization became a genuine reality as 10 local college students gathered together and carpooled to the Miami International Airport.
Comprised of 10 undergraduates and the founders of Love Missions, this ragtag group departed the confines of America’s borders to immerse themselves in the communities of Trinidad and Tobago.
Despite their diverse cultures, backgrounds and upbringings, the members of the team embarked with a single goal: change the lives of the people they encountered.
Openly aware that a break from school could’ve been used for personal relaxation and carefree bliss, many of the travellers believed that God was telling them this gift of time was meant for a more impactful and inspiring experience.
Josey Dueck, a freshman who was a missionary kid in the African country of Guinea, actively voiced the role her heavenly Father had in her decision to spend her spring break in the missions field.
“As I began to pray a lot more and seek God in it, he just encouraged me and said, ‘If you are willing to go, or if you have an excitement to be in a different country, go,’” Dueck said. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you're competent or don’t think you can do it. Just go and serve in any way you can.”
In answering God’s calling, Dueck and her companions bravely took their own leaps of faith and traveled to an unfamiliar country to deliver God’s Word and encouragement to people who greatly needed it.
By Brenna Brown