Students Making Lasting Friendships on Service Trip: Photogallery

Rather than spending their spring break sunning on the beach or vacationing at home, 28 students and other members of the Trinity community spent a week on the Spring Break service trip, working on homes and caring for the people of Frakes, Kentucky.

Josh Hauck ’15 of Dixon, Illinois, said that as a college student he may not have a lot of money to give, but he does have time to give. He said he also gains something from volunteering. “The great thing about service trips is that they not only benefit the people we go to serve, but they also provide a phenomenal time of fellowship with the group and personal spiritual growth.”

The students spent each morning in communal devotions before breaking into smaller groups to work on various projects and fellowship with residents. The team would then reassemble for dinner, free time, discussion, and worship. Students also shared their testimonies and prayed together.

Throughout the experience, students were able to form relationships with the people they served. Hayley Johnson ’15 of Oak Forest, Illinois, acted as a team leader. She reached out to Stacy, a woman whose home the students helped clean. “I realized that I needed to share Scripture and talk with her to see where her heart was,” Johnson said. “She began to tell me all these things about how broken she was and personal things she had been dealing with.”

“When we would talk to the woman whose house we painted, we could tell that she appreciated it,” said Rebecca Garcia ’14 of Schererville, Indiana. “When we opened up to her, she cried. We even gave her a large print Bible because she could not read her old one. She really appreciated us and told us that she loves us.”

The students also enjoyed the relationships they formed with one another. “One of my favorite parts of the trip was the close and intentional fellowship,” said Johnson, who plans to room next year with a student she met on the trip. “I really loved how we could all come together for the same purpose: serving others.”

“There were 28 of us total on this trip, and I feel like I made 27 new friends,” Hauck said. “The Holy Spirit was totally present in all of our interactions. Working as one body was so amazing. We all had different skills, and they all fit together like a beautiful puzzle.”

Overall, the trip was a memorable one, leaving many students hungry for more. “Through the experience, I learned that serving is more than just acts. It is giving of yourself, showing your heart to people, and spreading God’s love,” Garcia said. “The trip really inspired me to go on more service trips. I would love to do this again and also to further some of the connections I made on the trip.”