Spring Break mission trips return with teams serving across 13 locations around the world
Kim Chaudoin |
Lipscomb University students are once again heading around the world on spring break mission trips this week after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year 13 mission trips — 10 to international locations and three domestic sites — are taking place during spring break, March 14-18. These missions involve 174 participants, including 126 students, 29 faculty/staff, 12 alumni and eight friends of Lipscomb.
Tyler Kemmerer, director of missions at Lipscomb, says he is excited about the reboot of missions after two years. In March 2020, 23 spring break mission trips were canceled just days before departure as the pandemic began to unfold. Because of various surges over the last two years, the mission trips typically planned for summer 2020 and 2021 as well as spring break 2021 were also canceled.
“Now, two years later, we finally get to go back to the communities we love and once again serve alongside our trusted host partners and ministries,” says Kemmerer. “Many of our previous locations are still not open to visitors, but we are more than thankful to relaunch 13 teams this spring break.”
Those who participate in spring break mission trips have the opportunity to serve people in other cultures while simultaneously experiencing faith outside of the classroom, reflects Kemmerer.
“As director of the program, the best part of my job is hearing all the personal stories, reflections and gratitude for the way these experiences impact the lives of students, faculty, staff, alumni and our host partner communities,” he says. “When the work is hard, these stories keep us going and we are anxious to hear them once again, to get that glimpse of the Spirit's all-encompassing work in the world. We ask for folks to please pray as we once again ‘go’ that God would be glorified through these teams and communities as they build relationships and serve together.”
Spring break mission trips this year include:
- Baja. A team is providing encouragement and community support through home visits, construction, maintenance work, food and clothing relief and nightly classes for children, teens and adults.
- Baja. This team is providing medical and dental care to areas in Baja with limited access to healthcare.
- Destin, Florida. Nursing, pharmacy, nutrition and dietetics students are screening patients and providing medical checks for Hope Medical Clinic, founded by Destin Church of Christ as a free primary care provider for those underserved in the world of health care.
- Ecuador. Working with Hacienda of Hope, a children’s home to provide a safe haven for abused and neglected children, this team is working on a variety of projects at the home including gardening, engaging with the children and distributing food to the surrounding community among other work.
- Guatemala. This medical mission team is providing basic medical and dental care to serve the Kekchi Mayans in the villages spread throughout the remote areas near Senahu, Alta Verapaz.
- Guatemala. In partnership with Health Talents International, this team is staffing and running daily medical clinics in rural villages along the west coast of the country.
- Guatemala. Engineering students and faculty are working on the design and implementation of a water distribution system that will serve a rural village in Guatemala that has never had easily accessible clean water.
- Honduras. This mission team is engaging with the community of Mateo by constructing houses for people in need and working with members of the local church.
- Honduras. A team of engineering students, faculty and professional engineers is working with host partner HOI on implementing a solar power system for the HOI campus school.
- Honduras. Engineering students and professionals are performing maintenance on a therapeutic playground and assessing potential future projects at Little Hands Big Hearts, an organization focused on building a sustainable, faith-based community of support for children with disabilities and their families.
- Nashville. This team of Lipscomb track and cross country student athletes is working in Nashville with Project 658 to serve in the neighborhoods where the organization is present.
- Saba. Members of this team are doing various projects at the only elementary school, middle school, and high school on the island and also hosts a variety of events for people on the island.
- San Francisco, California. This team is working with San Francisco City Impact in an inner city area that has a large population of unhoused individuals.
This summer, 12 mission trips are planned including engineering projects in Malawi, Honduras and Ghana; medical missions to Peru and Malawi; and general mission work in New Mexico, Moldova, United Kingdom, Greece, Albania, Saba and at Camp Shiloh in New York City. In addition the Bison softball and men’s basketball teams will head to Saba to work with partner organization Baja Missions in their work in the community.
Kemmerer said he anticipates the number of spring break and summer mission trips to soon return to the number of pre-pandemic trips and participants in the coming year.