Helping Others, Or Getting Helped?
Dancing with children on the dirty streets with the rain pouring over our heads, playing soccer on the dusty roads, and...
Read More 2 min read
The Trip That Changed My Life
As a human being, I am often guilty of becoming far too comfortable with my circumstances in life. I become comfortable with the house that I live in, the clothes that I wear, and even necessities such...
Read More 3 min read
I Traveled Incomprehensible
I sleepily opened my eyes to daylight, heard locusts whining, and sat up with my sheets sticking to me. It was 5:00...
Read More 3 min read
Here’s What I Didn’t Learn In The Classroom – From A Teen Girl Travelling The World
Read More 4 min read
Rain That Cleanses
When I first walked out of the airport in Kolkata, I felt like I had hit a wall. It had been hot in the airport, but in June in the heart of India it was impossibly humid...
Read More 3 min read
Mzungu Monday: One Day of Life Lessons for a Foreigner in Uganda
Uganda is troubled with Malaria, a disease not commonly found in America. Despite the risk of entering a malaria zone, I traveled there for three weeks this summer. I was...
Read More 2 min read
A Musician in Kenya
I’m no economist, no political expert, no social worker, no activist; I am and was a high school student with his mind-set to pursue music and science. Though aware of avoiding the naive thought that...
Read More 3 min read
The Dominican Republic: Changing Lives
When our team leader told us our first mission work experience was going to be a visit to Pasitos de Jesus girls orphanage; I remained trapped in my timid and overly cautious state...
Read More 3 min read
Hope For Cambiaso
In late July of 2014, I retracted back to my “home” village in the Dominican Republic for a week. By joining the Village Mountain Mission the year before with my mom, and building homes for impoverished...
Read More 3 min read
.jpeg)
Juan Dolio
On an oppressively hot day in mid-July, armed with hundreds of hastily assembled ham sandwiches and bundles of clothes, I climbed on a bus and rode with thirty other students through the dusty switchbacks...
Read More 2 min read
Wrong Turn Made Right
During the summer of 2012 I had the opportunity to travel from my suburban town in Minnesota to Chicago with my youth group from church. We...
Read More 3 min read
Tropical Paradise, Elephant Rides and… Cultural Discovery?
After a mentally and physically exhausting two week mission trip, my team and I were beyond ready to enjoy some well-earned fun in the city of Chaig Mai, Thailand. That morning we...
Read More 2 min read
Jammin To A Different Rhythm
When you hear the name, "Jamaica," do you see white sandy beaches and beautiful blue...
Read More 2 min read
Ecstatic Elijah
“First we’ll have to cross crocodile pond, and then we’ll go up ice mountain,” little Elijah said, as he clasped my hand tightly and started to sprint across the gym. The five year old was one...
Read More 3 min read
Asante (Thank You)
Journal Entry Day 5: “As I step off the bus into an unknown desolate, I...
Read More 3 min read
The Trip That Has Forever Changed My Life
Most people look at the world as this picture perfect place where everyone lives a life either the same or better...
Read More 3 min read
The Treasures You’ll Find
I remember hearing the name Bugg’s Island and daydreaming about what treasures were awaiting to be discovered. Since as long as I can remember, my family, and our friend’s...
Read More 2 min read
The Mission of a Life
The power to change the world. At the young age of 17, I never thought I would have that chance. Now, after a mission trip to Black Mesa, Arizona, I believe anything is possible.Twenty-five people...
Read More 2 min read
Simple Joy
First time out of the country and I was petrified. My parents weren't accompanying me, I had no idea how to fill out the customs form (what is a customs form anyway??), I was bound to forget to take...
Read More 3 min read
Learning to Breathe
For ten days during the summer of ‘13, living with the locals and 6 girls I barely knew in the quaint village of Uvita on the...
Read More 3 min read
The Heart of Honduras
Seeing new parts of the world have opened my eyes to the different people that drift through the world virtually unnoticed by the world around them. Visiting...
Read More 3 min read
Through the Lens of Panama
Everything about Panama was breathtaking; from the green-carpeted hills to the impossibly blue sky....
Read More 3 min read
It’s Official, I’m Obsessed with Atlanta!
Arriving in Atlanta at midnight I felt exhausted yet filled with a restless energy. While my friends were socializing I took a moment to myself to let it all sink in. Just months ago we were competing...
Read More 2 min read
Belize Mission Trip to LOL Orphanage
During the summers of 2013 and 2014 I took a trip to the country of Belize, a country located in central America. Both trips took place as part of a mission...
Read More 2 min read
The Dominican Fever
The guide’s hand shot up, his fingers slowly curling into a fist. I grasped the side-rail of our two-seater mud buggy, bracing for Josiah to disengage the gas and hit the squeaky brake pedal. ...
Read More 3 min read
Culture Shock & New Home
For two years, my classmates and I raised money for a Mission's Trip to Peru. We were going to serve at an orphanage in Ayacucho, but since this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we also decided...
Read More 3 min read
What the Kids Taught Me
I have recently returned from an amazing journey to Peru. This trip was through my high school and was centered on volunteer work and cultural experience. The first week we spent in the city of Chaclacayo...
Read More 2 min read
The Soul of Volunteering
In seventeen years I haven’t been very far from my small hometown in Eastern Pennsylvania. Even now, the farthest I’ve ever been from home is Orlando Florida. However, even trips close to home have...
Read More 2 min read
The Power of Seven Days
When I was 17 years old, I almost died while on a plane returning home from Central America.We were flying directly over the Bermuda Triangle (of course, right?) when the plane started experiencing...
Read More 2 min read
My Experience at Our School in Tanzania
Community service has always played an important role in my life. From an early age, I have been dedicated to helping those in need. I volunteered at a preschool, a warehouse where food was being packaged...
Read More 3 min read
La Kay Mwen – My Home
My home is in Dessalines, Haiti. My family moved to Haiti as missionaries in August 2012. Dessalines is a beautiful...
Read More 2 min read
From a Concrete Jungle to My Dusty Tanzanian Home
As I stepped from the plane that had just carried me across two continents, three countries, and more time zones than my body could recognize, all I could think was, "My life will never be the...
Read More 3 min read
To Teach and Be Taught – A 30-Day Immersion Into Sichuanese Culture
When we first arrived in the village, our group set individual goals that we hoped to achieve over the span of the trip. I, being my modest self, vowed that I would both find a cure for allergies (since...
Read More 2 min read
A Place Never Forgotten
Towering, white historical doors awaited us on the other side of the glass windows of the bus. Peace met us at the doors along with our tour guide. Two steps and there I was...
Read More 3 min read
Le Reve Francais!
The opportunity to attend school and live in the French Alps for a year was too good to pass up. By the time packing was finished and farewells...
Read More 3 min read
Building Schools, Passing on Education, One Brick at a Time in Malawi Africa 2012
Did you know that 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world are not in school?! It shocked me because in America, every child has access to education. Due to my outstanding...
Read More 3 min read
Lens Free (My Journey Through South Africa Without a Tourist’s Best Friend)
I lost my camera the moment we stepped foot in South Africa. This wasn’t an ideal start to my trip, especially since this was the Culver Academies 2012 Spring Break in Mission where our group...
Read More 2 min read
Getting Dirty in Costa Rica
This past summer, my high school took a group of students to volunteer in Sitio de Mata, Costa Rica, where we stayed in the homes of the local people. There are two major things that I realized during...
Read More 3 min read
Visiting the True Americans
From July 7th-13th, I had the privilege of meeting the true Americans. My church youth group went on our annual trip, and this year our destination was the Pine Ridge Reservation...
Read More 2 min read
There’s Something Missing
This summer I had the opportunity to travel with a choir group to a remote and desolate part of Africa. I saw a land of wild beauty and grace with a touch of devastation that seemed...
Read More 3 min read
An Atmosphere Change
As I walked out of the airport all I could feel was the overwhelming humidity in the air of New Orleans, Louisiana. I sighed in relief as we finally arrived at the cool, huge Hilton hotel. My church...
Read More 3 min read
Chicken, Rice, and Beans in the Dominican Republic
“Bienvenidos a la Republicana Dominican!”—Welcome to the Dominican Republic. I had been anticipating for over a year to hear those words and when I walked into the Puerto...
Read More 3 min read
Holding the Hands of the Broken Hearted
The planning of my summer vacation was a usual routine, but last year, I was a changed live changing lives around me. During the summer I go to the beach daily, help plan the family vacation to the...
Read More 3 min read
Empowering Women One Hospital at a Time
The taxi bounced down the side street over large rocks and dips in the road. Through the window I could feel the hot humid African sun beating down… I...
Read More 2 min read
A Light in the Darkness
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations...” is found in Matthew 28:19 and is the key reason for all mission work. This Spring Break I was fortunate enough to go half way across...
Read More 2 min read
Eight Days in Ecuador
As we drew closer to the city, the strange dots of light drew my attention away from the Spanish-speaking movie. Below us, life buzzed in the downtown business capital of Ecuador. From the air, it...
Read More 3 min read
Compassion in a Foreign Land
Night had fallen when 20 of us found ourselves in the middle of excited chaos
Read More 2 min read
The Week My Eyes Were Opened
July 15, 2012. 3:00 a.m., my alarm sounded. My tired body was quickly energized when I remembered that the day set before me was the beginning of a journey like nothing I had embarked upon before.
Read More 3 min read
A Volunteer At Home
My favorite and most meaningful trip started on June 9th, 2012, my first day of volunteering in Nicaragua. A few months back my friend proposed a plan that her, my father and I took a trip down to...
Read More 2 min read
The Week Abroad that Changed My Life
A year and two months ago, (yes I know the exact duration) 19 of us traveled to the beautiful country...
Read More 3 min read
Heating Up in the City of Hotpot
As I boarded the narrow puddle-jumper that would take me to my final destination of Chengdu, China, I couldn’t help but feel a bit queasy. Now this kind of queasiness wasn’t from the...
Read More 2 min read
Mission Israel
Scared, nervous, excited, and a little fearful. Everything was so surreal and I couldn't wrap my head around it all. It was actually happening, I was finally going to Israel on my very first...
Read More 3 min read
Heart to Heart in China
This trip has not been so thrilling or heart-warming as it was spontaneously educational. I have learned more about myself and about the world around me through the experiences of thirteen distinctive...
Read More 2 min read
My Time in Tanzania
The last day of seventh grade came to an end, and my classmates talked about summer plans—tanning, swimming, beach trips, etc. Meanwhile,...
Read More 3 min read
Alaska is Sexy
In June I traveled to Alaska, expecting to only build houses, but I got much more than that. From atop mountains I relished in magnificent views of the Gulf of Alaska, ate delicious...
Read More 3 min read
