Spring Break Mission Trips

Palm Beach Atlantic University senior Ashley Anderson has been to the Dominican Republic twice on mission trips, and she's headed there for a third time this weekend. "In my mind there is no better way to spend my spring break," said Anderson, 22, who is majoring in psychology and minoring in cross-cultural studies. "I love to help those in need and to serve God and my brothers and sisters in Christ." Anderson, of Bowie, Md., is co-leader of an eight-member team that leaves Friday and will spend the week in the mountain town of Peralta, where the University partners with a network of churches. In the past, team members have volunteered with construction projects, interacted with local children and led church services. "We're just trying to prepare ourselves to be flexible for whatever they have us do," said senior international business major Jeffrey Boyle, 22, the team's other co-leader from Bartlett, Ill.

Similar mission projects will take place in various countries across the Caribbean and Central and South America next week. In all, more than 100 students serving on 10 PBA mission teams will visit such places as Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, Peru and Jamaica for spring break, which runs from March 7-13.

This year, the 13-member Haiti team has received a great deal of attention in the wake of the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake in the island nation. The decision to proceed with the trip came after numerous discussions with Mission of Hope, the University's partner organization near Port-au-Prince that operates a church, school, orphanage and hospital. The students' safety was a top priority, said Christian Dzadek, the University's coordinator of interational service projects. Team members said they expect they will be helping with the relief effort to some degree, as well as assisting the organization with its ministries. The Haiti team, like the others, has undergone extensive training for the past several weeks. Students also raised their own money for the trips.

icole Valentin, one of the leaders of the seven-member Guatemala team, said her team has met once a week since November to practice the leadership activities they will be teaching at different schools there. The group is sponsored by PBA's Impact Leadership Team. "We also shared our personal testimonies with one another and discussed our motivation for the trip," said Valentin, 20, a junior accounting major from Orlando. Her co-leader, senior mathematics major Rod Venegas, 23, is a native of Guatemala City. He believes the leadership activities that his team will share with local students will benefit his homeland in years to come. The team's aim, he said, is "to plant seeds, knowing the impact it can have in the individual lives of those kids."

Sarah Thomas, 19, a freshman nursing major from Boca Raton, also is looking forward to interacting with young people this spring break. She is co-leader of a 10-person team that is departing for Cochabamba, Bolivia. The team will lend its assistance to Children's International Network, which operates an orphanage and ministers to boys on the street. "I have been very anxious to go all last semester and even more so now," said Thomas, who went on her first mission trip to Mexico at age 11. "I feel like my best self on mission trips, almost like I am fulfilling my purpose here on Earth."