The Skyliner

Issue date: 3/21/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Dianna Fisher

Media Credit: Dr. Allen McWhite

Andy Fisher
Staff Writer


Spring break is a time for many to take trips to the beach, catch up on some much needed rest, do the many loads of laundry that have been piling up since the beginning of the semester and just take it easy for a couple of days. But for 77 North Greenville University faculty, staff and students, it was a time of hard work, little sleep and a lot of fun taking mission trips all around the world.

Trips were taken to New Orleans led by Dr. Tony Beam and Andy Stevens, San Francisco led by Dr. Linwood Hagin, Querétaro, Mexico led by Burl Walker, Chachahaute, Honduras led by Wes "Prof" Warren and Cayman Lucy, Hungary led by Mike Landrum and finally to Central Asia led by Dr. Allan McWhite.

McWhite and his team of 18 students went to Central Asia and traveled to three university campuses in Asia learning about studying abroad opportunities and cultural exchanges and also visiting local mosques. The team met many students from all around the world including students from Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Nigeria and Niger.

Melissa Cox, senior intercultural studies, traveled to Central Asia and has a favorite memory of going to an old castle with four of her high school friends and just hanging out in Central Asia and developing relationships which the girls. One of the goals was "establishing friendships so that we can share Christ with them in a personal way," said Cox.

Rachel Bass, senior marketing, and Jessica Touchton, senior English, said a major highlight on the trip was "learning how to make authentic Turkish tea and coffee in a family's home."

"Essentially it was a knowledge gathering, barrier-breaking trip. We had the amazing opportunity to see how God is working literally at all times and in all places and to join Him in that work through relationship building and cultural interaction," said Touchton.

In Honduras, Warren and his team of 13 flew to Pedro Sula on Friday, March 2, and then travelled by bus to La Ceiba, a port city on the Caribbean. After a night in La Ceiba the team traveled a hour and a half to Chachahaute, a town of 100 adults and 70 children on a island about the size of a city block. This is one of 18 islands in a chain of islands in Honduras. While in Chachahaute the men put up walls for the church in the town and the women taught Bible lessons and sang songs. At night the team lead worship services for the town. The team also delivered toothbrushes and school supplies. They were planning on leaving Chachahaute on Tuesday morning, but a storm came in on Monday night and lasted until Wednesday night. The team instead left on Thursday to go back to La Ceiba for a couple of days. Some of the team's favorite experiences was with Paulino, a pastor from the mountains that traveled four hours for a two-hour worship service and four hours back just to worship with fellow believers.

Also, the group was given shark, lobster and iguana to eat while on the island. God was really at work while they were on the island. One person was saved and one rededicated his life. The people on the island noticed the team was "there because they cared about them."

"It was great to see the Lord at work in the lives of people on the island and the students on the trip," said Warren.

In the United States, students were hard at work in New Orleans on a trip led by Beam and Stevens. The team of around 250 students and adults, 12 of those being North Greenville students and faculty, were putting flooring in five houses and raised the walls for one house in the 9th Ward. This is a five-year project sponsored by a ministry out of First Baptist Church New Orleans, the Baptist Crossroads project and Habitat for Humanity. The goal of the Baptist Crossroads Project is to create an atmosphere of hope for the 9th Ward, build 500 houses and encourage people to move back and re-establish the city. While in New Orleans, NGU students were able to talk to other college students that were there from schools all around the United States and build relationships with them.

"God always puts us in situations to witness to others by actions and draws others to us so we can witness to others by word of mouth and they wanted to be like us," said Michael Anderson, junior management.

Around the world in Budapest, Hungary, English classes were being taught to 20 Chinese and 40 Hungarian students in a rented facility that was used for classroom space. Landrum and his team of 13 traveled to Budapest to teach conversational English and preparation for the TOELF PRAXIS Test to the Chinese students and ESL instruction with a curriculum to the Hungarian people. This was Landrum's third trip to Budapest and one of his favorite memories is seeing two local believers that became a Christian as a result of the first trip to Budapest and both came back as translators for the second trip. Landrum has enjoyed seeing the growth in Christ of these two local believers on every visit. God was at work in the classrooms North Greenville students worked in.

"The trip was an amazing opportunity to be a servant, a blessing, and to be blessed. If the opportunity comes for you to be on a L.I.G.H.T. teams go," said Landrum.

One student, Emily Bloxdorf, junior marketing, received her calling and fell in love with the Hungarian people. "I have always said that I will never ever, ever be a teacher. It's funny how our God can so drastically change our own thinking. I got so much fulfillment out of teaching the Hungarians, and they taught me more than I could ever teach them in a lifetime," said Bloxdorf.

"God showed me that its was not about me doing anything for God, its about God doing everything through the vessels he had chosen," said Comstock.
In San Francisco, Calif., Hagin led two groups to work with Tim Fortescue, a 2002 Mass Communication graduate, working with Afghan Muslim refuges.

"It's good to see North Greenville alumni becoming successful in using their talents in media with other cultures," said Hagin.
Group one, better known as the media group, worked around the San Francisco area filming video footage for the Afghan People Ministry. They filmed a day in the park playing with children and a day distributing food from the Halcyon Food Pantry. The filming is being made into two videos: one with video footage with music and the other with testimonials and interviews.

The team also met with the president of California State University- East Bay who is also an Afghan. One of the team members, Jacob Patterson, junior Christian studies, had been praying for an opportunity to work with different cultures over spring break but did not want to go outside of the United States.

"It was one of the best experiences of my life and very enlightening and learning about the Muslim culture," said Patterson.
One of Amber Hurt's, junior business administration, favorite parts of the trip was "getting to know different people's cultures that I would normally never get to see. I liked getting to sit down with the Muslims and getting to talk to them about their culture and lifestyles as well as talking with homeless people and getting to experience the San Francisco culture in general."

"Going on the trip from the media aspect was incredible. It was awesome to do for the Lord what I feel called to too. Getting to travel across the country just to film stuff was a huge blessing," said Paul Riley, junior media ministry.

In Querétaro, Mexico, Walker and his team of seven North Greenville students traveled to work with local missionaries, Steve and Laura Young, teaching English at three local universities and also teaching Bible studies in the Young's home and at a local family's home. Nearly 50 people attended the Bible studies, five were unbelievers. The unbelievers came to check out the Bible study and as a result a connection and interest was developed with the other attendees at the Bible study. When the team was not at a Bible study or in class they explored the city going to an art gallery, rock climbing, hiking, shopping and going to the theater where Maximilian was tried and to the convent where he was held until his trial. Maximilian was the last dictator of Mexico before freedom happened in Mexico. The team really enjoyed the trip and were not ready to home. Some of the team members were able to use their majors and extracurricular activities to help minister. When visiting a high school Patrick Lenorr was able to play and practice football with the high school team. They enjoyed him being there and playing with someone from a national championship school.

The team also traveled to an orphanage where Brad Barron, senior outdoor leadership, used his outdoor leadership skills to lead group activities with the children. One of the educational benefits with the team was that everyone's Spanish improved.

"It was a wonderful trip and a great chance to see God working in Querétaro" said Walker.

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