Learning how to serve
BGSU students participate in service trips over spring break
By Kylie Tusing || Spring 2019
While most people travel or stay home with their families during spring break, several BGSU students were willing to spend their free time giving back to their local or national communities. H2O, a church dedicated to helping young adults find and follow God, sends a variety of mission trips each year to help around the US or in Guatemala.
This year, with the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, H2O sent students to Lumberton, North Carolina, to help people whose homes were affected by the hurricane. Before leaving, sophomore Erica
Snyder hoped her group could “get as much work as possible done in the short amount of time we will be there.” Last year, Snyder went to Houston, Texas, to work on homes affected by the hurricanes as well. Expectations set from previous mission trips quickly dissolved.
Unsimilar to previous mission trips, this was more than just fixing a house and then leaving, to Snyder.
“It amazed me how much faith she had after living through these horrible storms and overall it was a very humbling and rewarding experience,” Snyder said about the owner of one of the houses.
While they were building the house, Snyder also built her relationship with God.
“God really showed me how even the littlest things are just as important as the big things. While we could see physical changes to the house at the end, the growth in our hearts is just as important,” she said.
Although she began with limited expectations, Snyder said she learned several lessons along the way. She had words of advice to give to others. “Know that all you expect might not happen, but that God will make it even better than you could ever imagine.
In order to grow with God you will have to walk with him and to know that he has a unique story for every single person,” Snyder said. She expressed that the journey of mission trips did not stop once they left.
With building lifelong friendships, taking all the lessons learned, Snyder has continued to build off this mission trip. “Following this trip, I am going to work on appreciating the little things, and I want to work on growing closer to God,” she said.
For another service trip, from a different organization on campus, BG Alternative Breaks, members travelled to Augusta County, Virginia, to help fix damaged houses for impoverished communities. Senior Paul Garbarino and junior William Robinson co-led the trip over their spring break.
Being the first mission trip that Robinson has led, he had high expectations for himself and other participants. “Our hope overall was that we would further our understanding for, and appreciate, the process of how we handle social issues.
What that meant to us was we wanted our participants to come out of the site thinking more than, ‘It felt good to finish the floor.’ We wanted them to ask questions,” Robinson said.
Leading a service trip can be an experience within itself.
With traveling to a different state, there are cultural differences and unfamiliarity with the area, alongside conflicts that can present themselves when working on houses that have been demolished through natural disaster.
Robinson spoke about leading people and the learning differences that make each person unique while also dealing with time management and resolution in moments of unexpected conflict.
“As a leader it made me interested to see that I could step back and reflect on the challenges I faced and be able to be self aware on the things I faced,” Robinson said.
In fixing houses, it was discovered that some were much more work than initially intended. Repairing minor fixes in the floor turned into fixing the entire structure of the house, while some houses that were considered safe, initially once half-demolished, were deemed hazardous to walk in.
Robinson, as one of the leaders on the trip, was given the responsibility to confront and take part in solving these issues for the safety of BGSU students as well as giving back to the community.
“You get a really good interpretation on what leadership is when you go out and lead. And there are a lot of leadership models and practical leadership is a way that mine has developed.
And you can find that with any organization across campus,” Robinson said. Director of Renewing Homes of Greater Augusta, Phillip Holbrook, was one of the highlights of Robinson’s trip. Working with and under the supervision of a great leader can help someone become a great leader themselves.
With an attitude of reassurance and giving positive solutions, Holbrook was no exception. “He had a style of leadership in our group that impacted all of us as leaders. He is the kind of leader that we need more of in the world. He prompted our own examination of problems and how we could fix it,” Robinson said.
The BG Alternative Breaks program offers BGSU students the ability to perform service all over the United States without having any religious or political affiliation — simply to serve. Robinson gave advice to students who are interested in going on future service trips.
“Anybody can go and do volunteer hours and serve at a food pantry or humane society, but the part of service that is the most impactful is the reflection and questions you ask while doing it,” Robinson said.
“That’s what is going to make it the most meaningful for you is the reflection on how that impacts your self identity or, otherwise, it just becomes another thing that you do, but you can make it something more.”
