March 31, 2011

Students use spring break for domestic and international service

For many Harding University students, spring break was a time
to recharge and prepare for the remainder of the school year;
but for more than 300 students, it was a time to serve.

March 11-19, Harding students participated in weeklong mission
campaigns across the Western hemisphere, serving in more than fourteen
areas, including Jamaica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Canada, Alaska,
Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Texas.

Among the participants were 16 students and a professor who traveled
to Jinotega, Nicaragua, to serve with the Mision Para Cristo, an
organization that works with churches of Christ and local groups to
meet the needs of the impoverished community. They participated in
several projects, including adding a room to a school building,
building a porch for a family, preparing a fence, making cement blocks
used for building, reading books to children, performing a vacation
Bible school for children and helping in a health clinic.

“The most rewarding part was seeing how thankful the Nicaraguans were
for our help,” senior nursing major and campaign co-leader Megan
Youngblood said. “We were able to help with both their spiritual and
physical needs. Their smiles and appreciation were more of a reward
than we could have ever asked for.”

Ten students served in Fall River, Mass., a community with a large
number of impoverished, homeless and elderly residents, and worked
through the Fall River Church of Christ to serve residents who were
unable to provide for themselves. The group visited nursing homes and
a halfway house, hosted a luncheon for the homeless, organized a
carnival for local children and led Sunday worship.

“I really can't be sure that we accomplished anything tangible,”
junior mathematics and economics major and campaign co-leader Austin
Christian said. “But by being in Massachusetts, we planted seeds in
the members of that church about loving their community; we planted
seeds in the community about finding arms of love; and both of these
groups planted seeds in all of us about desiring a relationship with
God for ourselves and for others.”