While most Hillsdale College students chose to stay stateside over spring break and go to a beach with friends, some travelled to more exotic places.
From Ireland to India to Bahrain, several students racked up travel miles and incredible experiences touring, visiting family, and serving as missionaries this year.
Junior Travis Lacy, sophomore Lisa Graham, and freshman Rachel Zolinski travelled to Tenali, India with a team from Pine Ridge Bible Church in Quincy, Mich.
The team went to a pastor’s conference, worked in a home that saved women from the sex trade, and ministered to people in an HIV and AIDS clinic. They also were able to go see and dedicate wells that they had helped fund.
“It all went really well, without too many hiccups,” Lacy said.“Travel and everything went very smoothly.”
For senior Aubrie Marks and junior Kelly Broome, their spring breaks were as family-focused as they were exotic. Marks travelled with her father and stepmother to Ireland while Broome went home to Bahrain to spend time with her family.
Marks said her trip was spur- of-the-moment, but she always wanted to spend her birthday — Saint Patrick’s Day — in Ireland.
“Over Christmas break I teased my parents about going to Ireland for my birthday,” Marks said. “On one of our weekly Skype dates we decided just to go.”
Broome’s father is a military contractor currently stationed in Bahrain. Broome said that she was excited to go home, since she normally is only able to go home at Christmas.
“Ironically, it was warmer in Michigan than it was in Bahrain for the first time in a long time,” Broome said. “It’s been very hazy and dusty here, with lots of sandstorms, which isn’t the ideal spring break weather.”
In India, the Hillsdale crew spent the first three days at a pastor’s conference. Lacy and Pine Ridge’s pastor Rick Nohr preached to around 150 pastors that came from different regions in India. Because of the cultural standards, men sat on one side of the room while the women and children sat on the other side.
“Most of the pastors do not just preach to one church,” Lacy said. “One of the pastors was telling me how he travels to four different churches each Sunday to spread God’s word.”
Lacy said that the worship was much different than in America. The music was more melodic and minor, and people would begin dancing. Lacy said it was amazing to see how different people worship the same God.
While Lacy and Nohr were at the pastor’s conference, Graham and Zolinski, along with other members of the team, went to Ashraya for three days. Ashraya is a home that helps women escape from prostitution, Zolinski said.
Zolinski said that the team helped them sew and iron pants called punjabi. The punjabi is sold in both India and America. The team also led a Bible study at the home.
They introduced the women to tea and hot chocolate. The women in turn painted henna on Graham and Zolinski’s skin, and tried to teach them Telugu, the local dialect.
“They tried to teach us their language,” Zolinski said. “Our futile attempts made them laugh.”
The team also prayed for patients in an HIV/AIDS clinic. Lacy said that this was where thepatients went before they died and itwasaveryhumblingexperi- ence.
Lacy said that the patients were very open to listening to the Gospel. They would pat their heads in a sign to ask for the team to pray for them.
“I wish I could articulate exactly what I felt through the week, what I saw, the things God is doing,” Zolinski said. “But, as most things are when God works, it is indescribable.”