This spring break, Baylor Missions is sending 10 teams of 175 students, faculty, staff, and friends of Baylor to locations in Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, England, Japan, Peru and across Texas. Each Baylor Missions experience fosters informed global engagement that promotes the integration of faith with discipline-specific learning and hands-on service to contribute solutions to real-world challenges at home and abroad. Join us as we journey alongside our BUMissions teams serving during Spring Break. 

In real time, Students are using the hashtag #BearsOnMission to document their journeys via Instagram & Twitter. We’ll also post pictures to www.facebook.com/bumissionsand on instagram @bumissions

Here are the teams headed out:

Colombia American Medical Student Association (AMSA)
This group of 20 is made up of two Spanish professors and pre-med students active in the American Medical Student Association. The undergraduates will be assisting in clinics in the province of Villeta, Colombia through our global partner One More Child Global. Students will have opportunities to observe the field of medicine independent of the prestige and wealth associated with it. Through this experience, we hope that students will be motivated to utilize their faith alongside the field of medicine in order to better see the role of a physician not as a career but as a vocation. Furthermore, we hope to endow students with a sense of cultural humility and knowledge of global competency.
Leaders to Pray for: Joan Barrett (MCL:Spanish), Jose Luis Escrocia (MLC:Spanish), Caleb Graham & Madison Godsey(AMSA)

Costa Rica Education
A group of 19 Baylor students and faculty will be visiting San Jose, Costa Rica to work in an elementary school and a high school in the rural community of Santa Elena.  The students will be teaching classes, helping Costa Ricans to practice their English, participating in a community philanthropic event, and helping in other ways in the schools.
Leaders to Pray for: Randy Wood & Trina Wilkerson (School of Education)

Dominican Republic Alpha Epsilon Delta
Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED), Baylor’s Premed Honor Society, is sending 10 students, along with two faculty leaders to serve within the Azua community in the Dominican Republic. They will spend spring break volunteering with One More Child Global to provide health education to the community and continue the long-term construction work our global partner has in place. Students will also be exposed to different levels of Dominican healthcare by visiting a local clinic, rural hospital, and city hospital. They are excited to provide lessons on nutrition, vaccinations, and hygiene, while connecting those subjects to the Gospel. They will also be bringing needed medical tools and supplies as well as coloring books and toys to donate to local hospitals and the One More Child community center.
Leaders to Pray for: Jonathan Miles (Biology), Mojgan Parizi-Robinson (Biology), Taylor Guynup & Emily Johnson (AED)

Dominican Republic First-In-Line
The Baylor First in Line program has partnered with Baylor Missions for a brand-new missions experience to send a team of 25 students (all first generational college students) and two staff members to Santiago, Dominican Republic. In partnership with Casas Por Cristo, the team will be working together to build a home within seven days. For many of these students, it is the first time that they have ever traveled internationally and they are excited to serve together to be a part of making a life-changing impact for a family in need. We are honored to be supported by a significant gift from Baylor alumni and Baylor Chapel’s “2019 Change the World in a Day” that is going to cover the cost of building the house and home goods for the new homeowners along with student scholarships.
Leaders to Pray for: T’Erica Hudson & Ryan Cohenour (Baylor Campus Living & Learning)

  

Dominican Republic MAPS (Multicultural Association of Pre-Health Students)
For the sixth time, the Multicultural Association of Pre-Health Students will partner with El Buen Samaritano in providing healthcare support and health education to residents of sugar cane bateyes and the city of La Romana in the Dominican Republic. The group of 11 pre-health and public health students and faculty will join healthcare staff to provide basic screening (e.g., blood pressure, height, weight) and education on diabetes, nutrition, dental care, and women’s health for community members.
Leaders to Pray for: Beth Lanning (Public Health), Mariela Gutierrez (Public Health), Karla Bautista (MAPS)

England & Scotland Business Interdisciplinary
Continuing our work in London from May 2018, participants from the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University will volunteer to support business that at seeking the good of the City. By stepping into the story of these amazing businesses, our students will learn how God can use business to help people and make a profit. This team of 20 made up of undergraduate, graduate, faculty, and university guests will also provide access to consulting services that these businesses cannot typically afford.
Leaders to Pray for: Jason & Kelly MacGregor (Accounting)

Hunger in Texas
Nine Baylor students along with staff from the Texas Hunger Initiatives will spend Spring Break road tripping across Texas to learn about and experience firsthand the policies, organizations, and programs affecting hungry individuals in Texas. The team will explore the scope, causes and impact of hunger in Texas. Students will learn about different types of interventions used to fight hunger such as: emergency food assistance, federal nutrition programs and advocacy. Along the way, there will be unique opportunities to put these interventions into practice by volunteering and serving at organizations such in various regions of Texas including Lubbock and Austin. To follow along on their road trip across Texas, follow @TexasHungerInitiative on all platforms.
Leaders to Pray for: Jared Gould & Grace Norman (Texas Hunger Initiative)

 

Japan Urban Foods
An interdisciplinary group of eight students, one alum and two faculty leaders will travel to Tokyo and Fukuoka, Japan, to serve with local organizations who combat child poverty by hosting free/discounted meals.  The group will work side-by-side with college students from the student volunteer clubs at our partner universities, Hosei University in Tokyo and Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka. While in Fukuoka, the group will also visiting the flood devasted area and the local elementary school for cultural exchange.  Through the collaboration with Japanese college students, our students will put their cross-cultural communication skills to work and learn how Japan is tackling child poverty issues.
Leaders to Pray for: Yoshiko Gaines (MLC: Japanese) and Yoshiko Hall (Baylor Counseling)

Peru Medical Service Organization (MSO)
For the first time, Medical Service Organization (MSO) has partnered with Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing to send twenty-five students and two faculty trip leaders to serve in Peru.  In working alongside Operación San Andres (OSA), the team will serve residents of the Collique community, where the demanding mountainous terrain makes for harsh living conditions.  Many of Collique’s residents migrated from other regions of Peru in search of better employment and medical assistance.  The team will work with members of the community and those surrounding to conduct health screenings and promote health education for Collique residents.
Leaders to Pray for: Jeanne Carey (LHSON), Hank DeHay (Communications), Mystee Altes & Anjali Ravee (MSO)

 

San Antonio (TX) Honors Residential College
The Honors Residential College is using their spring break to explore how students can serve people impacted by the refugee crisis from the Northern Triangle (Guatemala, El Salvador, & Honduras) right here in Texas.  The team will be volunteering with the Interfaith Welcome Coalition (IWC) and learning from asylum seekers, refugees and at-risk immigrants currently in San Antonio.  After a couple days serving in San Antonio, students will spend the last part of their missions experience in Waco, serving with SHE is Freedom to understand the relationship between human trafficking and the refugee crisis, and discuss how we can locally support victims of human trafficking.
Leaders to Pray for: Jason_Whitt (HRC Faculty Steward); Alex Crist (HRC Hall Director); Courtney DePalma (HRC Program Director); Caitlin Lawrence (HRC GA), Katie & Chase Jenson (HRC Resident Chaplains)

If you’re interested in how to pray for these teams check out the post from last week about the BU Missions Prayer Guide. Happy Spring Break, y’all!

Kathleen Post is the Ministry Associate for Global Missions and a students at Truett Seminary.