Students live out slogan during spring break
True to the continuing mission and new slogan “Shine Forth,” MVNU will once again send teams all around the globe on mission trips during spring break.
Guyana
Catie Hayes, MVNU’s director of Community and International Ministriest, is leading
a team to South America. Her group of students will head into Guyana’s jungles to the small village of Orealla.
There they will help educate the members of the village in skills like basket weaving that can produce an
income for villagers and their families.
Belize
Director of Student Life Rochel Furniss is taking a team of 13 students to Succotz, Belize, in Central America.
“We have built a relationship with Pastor Eric Reyes over the years, and he has extended the invitation again for us to bring another team,” Furniss said.
School enrollment in Succotz is growing quickly, and there is limited space for the students. The MVNU team will build a classroom to provide more students the opportunity to learn.
West Virginia
Director of Admissions Tracy Waal will team up with Mission Academy and travel to Charleston, West Virginia, with 14 students during spring break.
“Mission Academy is a ministry that provides home maintenance and improvement in the low-income neighborhood on the west end of Charleston,” Waal said. “Many are veterans, widows, single moms or victims of domestic abuse. We want to show the love of Christ by addressing these needs.”
Indiana
MVNU student Anthony DeMarco has been part of Mandate since his freshman year and started leading trips his sophomore year. Now a senior, he will once again take this trip with other MVNU students to Indianapolis, Indiana, to work with the Shepherd Community ministry.
The ministry of Shepherd Community has usually been a J-term Mandate stop. The two-week spring break will allow students to stay long enough to make an even bigger impact this year.
“Shepherd is a multi-faceted ministry that has a school, health programs, after-school programs and a church,” DeMarco said. Half the group will help in classrooms and with after-school activities. The other half will work on the Shalom project, a long-term project bringing peace to the area.
Different teams will address healthcare, living conditions and community leadership, with the MVNU group taking part in construction, demolition and cleaning up the neighborhood.
Florida
Assistant to the Chaplain Kendra Lambert is leading a team to Fort Lauderdale First Church of the Nazarene in Fort Lauderdale,Florida. They will be working with the church with service and outreach projects within the community.
Texas
Pioneer Hall R.D. Maggie Figueroa and her team will represent MVNU in McAllen, Texas.
The group will work closely with Rio Valley Church of the Nazarene, serving immigrants and gaining knowledge about the issues surrounding the border. MVNU students will interact with people involved with both sides of the border issues.