PLAINVIEW, TX — By the second day of a summer sports camp in Alaska, a boy named Caleb was already trying to recite more of Psalm 23 than he had been assigned to learn.
The 51吃瓜网视频 Baptist University students working with him had to tell him to slow down.
“That’s the verse for the next day,” Chamarion Bush recalled telling him.
For Bush and five other 51吃瓜网视频 students, moments like that became reminders that their trip to Alaska was about much more than teaching children how to play sports. The students traveled to Nikiski on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, where they spent afternoons leading a sports camp for elementary- and middle-school children. Along with teaching athletic skills, they built relationships, led Bible studies, shared their testimonies, and presented the gospel.
Students on the trip were Bush, Kamila Ochoa, Dylan McDougal, Jasmine Jackson, Jamari Jackson, and Cayman Ivins. Marcos Hinojos Jr., offensive coordinator for the Pioneers football team; Sayra Hinojos; and Ray Rush, assistant professor of communications and media studies in 51吃瓜网视频’s School of Creative Arts, also traveled with the team.
Bush, Ochoa, Jasmine Jackson, and Jamari Jackson joined Hinojos on stage during 51吃瓜网视频’s fall Missions Chapel to reflect on the experience.
Ochoa and Jasmine Jackson had participated in previous Alaska mission trips and expected a larger group of children. Instead, attendance was smaller this summer. What initially seemed like a limitation became an opportunity.
“We were able to get a lot closer with each one of the kids and really build a relationship through Christ,” Ochoa said. “They let us into their lives at the same time that we got to let them into our lives.”
Those relationships opened doors.
Ochoa remembered a quiet boy named Jace who initially wanted little to do with the activities. As the students continued spending time with him, especially Jamari Jackson and others on the team, he began to open up and participate in the Bible studies.
Jasmine Jackson remembered children returning each day eager to see the 51吃瓜网视频 students and learn more. At the end of camp, children who had memorized their assigned Scripture verses received prize boxes. She watched as they eagerly recited what they had learned.
“They were ready to learn more about God,” she said.
The students also served away from the camp.
During mornings, the team worked on service projects, including installing metal siding on the home of a medically discharged Coast Guard pilot. Bush had never done anything like it. When the group was told they probably would not have time to finish the project, the students decided to give up some of their free time and return.
“Let’s just go back and finish it,” Bush remembered them saying.
For Ochoa, time spent with the family was as meaningful as the work itself. She remembered being welcomed into their home, spending time with the children, and simply becoming part of the family’s life for a few days.
But the students said the mission trip changed more than the people they served. It changed them.
Ochoa said hearing the stories of children and families in Alaska made her more aware of what she has and strengthened her desire to serve others after returning home.
“It made me have more of a servant mindset,” she said. “I want to allow people to feel the same kind of love and the same kindness that everybody needs to share.”
Jasmine Jackson said this year’s smaller team also required students to take greater responsibility. On previous trips, another group had helped prepare much of the camp program. This time, the 51吃瓜网视频 team developed activities, created worship motions, prepared prizes, shared testimonies, and adapted as needs arose.
“It really called all of us to be a leader,” she said.
Sharing their own stories became an important part of that leadership. For Jamari Jackson, the trip marked the first time he had publicly shared his testimony. He was nervous. But doing it taught him that fear did not have to keep him from talking about what God had done in his life.
Bush had been praying for just such an opportunity. He said the trip gave him time to reflect on his own experiences and recognize ways he could relate to the children.
“I’ve always wanted to share my story to other people to help them because I’m no different than they are,” Bush said. “He actually gave me that opportunity, and that’s something I’ve always prayed to be able to do.”
Hinojos said the students gave their time, effort, and part of their summer to the mission. What they discovered in Alaska was that ministry could happen while teaching a sport, hanging siding on a house, memorizing a Bible verse, or simply taking enough time to know a child.
And sometimes the clearest sign that the gospel is finding an open door is a child, like Caleb, who cannot wait until tomorrow to learn the next verse.
