Bridget Sjoberg | Staff Writer
On a Christian campus like Baylor, it’s common for students to embark on mission trips to countries around the world or spend their time leading a summer camp. Although these activities are often fun experiences, they are also composed of hard work on a day-to-day basis.
It’s common to see social media posts about volunteering on a trip or working a camp and to notice smiling faces and people playing with cute kids. These types of experiences often do involve fun interactions with kids, but they can also require manual labor, long hours and a strong mindset.
one Tree, Colo., sophomore Cassidy Campbell has spent three summers serving on mission trips in Nicaragua and said the experience on these trips can often be different than what people may perceive on social media.
“Going on a mission trip really requires being prepared for anything because it’s not an easy thing to go through,” Campbell said. “I would never want anyone to go into a mission trip just wanting to take cute pictures with kids and post them on Instagram if that is where anyone’s heart is, they shouldn’t go because there is so much more to these trips that isn’t posted about.”
Campbell stayed in a compound while in Nicaragua that included a church, the pastor’s house, an orphanage, a school, basketball courts and small houses for volunteers to stay. She described the day-to-day service work as a rewarding experience but also one full of long hours, requiring stamina.
“While the kids were all at school in the mornings, we would work on a service project the first year I went we worked on a basketball court for the orphanage and the other years we made a huge cement wall to cover the entire compound because it’s in a bad area. We made cement and worked to build the wall up it was great seeing the process through the weeks we were there and after coming back a year later,” Campbell said. “After the morning, we would keep working on the project or go to the dump, feeding center, hospital or prison.”
Campbell stayed in a compound while in Nicaragua that included a church, the pastor’s house, an orphanage, a school, basketball courts and small houses for volunteers to stay. She described the day-to-day service work as a rewarding experience but also one full of long hours, requiring stamina.
“The work is a lot harder than others may see from an outside perspective, people see posts on Instagram or Facebook but no one really knows every detail about what happens,” Campbell said. “Even going into my third year of the trip, I thought I had seen it all, but I never want to be comfortable I was always praying for God to open my eyes to something new, no matter what that would consist of.”
Campbell emphasized that mission trips require hard work every day but encourages anyone interested in embarking on a mission trip to embrace the experience and constantly look for ways to grow or see things from a new perspective.
“Taking cute pictures with kids you meet is so fun, but there is so much more that goes into this type of work that people don’t know about. It’s often the same with camp—my roommate was a counselor last year and she told me all the details, and it involves a lot of genuinely hard work,” Campbell said. “My advice to anyone who is interested is to 100% do it—going on these trips has been the most life-changing thing I have ever done. If you go, be open about what God could do through you, and don’t take the easy route on anything or be comfortable. Definitely always be praying for God to work through you, and will.”
Maud freshman Ericka Carr has attended summer camps every year from age 9 to graduating high school. She has also volunteered at camps and is working at Student Life Camp this summer. She described the day-to-day routine of camps as consisting of long hours while also spending time worshiping God and partaking in activities together.
“Every day we start super early with set up—both of the camps that I worked with started with a worship gathering and then were followed by activities like recreation, Bible study, missions or free time to play sports, swim or nap,” Carr said. “After dinner, there’s a bigger worship service to end the night.”
Carr said that it’s easy to become exhausted physically and mentally at summer camps due to the long hours and constant activity but that the overall outcome is worth the work put in.
“Every day we start super early with setup — both of the camps that I worked with started with a worship gathering and then were followed by activities like recreation, Bible study, missions or free time to play sports, swim or nap,” Carr said. “After dinner, there’s a bigger worship service to end the night.”
Carr said it’s easy to become exhausted physically and mentally at summer camps due to the long hours and constant activity, but the overall outcome is worth the work put in.
“Every day at camp starts really early and ends really late, so when you’re working non-stop for six days a week for three months, exhaustion is inevitable,” Carr said. “Camp tired is a different kid of tired, though. It’s a state of max physical exhaustion but never-ending emotional energy. It’s a feeling of ‘I could really use a nap but also I couldn’t be happier to be here’ every second of the day.’”
Carr said she sees different camps as having unique experiences and encourages anyone interested in pursuing leadership to go for the experience and find a good fit.
“I think a lot of people see camp posts on social media and assume it’s like hardcore babysitting, but that’s not the case most of the time. It’s important for people to understand that every camp is different, so what one person posts isn’t always what every camp looks like. It’s not that their posts are a misrepresentation — it’s just that each camp and location offer a unique experience,” Carr said. “I’m not a fan of summer but I spend my year waiting for camp season because it’s that incredible. Camp has changed my faith, work ethic and love for people — it’s changed my life.
