Photos courtesy of Shawn Brower.
Students read cards from the children they served in Belize.
More than 60 Briarwood High School students recently spent their spring break miles away from Alabama beaches, on a mission trip to Belize.
The Briarwood Christian School Student Missions began in 2001 and serve both nationally and internationally. Students in grades nine through 12 have the opportunity to serve and minister. For many, this was their first experience on a mission trip. For those who have been before, they develop a love for it and want to return.
Principal Shawn Brower said this year’s group had the “perfect combination of personalities, gifting, abilities, relational capacity for others and the ability to love and minister through actions and words.”
“We could not have been more thankful, grateful and impressed with each of the students,” he said.
The group spent their first full ministry day at Jacob’s Farm, a home for men recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, working alongside the residents putting up fencing and painting.
Senior Abby Piell said she enjoyed watching the guys in their group minister to the residents there.
“It was really neat to be there and experience that,” she said. “They would tell us their stories and about their purpose in life.”
After their day of work, they had a pig roast and provided entertainment. Nine members of the school’s “Fiddler on the Roof” cast improvised by playing multiple characters and sang songs from the performance.
“All this great work was simply a means to have rich and meaningful conversations with those on the farm and our Briarwood team members,” Principal Brower said.
On their third day, after the team worshipped with New Life Presbyterian Church, they traveled by boat up the New River to the ancient city of Lamanai to see Mayan ruins.
The group spent a lot of their time at New Life School painting, helping the 250 students with reading tests, working on the playground and running a field day. They also went to the House of Ruth, a safehouse for abused women and children, where they built a concrete wall with a chain link fence above it.
The principal at New Life School had been to Briarwood seven years ago and said she prayed for a team to come work with her school. When this group arrived, it was an answered prayer.
Senior Rebekah Pylant said their schools have similarities, and she enjoyed “being able to help alongside them and be partners with them in making their school a better place.”
Junior Cole Garner said the relationships he made with the kids impacted him most on the trip, and they are one of the main reasons he wants to go back again next year.
Photo courtesy of Shawn Brower.
Briarwood students helped with school activities and projects at New Life School in Belize.
“I got to build relationships with them, talk with them and see what their life is like,” he said. “At the end of day, all the kids were waiting outside for us to play and have fun. That was the hardest part of leaving. When I was there, there was no part of me that wanted to be anywhere else.”
The students said the trip helped them grow not only in their faith, but also provided them with deeper friendships. This was the first mission trip for David Emmons, who said he came out of it seeing things a lot differently.
“Getting to know everyone brought understanding for other people,” he said. “Spending a week with the same people forces you to get to know them in a good way.”
The group hopes to reunite for the same trip next year, even including the seniors who are graduating.
Garner added: “This trip was the best thing I’ve done this year, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Piell said although they were physically exhausted when they came back, they were refreshed and ready to finish out the year strong.
Another group of Briarwood students worked in Panama on Spring Break and a group headed to Guatemala at the end of the school year. For information about Briarwood Missions, visit briarwoodchristianschool.org/missions.