Cedars, September 2018

to the combination of Christians, Hindus, and other religious views in her audience. “We strove to be as respectful as possi- ble when presenting,” said O’Brien, “being sure that we would clearly explain the bib- lical examples included with the leadership principles themselves, but never in a way that would imply we looked down on them for their differing beliefs.” O’Brien also found the trip valuable for exposing her to the way business is practiced differently in different societies, opening her eyes to how her field of study might be adapted depending on the culture in which it is practiced. “In the US there is one cashier for check- out, whereas in India there are six or seven people doing an elongated process of the same job,” said O’Brien. “Also, respect is viewed as mandatory in India, which makes the process for an employee getting information to and from their supervisor a long process.” Abigail Krakora, a junior theatre per- formance major who went to Malaysia with Mellinger, had a similar experience when it came to theater. “The thing that surprised me is that there’s not a lot of opportunities to do the- ater in other places of the world,” said Krako- ra. “So in America, we just have community theaters everywhere, and they have none. So they have their high school drama and then they have street performance, which is a completely, completely different everything. So that was pretty interesting, to just see how the rest of the world does theater — or how sometimes they simply don’t.” While students were able to experi- ence new cultures, gain experience in their professions, and pass on their skills to oth- ers, the ultimate goal of these trips never left their minds: to serve the Lord with the unique abilities and opportunities He gave to them, and to be faithful to the call of the gospel. Jared Klimek, a senior engineering major who installed water pumps in Boliv- ia, described how the experience opened his eyes to what long-term missions might actually look like, despite only being in the country for 12 days. “My favorite part of the trip was see- ing what being a missionary would be like,” Klimek said. “The missionary we were with intentionally gave us opportunities to do things that he did when he was first becom- ing a missionary, even just going out and buying food at the store even though you don’t really know too well how to speak the language. You have to just kind of figure it out. So that was really eye-opening and something that I’ve never experienced that much on a mission trip before.” Global Outreach will have information tables for spring break trips in the upper SSC from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, and Wednesday, Oct. 3. Students are welcome to apply online at any time. Breanna Beers is a sophomore molecular and cellular biology major and an off-cam- pus news editor for Cedars. She loves ex- ercising curiosity, hiking new trails and quoting “The Princess Bride” whether it’s relevant or not. September 2018 9 COVER STORY Photo provided by Global Outreach Abigail Krakora (left) and Ahna Mellinger (right) instruct students in Malaysia in various aspects of theatre, including dance and stage combat. Photo provided by Global Outreach Jared Klimek (right) and other students help install a water pump in Bolivia.