BC Students Serve on Missions during Spring Break
Students in Bluefield Collegiate Ministries (BCM) took advantage of their Spring Break from classes and study to serve on missions abroad in Ecuador and Spain.
One group traveled to serve in Quito, Ecuador, while a second team spent a week in service in Madrid, Spain. The Spain team consisted of five Bluefield College female students, led by Dr. Henry Clary, BC’s director of spiritual formation and missions. The Ecuador group included nine BC students, led by Jacob Sharkey, BC’s male residence hall director.
The purpose of the trip to Madrid was to share the gospel and to help missionaries living there with church planting. BC students had traveled to Quito in 2019 and were returning this year to serve at For His Children (FHC), a children’s orphanage.
“My favorite part of the trip was definitely loving on the kids,” said Cameron Gasperson, a BC elementary and special education major who has actually served at For His Children three times this year. “Every single time that I go back, I fall more and more in love with the kids, staff, country and organization there.”
Gasperson said one of her favorite memories from the trip was when one of the little girls from FHC grabbed her hand and wanted to walk with her. Even though the young girl was non-verbal, Gasperson said she still sent a message to her heart.
“As we were walking, I began to pray over her as she showed me around the campus,” Gasperson said. “While I was praying, Jesus so clearly began telling me how much He loves her. I had never felt so close to the heart of Jesus in my life. I thought I was going to burst into tears because His love for us is so unfathomable and immeasurable.”
Gasperson added that Jesus not only let her know of His love for the child, but also for her, as well.
“I started bawling while we walked,” she said. “It was one of the most precious times that I had ever had with the Father.”
As part of its mission, the Spain team visited with university students and helped local missionaries already serving in Madrid. Their days consisted of traveling through the city, either walking or riding the metro, while praying for the country as a whole. One afternoon, the team visited a start-up church in the city where they prayed over the location with the missionaries in hopes of transforming the lives of people who would walk into the space.
BC senior Emily Carlisle was one of the five students who traveled to Madrid. She said she was slightly nervous before the trip because she was used to working with kids when it came to missions, but working with people her own age was a completely different experience.
“Throughout the week of working with college students, I kept thinking this is great, but maybe my calling really is to work with kids,” Carlisle said. “The last night we had the opportunity to pray over the church building they found. During the prayer, the Holy Spirit spoke to me to pray over the kids’ ministry.”
Carlisle said she began weeping after she was compelled to stretch out her hands in the church. She heard the Holy Spirit say there is a huge calling on the kids who will be coming from that church.
“The Holy Spirit showed me the similarities to that church and the one where I got saved,” Carlisle said. “He showed me the joy of those kids and how they will lead people closer to His heart.”
The week following Spring Break, members of both teams were able to share testimonies from their experiences with other BC students during a weekly chapel service. They spoke about the joy they received and also encouraged students to participate in missions abroad. They challenged students to take a leap of faith and to be a part of a future BC mission trip.