Most students go on summer vacations to spend time with family and explore different places. Senior Laura Earlenbaugh went to Nicaragua with her church for a mission trip to help the less fortunate. She was inspired to go on this trip to change someones life. She first got interested in going on this trip when she heard stories from people who had been before.

“I had just heard from my friends and my cousin, who had been to Nicaragua before, and they told me stories about their trips. It seemed like such a cool experience,” Earlenbaugh said.

Earlenbaugh traveled with 40 other kids from Lenexa Baptist Church, and she was on the trip for a week and completed a multitude of mission projects. While there, Earlenbaugh was assigned to build a house for a family that included a mom, dad, ten-year-old girl and four-month-old girl.

“The main thing we were doing was working in the village and building houses for the people there,” Earlenbaugh said.

According to Earlenbaugh, the hardest thing she experienced was trying to communicate with the people there. Earlenbaugh has taken two years of Spanish, but it did not help her communicate with locals.

“It’s surprising how you can communicate with people by not being able to speak their language. It was a great experience,” Earlenbaugh said.

Earlenbaugh said her favorite part of the trip was being able to spend time with the family and help them. She hopes that someday she will be able to go back.

“It was incredible to see the joy in the people there, despite how little they have. God really showed Himself in that way,” Earlenbaugh said. “It was an incredible experience.”