Summer break provided the opportunity for Oklahoma Christian University students to travel, study and work in different parts of the world.
Junior Caitlin Young traveled to Chimala, Tanzania with three other Oklahoma Christian students— Jenna Puthoff, McKenzi Maples and Bridget White—on a medical mission internship for nursing or pre-med students. They traveled two of the six weeks with Jeff McCormack, dean of the college of natural and health sciences, and his wife, Tina.
“The actual decision to go was very quick, and I did not have any hesitations about going besides the fact I had to trust that God was going to provide the funding for the trip in such a short amount of time, and He did,” Young said. “I did not even ask my parents. I just told them God was calling me to go to Tanzania.”
In Chimala, Young said she found herself performing cervical exams, taking vitals, cleaning wounds, watching C-sections and filling prescriptions, as well as taking care of malnourished infants, going to mobile clinics and playing soccer with school children in different local villages.
“We lived on the mission in the guest house and we worked in the hospital during the week days,” Young said. “We quickly became like family to Cheryl Bode, the full-time missionary in Chimala, and with the hospital staff.”
Young said her favorite experience from her trip was caring for two premature twins, Patrick and Patricia. According to Young, they weighed less than three pounds when they were born.
“Patrick died on August 2 as Bridget and Jenna held his hands and I held his head when he was exactly 14 days old,” Young said. “Patricia is still currently a patient and we are continuing to pray for her and her family. I do not think I have ever poured so much love and energy into anything as much as I did helping take care of the twins. They will always have a special place in my heart.”
Although the trip pushed her outside of her comfort zone, Young said God built her up and filled her heart in the process, causing her to trust Him completely.
“Overall, God taught me how to truly love and care for your neighbor on this trip, and in the process, He blessed me with new friends and a home in Chimala,” Young said. “I have never experienced so much love and joy as I did in Chimala.”
Other Oklahoma Christian students traveled for a mission internship through Global Missions to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Juniors Calli Sullins and Bayley Eckhart worked for two months with 14 interns from Texas, Oklahoma, California and Thailand.
“I have always been passionate about mission work and traveling,” Sullins said. “This was a great mix of the two. What made me want to go was the fact I got to see God’s beauty in a different part of the world in a totally different culture. I loved seeing how even in a Buddhist majority country, Christianity is still present. The Christians there are not afraid of their religion and to be different.”
According to Sullins, she worked in a female juvenile detention center and a children’s home while in Thailand. She said although it was very different from America, it was a blessing to experience it, and she learned she could handle more than she thought.
“This trip definitely pushed me to new limits and made me go outside my comfort zone,” Sullins said. “At my first mountain trip, I slept on a rice mat on the ground with no pillow and bugs crawling all around me. You really had to adapt to your surroundings there, and that was not always easy. The locals there were very minimalistic and it was cool to be submerged into that culture.”
Incoming freshmen had the opportunity to travel abroad to Vienna, Austria and receive class credit for their freshman Bible course during Oklahoma Christian’s First Class program. According to freshmen Logan Henley, 28 freshmen went with four staff members and one trustee during the 10-day trip.
According to Henley, the trip prepared him for his undergraduate studies on campus.
“I am so encouraged to go into Oklahoma Christian having these connections with the students and staff before school starts,” Henley said.
While in Europe, the students received course credit for Life of Christ: Matthew, which Jeff McMillon taught. Additionally, they had a lot of free time to spend in the city.
“We toured world-class museums and cathedrals every day,” Henley said. “We got to experience three festivals. On our last day, a small group of us went to the beach that they had on the river that ran through the city.”
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