While most students use spring break for vacations with family and friends, nine Milligan students and one faculty member traveled to Sosnoweic, Poland this spring break to perform service-learning work.
“We do not intend to waltz in and fix problems, nor do we intend to be the saving grace of the people we will be working with,” said Kristen Mudrack, assistant professor of chemistry with a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology. “We are simply the hands and feet of Jesus Christ for this short period of time.”
Milligan students were originally supposed to visit a high school and elementary school, but plans changed due to COVID-19 concerns. The Milligan team still collaborated alongside Polish pastor Daniel Masarczyk’s church who has partnered with Mudrack’s family for almost two decades.
The group mainly served in Pastor Masarczyk’s church by helping with sanding and staining wood, painting, replastering the walls, cleaning and much more.
The “work” performed by the Milligan students was not the average “mission trip,” as the team actively spent some of their time learning about the culture, history and lives of the people they were serving. Auschwitz, the Wieliczka Salt Mine and St. Mary’s Basilica in Krakow were among the historic sites visited to learn some Polish history.
“This trip really opened my eyes to how large God’s Kingdom is and how many different ways we can help. It showed us the beauty of human nature through many different things such as Wieliczka Salt Mine and the evils through our experience at Auschwitz,” said sophomore Holly Lay. “These places show how important it is to understand the fine line between the possibility of great evil and amazing good.”
Regardless of the virus cutting the trip a few good deeds short, the Milligan team still performed their service-learning to the best of their abilities. “I hope that they [those Milligan served] see that Jesus Christ and his love cross borders, and that even though we speak two languages, come from two different cultures and are so different, we serve the same God, and he is good,” said Mudrack.
The next mission trip was planned by Dr. Noah Delong, associate professor of music, but plans have changed. The Heritage mission trip to Bulgaria, scheduled for this summer, has been cancelled due to COVID-19, according to Delong. The trip will hopefully be rescheduled for summer 2021.
Headline photo: The Wieliczka salt mine chapel made entirely out of salt. Mass is held there every Sunday. Photo by Holly Lay.