Spreading the faith in Jamaica

The InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of Youngstown has chosen three of its Youngstown State University student members to go on a weeklong mission trip to Jamaica.

Members will leave Saturday morning and will stay on a Jamaican college campus. During the trip, students will write about the local culture and will practice Christian principles.

Carinda Mickens, president of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of Youngstown, is one of the students going on the trip.

“The purpose is a missions trip. We will be sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with those students,” she said. “And we will be living with them and praying for them.”

Mickens added that the group will be enlightening the local people about the Christian faith.

The group will be lead by Dan Geogerian, a campus minister at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for undergraduate student ministry at Hiram College, Marietta College and YSU. The cost for the trip is $1,500 per person.

Kadrian Hinton, another YSU member who is going on the trip, said she was thankful for this opportunity.

“I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to fellowship and evangelize with other students across the world. This trip is confirmation that the God we serve is so great,” she said.

Her motivation for the trip is to spread the word of God, but she is especially excited for one specific reason.

“I think I’m most excited to get ministered to rather than ministering to others. I’m eager to see how God uses us in Jamaica,” she said. “I am eager to learn from the students there and have the chance to share as well.”

Aaron Hughes-Ware, the third student going on the trip, also expressed his excitement for the mission trip.

“I cannot wait to see how God will work during this trip,” he said.

Kortney Opencar, a second-year student at YSU, said she thinks it is great that a group from YSU is doing something this prestigious.

“It would encourage others [to] join groups like this to expand their horizons,” she said. “Traveling to Jamaica would be a great opportunity, and even getting a small chance of being able to help the world speaks for itself. It’s simply wonderful.”

Opencar said she would also like to see the world one day. “Programs that follow the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s example make me want to become a part of something that big,” she said.