BSM offers a Guatemala mission trip for students to go on during the summer. The trip is July 12-27, 2022. Students get to build homes for people who don’t have one and get to go sightseeing.

Students choose to go on a trip to Guatemala where they get see a new culture, and will spend four days in construction building a home. Students will also get to go sightseeing. “We have several excursions where the students can experience the beautiful sights and the beautiful people of Guatemala,” trip coordinator Megan Hansen said.

The trip doesn’t really have a limit on the amount of people able to go. They only have a limit on the number of people on the plane but BSM has never run into that problem before. While in Guatemala, students stay in a hotel during the weekend when they go sightseeing but other than that they stay with host families. “We only stay in a hotel over the weekend when we go on the sightseeing trip and otherwise we stay with middle class families’ homes – nice homes that have security, running water and electricity,” Hansen said.

Students who are not able to speak Spanish are still able to go on the trip. There will either be a teacher or student who can speak Spanish in each group to help guide the ones who don’t speak Spanish. Whether you can speak Spanish fluently or can’t speak it at all, you can still have a good time on the trip. “My favorite thing about going on the trip is the students with the little kids that are on site, and seeing them practice their Spanish skill and realizing that they know more than they think they do,” Hansen said.

The Guatemala trip will be a life-changing experience for anyone going. They will be able to see many different sites and a new culture. Students will also be able to work with families that have a low income. Students also see that these families that come from low income also have a commonality with us. “It is a service trip and we hope it plants a seed of service that grows within the students and builds upon their desire to serve others in their community and beyond,” Hansen said.

The trip hasn’t happened since COVID-19 struck so it will be a little different this year. Everyone will be required to get tested before they leave for the trip and come back from the trip. There are other teams already over there, and they are able to help build homes and sightsee. “The trip should go on as planned and then if a student gets COVID over there, one of the chaperones would stay back with them for whatever the quarantine period is at that point,” Hansen said.