Deadlines for ACU Missions trips to the Dominican Republic, South Africa and Spain are closing soon and Halbert Center for Missions and Global Services are encouraging students to apply. 

Most applications for ACU missions trips closed in the fall semester, but Global Service trips allows students to sign up in the spring for trips with remaining spots. These trips are short term missions for students and faculty and average two weeks at a time. The average team size is two faculty members and 10 students. 

Three Global Service Trips with remaining availability are: 

• Dominican Republic, to serve with Mana Global Missions (May 30-June 6)
• South Africa, to serve with Kingdom DNA (June 30-July 14)
• Spain, to serve with Oasis Trails. (July 1-14)

“Students say that these mission experiences give them a much more global perspective,” Dodd Roberts, director of the Halbert Center for Missions and Global Services said. “It opens their eyes to things that other people in the world are experiencing and things that God is doing in the world.” 

Besides the Global Service Trips, other types of missions students can participate in include World Wide Missions and programs within a department. World Wide Missions are 8-12 weeks, full summer programs that are offered to all students. Departments offer specific programs to specific majors. These trips are a way to experience a different culture and are a way to help others. 

The Wildcat Academics on a Mission allows students the opportunity to serve while gaining academic credit.  This option is  offered only to departments that have applied and were accepted for the program. Once accepted, the department picks the students through its own application process. Some of these departments that are a part of the program include Engineering and Physics, Speech-language Pathology, Nutrition, School of Social Work, School of Nursing, College of Business Administration and Journalism and Mass Communication. 

“We had a lot of positive feedback from the students,” said Jim Carpenter, chair of the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science. “I have not had a single student say that they regretted going.” 

Each trips has different applications that can be found on the website. The option that is available this semester is the Global Service trips, but time is closing to sign up. The Halbert Center is encouraging students to sign up as soon as they can for their applications to be reviewed.