Over 115 lives redeemed during Campbellsville University Spring Break

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CAMPBELLSVILLE, KY (05/04/2016)(readMedia)-- Spring break provides rest for students and faculty in the midst of a busy semester. Yet, for many spring breakers at Campbellsville University, it also provides the opportunity to serve on the mission field. From March 11 to March 20, three teams left Campbellsville, Ky. to go to different parts of the country, and the world.

"A group of 13, consisting of CU football coaches, football players, administrators, and other friends, left on March 10 for a week-long trip to minister in four Florida state prisons through softball and at the Orlando Rescue Mission Homeless facility for men in downtown

Orlando," Jim Hardy, assistant athletic director, said.

Over the week, the team played up to six games per day. "The team finished 18-2 and saw 52 men come to know Jesus with eight rededications'," Hardy said.

Also in Florida, a team from Campbellsville University went to Panama City Beach to work with Lifeway's ministry to collegiate spring breakers. Beach Reach ministers to college students on spring break by serving pancake breakfasts, providing van rides, and street evangelism.

During this trip, there were 65 professions of faith.

Another group from CU, had the longest journey, traveling to Neply, Haiti. While there, this team of students and faculty moved a few tons of rock for a house's foundation and constructed three-foot-long bridges. The team built a cabinet facing, 11-feet-long and three-feet-wide. The team also worked with special needs multiple times during the week.

"We assisted with the daily feeding program for around 115 kids," Ed Pavy, director of campus ministries, said.

Pavy said that the team was also involved in a twice-weekly teen ministry, doing laundry by hand for several families, and other light construction projects.

"The work was hard. The days were hot and long. The team was fantastic. The organization we worked with (myLIFEspeaks) did a wonderful job of hosting us and organizing the work we were given. It was a great success all around," Pavy said.

"The trip was eye opening. It was cool to experience God revealing himself to me in a new way," Aaron Smith, CU sophomore, said.

Smith, along with several other students, were a part of the team in Haiti.

"The most remarkable experience I had was with a kid named Blenton. He was my buddy at the orphanage. We were doing a craft. We were supposed to color in a cross with different colors. Once we finished, we wrote our names and then I began to write creole words around the cross. I wrote the word love in Creole. [The word] 'love' translated in Creole is 'Renmen'. He then wrote the word 'love' in English. This just showed me how God could speak even through language barriers," Smith said.

"My ultimate goal was to show Christ's love to those kids. I wanted to be a servant to the people and children of Haiti," Austin Stillwell, CU sophomore and part of the Haiti mission trip, said.

Sharing his most memorable experience, Stillwell said that he loved their translator, Willy. "He was there to help communicate, and the Creole words I learned, I learned from him," Stillwell said. "Willy was almost 50 and had lived in the village his whole life. He knew four different languages: French, English, Creole, and Spanish. He helped us out so much," Stillwell said.

Each team made their way back to Campbellsville, Ky. safely.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 3,500 students offering over 80 programs of study including 24 master's degrees, seven postgraduate areas and eight pre-professional programs. The website for complete information is campbellsville.edu.

CUTLINE: The CU Haiti mission trip team. From left: Back row - Michelet Saget, Ed Pavy, Aaron Smith, Austin Stillwell, Steeley Shacklette, Gabby Jackson, Mitchell Saget and Dylan Johnson. Front row - Stephanie Morgan, Anna Nowicki, Taylor Harvard and Danielle Johnson. Jameel, from myLIFEspeaks, is on the far back left.