Wheaton College has a long history of sending students around the world in missions and service work. These experiences have been at the initiation if students responding to various needs and crisis around the world. Student Missionary Partners continues this work in organizing trips during the school year and summer!
Spring Break Trips
Spend a week at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison, which houses the state's death row inmates. Come see what daily life in the imprisoned church consists of and have perceptions of prison life challenged and transformed.
- Cost: TBD, including a $50 non-refundable deposit due at sign-up
- Once you sign-up, you are responsible for the full cost of the trip
- Deposit can be paid by credit/debit card or check at time of sign up
- Deposit: $50 non-refundable
Prepare to witness the transformative power of God’s love at His Mansion Ministries, a Christ-centered recovery community for individuals who struggle with addictions, past trauma, mental health, and eating disorders. Students will live, eat, work, and have opportunities to form personal relationships with staff and residents.
- Cost: $450, including a $100 non-refundable deposit due at sign-up
- Once you sign-up, you are responsible for the full cost of the trip
- Deposit can be paid by credit/debit card or check at time of sign up
- Deposit: $100 non-refundable
Explore distinct opportunities each day to serve, build relationships, and learn in a cross-cultural context. Students will meet with local christian organizations who are working in community development in Mexico City and learn about the rich cultural heritage in this historic city.
- Cost: TBD, including a $100 non-refundable deposit due at sign-up
- Once you sign-up, you are responsible for the full cost of the trip
- Deposit can be paid by credit/debit card or check at time of sign up
- Deposit: $100 non-refundable
Work with Chinle Planting Hope, a community development organization in the Navajo Nation. Learn and serve along local Navajo leaders as they work toward strengthening literacy in their community while also establishing a bike shop and thrift store.
Learn more about how this partnership began here!
Summer Trips
Partner organizations GiveDIGNITY and Christ for the City International seek to serve the under-resourced community of La Carpio in San Jose, Costa Rica in strategic ways that empower to break the cycle of poverty through holistic development initiatives that support employment, education and the prevention of violence. Students may be involved in supporting the ministry through assisting in vocational preparation, ESL, adult literacy classes, sports outreach. They may also have the opportunity to come alongside young mothers to assist in providing early childhold stimulation activities for their children aged 0-3. Students need to be conversant in Spanish, as the ministry is very relational and entails a good deal of teaching and counseling in various capacities.
Physical well-being and access to healthcare are essential to a healthy life, particularly in a developing country. Ecuador team members, in partnership with Living and Learning International, will spend a significant amount of time in a community health clinic, observing medical practice in an international setting to gain an understanding of international medicine and medical practices. Being conversant in the Spanish language is a pre-requisite for involvement at this site. There are also opportunities to assist in a micro-business entrepreneurial setting or as a teacher's aid in a small faith-based K-12 school which serves a specific under-resourced community within Quito.
Students on the YHM Mexico team will have the amazing opportunity of traveling for two weeks to both Costa Rica and Panama and then working and living at Warm Heart Community in one of the world's largest metropolises, Mexico City, Mexico. In the midst of the historic and artistic hub of the Coyoacan community, Warm Heart is a safe place to explore more of who you are and who you want to become. At this hostel, guests enjoy doing things together like learning languages, doing art, watching films, playing board games, doing yoga, cooking, and spending time with Mexican nationals and volunteers from around the world. The Warm Heart hosts love to inspire people to use their abilities to serve others. They host events geared towards raising awareness about social issues and helping people explore opportunities to walk alongside those in need. They love to serve faith-based non-profits by designing websites, making videos and supporting their causes in other ways! At this hostel, students will live in community with fellow travelers, help run the cafe, check-in and give tours to visitors, assist in cleaning, and plan special events.
The YHM Spain team will spend the first week of their travel visiting sites and meeting travellers in Spain and Portugal. They will then have the opportunity of walking part of the famous Camino de Santiago, also known as St James’ Way, a wonderful 500 mile trail which has been walked by pilgrims for over 1000 years. They will walk for three weeks with fellow pilgrims, participating in reflection of their own lives as they journey together. For the remainder of their four weeks in Spain, the team will work in The Pilgrim House Welcome Center , a place for pilgrims to find respite from their walk and take time to reflect on their Camino, life, and future. This center offers a safe place to explore and engage the deeper questions concerning the love and mystery of God, life, and our resilient frailty. this time of reflection is sacred and the Welcome Center's purpose is to foster space--physical, mental, and spiritual. Upon arrival to the Pilgrim House, they will be involved in welcoming guests, assisting in cleaning, arranging tours of the city, planning special events, and creating sacred spaces for conversations to develop with pilgrims as they reflect more deeply on the significance of their Camino experience at an internal level.