“If we spend all of our time talking, and trying to get our message across, then we have no time to see where others are coming from.  I think that this is something that Evangelical Christians, especially in America, lose sight of.  We are so consumed with saving the world that we do not listen to the world.”
~ Michaela O'Donnell, (Trinidad)


“My 15 weeks in the Hispanic culture was indescribable...  I had a lot of fun and learned as much as I could, but also found myself.  Yes, it contained some of the hardest challenges I have ever faced, but I would never take back any of my experience.  I went to Costa Rica with the hope of learning Spanish, going to the beach, and having fun; but I came back a different person.  I participated in a once in a lifetime opportunity that has honestly changed who I am, and showed me all that I can accomplish.”
~ Cara Spata, (Costa Rica)

“The time that I spent in Italy is definitely a major highlight of my life thus far.  My perspective of my own country and the world has changed greatly through this experience...  I am already looking for another opportunity to journey to a distant region of the earth and immerse myself in a different culture.  It has been a highly beneficial experience that I feel is imperative to all students.”
~ Joshua Hubbard, (Individually Arranged Study, Italy)


“My cross-cultural trips at Lee have had a dramatic impact on my life.  They have given me the opportunity to see the world from a completely new vantage point, to examine what I held to be true, to explore how these truths translate into other cultures, and to forge all these ideas together...  My experiences resulted in a deeper understanding of God and aspects of this nature that American Evangelical culture tends to neglect.”
~ Ann Pickens, (Cambridge, Ireland, Ghana)


“I saw myself getting irritated and tired of making hand motions and looking up in my pad of paper how to say something.  Culture shock is real...  I believe that I learned more being in Italy than I could have ever learned out of a book.  God is never ending when it comes to his glories.  Thank you for letting me have this experience.”
~ Lindsey Calhoun, (Individually Arranged Study, Italy)

"My trip to Hogar Agape…was life changing in so many different ways. As I look back, I’ll honestly tell you I left half of my heart in Nicaragua and at the orphanage. The relationships that you build with the children, who have without question experienced more tragedy and helplessness than any of us here probably ever will, is something that I will look back on as a moment that redefined my faith, how I view this world, and how I view the underprivileged.

Yet, the people are …thankful for so much less. They are so humble and respectful to everyone they meet. The children at the orphanage were the most well behaved, cheerful, and grateful children I have ever met. We also had the chance to give them their Christmas for the year,…backpacks filled with clothes, shoes, soccer balls and many other things. We brought them more than just gifts, which they were thankful for, but the chance to ride on someone’s shoulders or hug them, or to just look us in the eye was all they needed.

The final life-changing experience for me was saved until the final full day of our trip. We were taken to the city dump La Chureca in Managua to get our first view of what life in Poverty was really like. A place, or better yet, the home to over 4,000 native Nicaraguans who have never known anything else. The majority of people here were second and third generation to call La Chureca home. They were born into it, and most likely will die in it. It was the most disturbing and horrifying thing I have ever witnessed…. As we drove down the street you could hardly see one hundred yards in the distance because there was so much haze and smoke from the fires and dust the swarmed the air. There were animals malnourished and left alone to die, and children playing in the mud that will most likely be their bed that night.

I have tried to explain it time and time again to everyone who asks, but I can never find the words. Perhaps there are no words? You must experience it for yourself for it is something you will never see in the United States, a country that has everything in luxury."
~ Jared Barnes, (Nicaragua)