Last Summer seemed to be a milestone for sophomore Tommy Anderson as it marked his first mission trip; however, it definitely won’t be his last.

Over the Summer, Tommy had been hard at work in the small island country of Haiti. He went with a few fellow FHC students determined to make a difference for the quaint island and its people. His time in Haiti was spent working on a trade school and participating in a medical brigade where he got to diagnose people and hand out medications with the aid of medical professionals.

“I didn’t know [much] since I hadn’t gone on other mission trips, but it was apparently very hard compared to the other ones,” Tommy said.

The difficulty of the trip had not only been because of the task that was at hand, but also because it was the group’s first trip to Haiti in general. The trip had been organized by his sister and the organization the group was working through. Nonetheless, Tommy and the rest of the group got to work, and he’s glad he got the opportunity to do so.

“It was really cool to see all of the people [in Haiti] and how they live with what they have,” Tommy said.

This coming Summer, Tommy will be headed back to Haiti to continue the work on the trade school as they didn’t have the time to finish the project last year. While uncertain whether or not the school will be finished by the end of this up and coming trip, the group is intent on getting as much done as possible.

However, Tommy wouldn’t have participated in the mission trip to Haiti if not for his older sister. Tommy’s sister started going on mission trips with GLA and had gotten close with some of the people higher seated in the organization. GLA works with another group called Seven Elements, and through them, his sister got to know the owner and was able to organize the Haiti trip. She has been on at least six mission trips thus far and just recently went to Belize for a trip over spring break.

Outside of mission trips, Tommy enjoys spending his breaks traveling with family (such as his trip to Ireland over spring break). During his visit, he had taken in the welcoming and free-spirited atmosphere as the country was littered with small pubs and different forms of nature like cliffs and other formations like the Giant’s Causeway.

“[The Giant’s Causeway] is really cool actually,” Tommy said. “They had all of these tall tales about how they were formed.”

In the future, Tommy plans to travel and do more mission trips when he gets the chance. He had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Thailand last year and is still interested in going at some point. Sometime in the future, Tommy wishes to travel to Mount Kilimanjaro – the incentive to make the journey there coming from his sister having gone on a mission trip to Tanzania in the past.

“I just want to see the world, all the cultures besides ours, and the differences between them all,” Tommy said.