ESCANABA – A group of Northern Michigan University Students are spending their Spring break on a mission trip to Honduras. It is part of the U.P. Friends of Honduras program that takes groups to Honduras every year.

Ellyn Oswald of BarkRiver went a trip two years ago and wanted her friends and others at NMU to have a similar experience.

“I had a wonderful experience and I wanted my friends to experience it too. So, when my family started talking about going again I approached all of my friends and asked them if they were interested,” Ellyn said.

The group will spend ten days helping to build a church at a small town up in the mountains. Organizer Bonnie Wenick-Kutz says they are building a church because that is what the community wanted to build next.

“They talked about a church, that they would really like a church. We were just coming off a real high of building a children’s soup kitchen so we felt we were all powerful and could do anything so we said ‘we’ll help.’ So that’s how it started,” she said.

Ellyn is also going with her two brothers, Eli and Zeke. Eli went with Ellyn two years and found the little children in the village played soccer better than he could, so this time he is ready.

“I have about 25 soccer balls that I have gathered,” Eli said. “I’m excited about giving those out.”

The group left Wednesday for a flight out of Chicago.

A second group of area high school students and adults will make another 10-day mission trip to Honduras on March 26. To learn more about the mission trips, go to upfriendsofhonduras.org.