After a month and a half of attempts at convincing her parents to let her go, senior Ashlynn Minshew was informed that she would be taking a mission trip to Haiti the summer before her senior year with an organization called Coreluv, in conjunction with her church.

“When our youth group leaders announced the mission trip for the year, I was so anxious and excited to find out where we would be going,” Ashlynn said. “I honestly knew nothing about Haiti but I wanted to go and experience something outside of life as I knew it.”

Ashylnn eagerly prepared in the time leading up to her trip. In addition to receiving donations from people, she worked at Tutti Frutti to raise money for her trip. As the day of departure got closer, the reality of leaving the country and entering the unknown became more real.

“I’m the type of person who would rather be surprised so I didn’t do much research, I wanted to be shocked,” she said. “I was. We spent out 11 days in Haiti loving on the orphans, the hungry and the poorest of the poor. I was attached almost instantly. I couldn’t even leave the children until the next day I would see them without crying, they had moved my heart in such a way that it’s hard to explain.”

Ashlynn remembers the brokenness she felt upon realizing so many people live without basic necessities such as food, clean water and secure shelter, yet are still so full of joy.

“As our trucks pulled into Myan, the children would stop what they were doing and run after the trucks,” she said. “We would sing and dance together and communicate through my broken Haitian Creole and their broken English.”

In November of her senior year, Ashlynn returned with a small group to decorate bedrooms in a new Myan orphanage. She will also return in the summer.

“I hope to see the children being cared for properly,” she said. “My heart is in Haiti.”

For more information on the Myan Project and to donate, visit Coreluv.org