McKelvie McMurry

#10 What about this service experience is different than the service we do on the team at home?

The difference between doing service work at home versus in Iceland was that we were all together, we all shared the same experiences, and we could talk about it that night at dinner. Not everyone back at home helped set up the Island Park lights for Christmas, but everyone had something to do with building fences at the petting zoo or cleaning at the church, and because of this, the team was able to forge deep connections that will only continue to grow as we spend more time together on the team. At dinner we were able to talk about what went well and what didn’t, our favorite parts of the day and what we wished we could have avoided. Dinners with the team were some of my favorite moments of the whole trip. I feel like I learned more about everyone on the trip during the two weeks we spent in Iceland than I had during the entire school year. There was also a difference in the work because at home I might actually get to use what I’m fixing or cleaning, and if not it still betters my community and makes it look nicer, but abroad, none of that happens. I will probably never see Daladyrd or the Blue Church ever again, but that didn’t matter. I was working toward something I will never get the benefit of using, and that is maybe even more important because I was working to serve others, not myself.Read more