Every year, Dr. Shawn Daggett, director for the Center of World Missions, takes his New Testament and missions classes on a trip to Boston, Massachusetts, to learn from the missionaries who have spread the gospel to many nations.

“When my students go on this trip, I want the history of missions to come alive and become a first-hand experience,” Daggett said. “My hope is also for students to be able to picture themselves living in an area of the United States like New England where they can use their help to plant new churches or encourage existing churches.”

Daggett said it is an inspirational opportunity when the students get to stay in the homes of New England Christians.

“The students can experience the joy of developing relationships with them through worshipping and long conversations into the late hours of the night,” Daggett said.

In the first six to seven weeks of class, the students read, discuss and discover the stories of the first U.S. missionaries, and then they have the opportunity to explore first-hand the places they lived and worked.

Senior Haley Shearer was a student in Daggett’s class and attended the trip to Boston last year.

“I learned a lot about the importance of missions and the different roles that people can play in missions — both on and away from the mission field,” Shearer said. “The missionaries were no longer just names in a textbook but were pioneers in God’s kingdom that deeply influenced the missions we participate in today.”

Shearer said she enjoyed being able to get out of the classroom, and the trip contributed to the implementation of what they had read from the book and learned in the classroom.

“The trip made things very real. We had learned a lot about different people and places before the trip, but getting to see some of what we learned in person was immensely helpful,” Shearer said.

Senior Ashley Graber also attended the Boston trip.

“Being able to stand at the locations of the start of many big mission movements [was] very powerful,” Graber said. “It made me realize that God can accomplish anything through any person who is willing, and that we truly are just vessels pouring into other vessels.”

Graber also appreciated the one-on-one time she was able to spend with the Bible professors who attended the trip.

“That’s something you don’t get many opportunities to do,” Graber said. “They are all incredible examples and role models to me, and being encouraged by them was something I won’t forget.”