Trip to Thailand gave Skagit Adventist senior a new outlook
The past two months had a big impact in Jenny Milchenko’s life.
After a mission trip to the Thailand-Burma border about a month ago, the Skagit Adventist School senior decided that she wants to do something with her life to make a difference. So next year at Walla Walla University, Milchenko will study to work in the medical outreach field. She also hopes to minor in communication and Spanish.
“(On the mission), I expected to see kids with frowning faces,” said Milchenko, who traveled with about 20 other students from the school. “All of them had smiles on their faces. They did more for me than they’ll ever know.”
Milchenko, Skagit Adventist’s valedictorian, will graduate with her nine classmates Sunday afternoon at the school. About 40 high school students attend the private school in Burlington.
Per the school’s curriculum, students take a mission trip to different parts of the world each year. The high schoolers receive a choice of where they can go, and this year’s participants chose Thailand over Africa, Milchenko said.
Milchenko has also been to Mexico and New Orleans during her high school career. Last year, the school wasn’t able to make a trip work, she said.
But neither mission compared to her trip to southeast Asia, she said.
During her 10-day excursion, Milchenko and her classmates primarily helped construct a restroom at a small school in Thailand. In the school, designed for about 60-70 students, there was only one toilet.
But students also had a chance to discuss worship practices with students, and observed the daily lives of area residents.
The Skagit students slept on the bamboo floor under the library, she said, usually in 75 degree or higher temperatures.
“I slept good because we worked really hard,” Milchenko said.
Milchenko said the mission helped her understand what God’s purpose was for her — to help those in need receive medical attention.
“It made you look at things differently at home,” Milchenko said. “It sounds cliché, but I feel really thankful for what I have. It’s really opened my eyes.”
