Garcia family
Garcia has a heart for servitude, as she has gone on several missions trips to the Dominican Republic.
Natalie Garcia, ‘26, sits outside a classroom with more than a dozen kids who are part of the Students International education program in Los Higos, Dominican Republic. After a long day of activities, a breeze rushes past her. She feels refreshed as kids erupt in laughter around her. A staff person snaps a picture, capturing bright smiles and Garcia’s love for the kids smushed around her.
For the past four years, Garcia has dedicated herself to serving the people of the Dominican Republic. Garcia has attended The Well Community Church for most of her life, taking part in youth life activities. On the trip Garcia participated in children’s ministry and a community clinic.
“I feel like just being able to make relationships the first year and being able to meet with those people year after year was one of the coolest parts was just being able to be like ‘I met you last summer’ and they still remember who we were,” Garcia said.
About 29% of teens across the nation sacrifice time and the comfort of home to serve others in need. In the summer of 2025, hundreds of teens dedicated themselves to volunteering their time to leave their homes to minister in other countries. Team members begin preparing months before the trip, dedicating time to fundraisers, team meetings, applying for passports and team bonding while practicing sharing their testimonies and learning worship songs in different languages.
Students learn the importance of stepping out of their comfort zone. Sometimes they are asked to speak at church events or to pray over people, and they are asked to spread love to a place where poverty and sorrows impact the community.
Bullard High School senior Matthew Becerra traveled to Panama with People’s Church. His group participated in food distribution, sharing children’s Bible stories and doing crafts with kids in the community.
Becerra is moved by the lives he and his teammates were able to affect and impact in Panama.
“And the seed planted is a constant reminder of [God’s] love that was taken to Panama. Many teens gave their life to Christ and the kids we taught are excited to learn more about God,” Becerra said.
Becerra gave his life to the Lord in 2024; his walk is loud and proud as he models for a local Christian clothing brand and participates in teaching classes on Sundays to high schoolers about finding their calling and pursuing it. On his mission trip, he shared his testimony with people as he delivered groceries to families and on the stage to a room full of pastors and teens. With the help of his youth pastor, Marcus Marshall, Becerra fully steps into a calling of becoming a pastor.
While mission trips are designed to serve the community, time and time again those who serve learn and are changed as well. Mission trips can impact everyone: people find their callings, prayers are answered and students are often reunited with the spirit of God.
Marshall has been a pastor at People’s Church for five years. His teachings and ministry focus on not just loving Jesus, but also using that love to reach others in the community, nation and world.
When on mission trips, Marshall highlights the importance of alone time with Christ by making time for early morning worship and prayer as well as circling back to these at the end of the night with students on the trip. Marshall focuses on the value of not just what is spiritually happening in the community “but what’s happening in you.”
Marshall desires for teens to grow in spiritual maturity through mission trips. Teens are able to build character qualities as they experience the impact of missions.Students often grow hearts of grace and mercy.
Rachel Garcia, ‘27, joined her sister Natalie Garcia in the Dominican Republic this past summer. She shared her love for volleyball and Jesus with the kids at Jarabacoa. It excites her every time the kids return to the camp with smiles all over their faces, eager to take part in volleyball camp.
One thing that made a big impact on Garcia was the welcoming hearts of the Dominicans. She remembers that even when days were long and tough, the people she worked with never ceased to put a smile on her face.
“I definitely got tired, but I didn’t get tired of [serving],” Garcia said. “Because you don’t need to speak the same language to have fun.”
With serving comes sacrifice; teens are constantly sacrificing their comfort, time and energy during these trips. With early mornings and late nights, teens often experience burnout on these trips, feeling physically and mentally drained. When feeling the weight of serving, Rachel Garcia turns to journaling.
“I make sure I’m keeping my heart in the center of why I’m here and not making it about myself,” Rachel Garcia said.
She writes her highs and lows of the day in her journal and ends in prayer to keep the people of the Dominican Republic as her focus. One highlight was when one of the little girls, who wasn’t part of the volleyball camp, came up to her and gave her a bracelet to keep. Garcia remembers the swelling her heart felt as she understood the weight of this gift. That bracelet represented the impact she had among the children there.
Although these trips include challenges, students often learn more about God, themselves and their peers as they deal with those obstacles.
“I think about a deeper relationship with [God], realizing that I don’t need the perfect lifestyle or everything put perfectly in place in order to trust him in his plan,” Natalie Garcia said. “I feel like I’ve been more willing to trust him, and I see him in the smaller things too.”
One tradition for the team in the Dominican Republic is traveling to see the Baiguate Salto Waterfall. Returning there is like a full circle moment for Garcia. This is the trail she’s walked multiple times now. The sound of the crashing waterfall echoes around her. Everyone rushes to plunge in and splash around. She carries the snapshot in her mind of the joyful smiles of her teammates and the beauty in the forest. Natalie Garcia, who hopes to pursue a career in missions one day, will remember the people and the places where she served.
To read more from The Feather, visit Senior Tayla Tarlton crowned Caruthers Fair Queen or Leadership Column: Leading with a servant’s heart