By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

While Hillsboro High School students are on spring break, 16 HHS students are on a special trip. They are doing missionary work in inner-city Dallas with Cornerstone Baptist Church.

Hillsboro Mennonite Brethren Church also organized a mission trip last year, youth pastor Paul Raugust said. That stint was mostly project-oriented, but this year the students are doing more with outreach and relationships. The purpose of the trip is to aid and minister to the community.

The youths hosted a Bible camp for up to 80 first through eighth graders, he said. They also were scheduled to paint and remodel homes for the elderly and disabled.

The schedule was subject to change. Raugust learned in 2008 flexibility is important, because needs in the community can change overnight.

Emma Heyen and Hayley Pankratz are among the students returning for a second week of service. They said the 2008 trip gave them better insight on how people live elsewhere.

“We don’t see the inner city in Hillsboro,” Pankratz said.

Both are excited to go back to Dallas.

“I’m looking forward to working with kids this year,” Heyen said.

Cornerstone Baptist Church is active in inner-city Dallas, Raugust said. The church operates a kitchen for the homeless in what was previously a liquor store and haven for drug dealers.

Students on the trip are Emma Heyen, Elise Heyen, Daniel Jost, Daniel Dick, Ishmael Morris, Tyler Lofton, Ben Gottsch, Franny Gottsch, Candace Weinbrenner, Krista Reimer, Hayley Pankratz, Nicholas Ediger, Taylor Nikkel, Benjamin Reiswig, Jarod Hamm, and Jake Wiebe.

Raugust and adult leaders Clyde Jost and Sharon Jost are accompanying them.

The group left at 6:15 a.m. Saturday and are scheduled to return late today (Wednesday).