Features

Mission Trip combines helping others and growing spiritually

Nicole Joerger
September 20, 2013

“Helping others is the most rewarding thing that can be done, and I was extremely humbled this summer to donate my time to people who were in desperate need of love,” Annie Roethe, junior said. Forty-three West Linn students went on the mission trip to San Francisco June 30-July 6, which was sponsored by Willamette Church.

Along with the students was Emma Dean, sophomore. “I had just seen so many crazy things happening and saw God working in so many ways that I had never seen before and it made me want to take my faith further,” Dean said.

“Just seeing so many things that I’ve heard about, in person was really weird. You would see people smoking crack or prostitutes getting into pimps cars or guys passed out drunk on the sidewalk,” Dean said. “Those things had just become a reality check to me.”

The trip was a great way to help the students realize what life can be like for addicts. The trip also “really made it clear to me how important it is to tell everyone about the gospel, and it made talking about it to people much easier,” Connor Gardner, junior said. “It makes you realize how much you take for granted and makes you appreciate everything so much more,” Dean added.

“We were serving from dusk till dawn, but the glorious part of it was that I was forced to rely only on God’s strength, as much as I wanted to rely on my own. It forced me to lean on God which was a challenge for me,” Gardner said.

Most high school students that went on this trip are actively involved with the Willamette Church as well as Young Life. Roethe Dean and Gardner all lead middle school youth groups as well as help out in the kitchen occasionally.

“Overall, it was a highlight of my summer, and I would encourage anybody to go on a week of service, or even go to club on Monday nights and/or Wednesday night youth group at the church,” Roethe said.

Donate to wlhsNOW

$1030

$2000

Contributed

Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of West Linn High School. Your contribution will allow us to continue to produce quality content by purchasing equipment, software, and continuing to host our website on School Newspapers Online (SNO). Additionally, donations will go towards paying for the physical editions of our Amplifier. Donations of $20 dollars (as of Oct. 15, 2025) or more will receive a subscription to our Amplifier, which will be mailed to the donator's address (donations made with the intention of purchasing a subscription CANNOT be anonymous).

About the Contributor

Nicole Joerger, Co-Editor-in-Chief

If you asked Nicole Joerger, senior, what her greatest passion in life was a few months ago, the answer might have been simpler. For Joerger, dance was her life — often practicing more than five hours every day, barely finding time to squeeze in homework, friends and journalism. However this year, she is taking a break from dance and looking at life through a new perspective. “My parents told me that if I didn’t dance this year they would pay for my car insurance,” Joerger said. “So that was a way for me to save money. Also I’m taking AP classes, plus Amplifier, so I thought it would be good to have more free time.” Finding just what to do with that free time is proving a little more difficult. Coming home without a full schedule is a foreign feeling for Joerger. “It’s definitely strange to be able to sit down and just chill after school.” That doesn’t mean she plans on relaxing her senior year away. As Co-editor-in-chief of the Amplifier, her plate is still full. Joerger has a long list of improvements and plans for the publication that she hopes to implement this year. “I’ve learned a lot, and I want to put my ideas into place. I definitely want to be stricter with deadlines this year and stay organized,” she said. Last year, Joerger unofficially took on a leadership position in the class, and discovered she enjoyed it. Over the summer, Joerger spent hours creating spreadsheets, plans and story ideas for the Amplifier to use in the fall. “It just kind of happened naturally,” Joerger said. “I wanted to have better organization so I sort of took the issue into my own hands, and I found I really liked having a bigger role in class.” Maybe that’s because it reminds Joerger of her future career aspirations as a teacher. Spending time with her little niece and nephew reinforces how much she wants to teach elementary school. “They have such positive outlooks on life. They’re always smiling and are never stressed, which is a quality I admire,” she said. No matter her focus in life, Joerger makes it seem easy. Even without ballet, leading a class, while keeping focused on the future, is no easy task. But after eleven years of dancing, Joerger has learned to balance her responsibilities with grace.