Students Serve in British Columbia

By Amber Ginter ‘19

When three Ohio Christian University students first considered summer job plans, traveling to British Columbia, Canada, to work at Malibu Club, a Young Life Youth Camp, wasn’t on their radar. 

Boarding the flight across the continent, senior Amber Ginter and sophomores Liam Benson and Benjamin Johnson took a leap of faith to see what God had in store for them. Completing 2,650 miles of airplane, ferry, and car travel, the students arrived at Malibu Club situated on the bank of a remote British Columbia island. Choosing to serve high school juniors and seniors for a week, they undertook strenuous labors far beyond what they could have imagined.

Exhausted upon arrival after a ten-hour ride and no sleep, all three students jumped into a day of various tasks and constant serving. Working in the bakery serving 500 students a day, three times a day, made Ginter feel as she’d never had before. 

Benson and Johnson had never thought of making a long journey with people they didn’t know. Not close friends before the trip, both were surprised how God orchestrated the trip before they knew it was possible. At the camp, they were assigned to support the daily camp garbage collection and cleanup to maintain the camp’s required healthful operation. Malibu Club is on a self-sustaining island.  All camp trash must be sorted, burned, and sent into the bottom of the sea to preserve the area. 

Back on Ohio Christian’s main campus now, the three feel their summer experience was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.  Never having been outside Ohio before, Johnson feels this summer adventure opened the door for him to enlist in future missions. As he says, “This trip stretched my faith and made me stand in awe of what God has done and is still doing."