Steve Olson spent spring break on Dordt College mission project

2011 Apr 6

Steve Olson of Delavan, Wis., spent spring break in Las Vegas, Nev., while participating in PLIA (Putting Love Into Action), a mission program with Dordt College. Olson is a junior majoring in history.

The goal of PLIA is to share Christ's love with people in diverse communities; to challenge participants to adopt a more service-oriented lifestyle; and to assist and encourage the growth of ministry centers with which they work.

The Las Vegas you see on T.V. is not exactly the same city that the PLIA team encountered. In this desert land they saw a city that was dirty and rundown, where homelessness was far-reaching.

Students noted the images proclaiming sex, wealth, and eternal youth that permeated the city. "Some of the people we worked with are struggling to recover from believing the lies Las Vegas proclaims," said Bjorn Vaagensmith, a Dordt College senior.

They worked at an after-school childcare center, a battered women's shelter, a food shelter, and the Las Vegas Gospel Mission.

This year 135 students from Dordt College spent their spring break serving others. Groups of seven to ten students participated in PLIA, traveling to one of 15 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Teams went to Denver, Colo.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Atlanta, Ga.; Neon, Ky.; New Orleans, La.; Cary, Miss.; Jackson, Miss.; Mendenhall, Miss.; Bozeman, Mont.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Camden, N.J.; Shiprock, N.M.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Ansted, W.Va.; and Toronto, Canada.

To learn about the projects that the other teams participated in, visit www.dordt.edu.