TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa woman has taken young people on weeklong service trips to places like Haiti and Ethiopia for decades.

The Rev. Kathy Conner says the trips are not only a blessing to the people they visit, but to the young people who go on them as well. The mission trips are part of the international Young Life organization.

What You Need To Know

  • The Rev. Kathy Conner of First Presbyterian Church of Tampa has taken young people on mission trips to foreign countries for decades

  • The trips are part of the international Young Life organization

  • The most recent trip was to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa

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On a recent evening at First Presbyterian Church in Tampa, Connor and more than a dozen teenagers, young adults and older adults were packing supplies for a visit to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.

The supplies that will be shared with the children and teenagers overseas and included books, clothes, soccer balls and arts and crafts supplies, among other things.

The mission trips are part of the international Young Life organization.

The group planned to visit children in an orphanage, and teenagers who will be invited to a short summer camp.

“We are going to bring supplies to make their weekend more comfortable," Conner said. "We are going to serve their meals. Clean up before and after them. Anything we can to communicate the love of God."

Conner said the trips give the young people a better perspective of the rest of the world and other cultures. The goal of the trip members is to be a blessing to the people in Ethiopia.

“We are excited, because at every level everyone is excited to give themselves away. To serve God in a meaningful way,” said Conner. “To be his hands and feet in Africa.”

Conner provided Spectrum Bay News 9 with videos and pictures of group members singing with children in an orphanage, playing games with the orphans and working on arts and crafts projects. She said everyone had a wonderful experience.

She gave an example of an Ethiopian woman performing a coffee ceremony for her group. “She was serving us with such sacrificial generosity. It would be like me treating 50 people to a night at Burns and carte blanche whatever you want.”

The group even met with inmates at a prison that included many young people. “Even though we were in hard places that brought tears, in those same places there was joy and humor,” she said.