Right on the front end of all of the drastic changes being made during this COVID-19 pandemic Salt DSM was able to get out and enjoy an incredible spring break trip. 16 students and our 3 staff members loaded up some vans and made the long journey out to Zion National Park in Utah the Friday before spring break! For the next 4 days, we spent so much time hiking to incredible views, building deep relationships with one another, and standing in awe of God and his creation. Last year our staff team made the decision to take a different approach to our spring break trips. In the past, we had sent small numbers of students to future church plant campuses to begin to plant seeds on those universities for the Salt Companies to come. These are incredible trips but we only had a small number of students who would go each year. So this year we decided to take advantage of our size of ministry and plan a trip that would build deep relationships and community within Salt DSM as a momentum builder for the rest of the semester and into next year.
There are few things that get a great conversation going as well as spending hour after hour in a car together. Although it would be easy to view the long treks out to Utah as burdensome and an obstacle in the way of getting to our destination, these were actually some of the best times for people to grow closer together and have intentional conversations. While we were in Zion it was so great to see students loving on one another and encouraging one another through some rather difficult climbs. And finally, the nights at the houses we stayed at were full of some intense games and tons of laughter which are some of the quickest ways to build deep relationships. We are praising God for all the ways he has and will use that trip!
