Alumna to travel to Chile for missionary work

---

Tweet

Since her lease ended more than three weeks ago, Mallory Hines has been living out of her car and staying with friends.

The MSU alumna and Lowell, Mich., native is working at a local café until her Sept. 24 departure to Santiago, Chile, where she will spend the next five months participating in outreach events and earthquake-relief work through Youth With A Mission, or YWAM.

YWAM is an international volunteer and missionary training organization.

“I didn’t want to go straight into the workplace,” said Hines, who walked at graduation in May and completed a final internship this summer.

“I wanted to add something to my résumé that would put me ahead of the other people that would be graduating (who) are my same age.”

Equipped with a pillow and a bag with some clothes in her trunk, Hines plans to relocate for the next couple of weeks until she embarks on a trip that she has been anticipating for more than a year.

Hines is the only person going to YWAM’s Santiago base who is a native English speaker, but she said she is thrilled to be leaving after applying in September 2009.

Entering MSU with 16 Advanced Placement credits as a freshman spurred Hines to enroll in classes during the summer and graduate with her degree in three years.

“I was ready to be done the first day of classes freshman year,” she said.

Hines said she loved that college allowed her to meet people she could relate to, but hated school, classes and the homework — all responsibilities she fulfilled out of obligation.

“I’m excited to get a break — I’m really burned out on school,” Hines said. “I just need to go away and focus on something I enjoy doing and not things that I have to do.”

Her mother, Lowell resident Sharon Hines, said her daughter has been self-motivated and focused since she was a child.

“She sets her goals at a certain level and she always seems to achieve them,” Sharon Hines said. “I’m proud of what she’s accomplished in a short time.”

Mallory Hines said her heart has been set on reaching out to Latin America since she began taking Spanish during high school.

“It’s kind of overlooked,” she said. “When you read the news, you don’t hear about Latin America.”

Mallory Hines traveled outside the country for the first time two years ago when she went to Mexico on a spring break mission trip.

“I was always looking for different ways to get out of the United States,” Mallory Hines said. “I had never really been anywhere besides Disney World, honestly.”

Although Sharon Hines said letting her youngest child travel might be nerve-wracking, she said she believes her daughter will grow and mature because of the experience.

“When she went to Mexico for only a week, she wanted to go back right away — it wasn’t long enough,” Sharon Hines said. “I knew from that first trip that she would be going on more trips.”

Mallory Hines said she has a difficult time sitting and watching TV or seeing a movie because she would rather be active.

“I don’t even see myself signing another lease for five years just because I don’t want to be stationary,” Mallory Hines said.

“All my life I’ve been in the same spot, and East Lansing for three years now. I just need to get out of Michigan.”

Maryn Ewasyshyn, a psychology junior, is a friend with whom Hines has stayed during the past few weeks.

“(Mallory) has a really big heart for people,” Ewasyshyn said. “This is a way she feels God has enabled her to serve people.”

Although Mallory Hines has yet to sleep in her car overnight, she said there was a close call when she was in a late meeting and realized that she had failed to set up sleeping arrangements, but Ewasyshyn provided housing for the night.

“It was great to host her during her hobo weeks,” Ewasyshyn said. “I’m so excited for her — I think it’s a really awesome opportunity.”

Although she has been in contact with the program’s directors, she does not know what her day-to-day living will be like or what exactly she needs to pack in her two suitcases and a carry-on bag.

“It’s kind of scary, but it’s definitely going to be an adventure,” Mallory Hines said. “I looked for one, and I’m getting one.”

For more information on YWAM, visit ywam.org

---