Jamaica
Mission Trips
Each year, a group of juniors and seniors from The Heights School, an all-boys Catholic school in Maryland, takes on a unique spring break: a week at Blessed Assurance, Mustard Seed Communities’ home for children with disabilities in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
What they find there is more than a service trip for teens: it’s an encounter that gives them renewed purpose, widened perspective, and joy.
Over the past three decades, Mustard Seed Communities (MSC) has solidified its reputation as a destination for international mission trips that are meaningful in service and human connection. High schoolers, college students, parish groups, builders, medical professionals, and volunteers of all ages and backgrounds take week-long mission trips to our homes in Jamaica or Dominican Republic. Many groups, among them The Heights School, return year after year for what they report is a transformative journey.
2025 marked The Heights School’s seventh mission trip to MSC. Rich Moss, teacher and longtime trip leader, remembers being in Jamaica in March 2020 when the world came to a halt . . . but the school’s commitment to MSC’s mission never did.
“What’s beautiful,” Moss shares, “is that every year, our trip is filled with boys who would rather be at Blessed Assurance than anywhere else in the world.”
The boys’ reasons for joining the volunteer group vary. Some come to serve, others to see something new, but their responses to the experience are remarkably unified. “There’s this internal shift: more openness to friendship, a deeper appreciation for life, and a greater awareness of others’ needs,” Moss notes.
At Blessed Assurance, we learned that love looks like a lot of things. Sometimes it is holding someone’s hand just to let them know that you are there. Other times it is feeding them because they can’t do it themselves.
It takes complete self-sacrifice but the joy of knowing these people outweighs the cost by a ton. I thought going there I would help them so much (and I did to a certain extent), but they ended up helping all of us out way more than we could for them and that was by teaching us to love.
-Patrick, Senior at The Heights School
Watch this video for a look into last year’s friendships and connections from a Heights School student’s point of view.
What makes this mission trip especially formative for the Heights School team is the chance to connect with others not solely through conversation or shared interests, but through presence, something many students have never experienced so profoundly before.
“Mustard Seed is predicated on the idea that every child has dignity and deserves to be loved and cared for,” Moss says. “That resonates deeply with the guys.”
Being face-to-face with children who rely on others for their most basic needs, and radiate joy nonetheless, inspires the students to reflect on their own values, assumptions, and purpose.
For many, whether teens or adults, the mission trip experience resonates at a soul-deep level that reminds them of what truly matters. For high school students in particular, who face pressure to perform well for college or a good GPA, a mission trip helps them encounter life with new hope. Moss sees in particular that their eyes are opened to “the dignity of life, the presence of God in others, and the realization that they are loved, not for what they achieve, but for who they are.”
During my time at Blessed Assurance, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Marquita, who is very sweet and mild mannered. Early on in the week, I noticed her sitting alone, watching everyone play in the gazebo. I sat with her and held her hand, and immediately I saw a smile spread across her face. I cannot describe the joy that her smile brought me.
I began to sit with Marquita everyday, and everyday her smile warmed my heart. Even though Marquita could not speak, I felt like we were old friends, sitting and enjoying each other’s company. I cannot wait to return to Blessed Assurance one day and see that smile once again.
-Nate, Senior at The Heights School
For students shaped by a Catholic worldview, this trip becomes a living expression of faith. In group reflections throughout the trip, the boys ask questions about the dignity of life, God’s love, and how they want to live.
Over the years, Moss has seen the impact of these mission trips firsthand.
“The guys return with gratitude—grateful they can walk, talk, have dinner with their parents. They also carry a new empathy, a willingness to enter someone else’s world, which will serve them for life, whether they become doctors, lawyers, or fathers.”
“Our boys are men in the making. They were made to give their lives in service. And at Blessed Assurance, they get to do exactly that—with their strength, their joy, and their hearts,” Moss finishes.
It’s this diversity of experience that make MSC mission trips an experience like no other. The lessons learned among the children and adults living in MSC’s homes worldwide can be learned nowhere else . . . because you can only meet Jevaughn, Paige, and Marquita right here.
Amidst the Montego Bay sunshine, in the universal language of play, faith, and love, it’s clear: service for these boys doesn’t end in Jamaica.
High schoolers come home from our mission trips with new eyes, bigger hearts, and a deeper faith. If you are feeling that same call to serve, take the first step today.
Small acts of love can change the world. Let’s start with yours.