Elita Smith, a student at Ohio Northern University from Bluffton, spent her summer "vacation" working on a service project in Papua New Guinea.

Every year Wycliffe Bible Translators' Go Experience Translation (GET) Global program sends high school and college students from around the world to lend a hand in mission work.

A typical trip includes eight to 10 students spending two to three weeks among people of a minority language where Bible translation is in progress. This year’s group worked in one of the most linguistically complex countries in the world: Papua New Guinea, an island-nation home to more than 800 languages.

The work of the GET Global program calls upon students who are not only committed to spreading the Word of God, but who value learning and preserving cultures at an unprecedented level.

Smith’s particular service project included showing a biblical film and distributing scripture through physically demanding hiking trips in Papua New Guineas humid, swampy and mountainous climates.