It took a little more than four hours for 16 members of the Missouri football team to make it from St. Louis to the Dominican Republic for their mission trip on May 12. That was also about the same length of time their return flight to the States was delayed on May 16.

What began as an hour-long delay in the airport because the group was waiting on their pilot to finish up another flight turned into another three-hour wait once they boarded due to shift changes for the crew and the plane running out of water.

Perhaps, before this trip, there would’ve been a couple of groans or complaints if something like that happened. Maybe they don’t complain, but instead whip out their phones to pass the time.

Instead, it was another bonding moment for the group and an opportunity to show the same grace and optimism that the people they encountered in the DR displayed. After the previous few days, the players knew this was the definition of a first-world problem.

“No one said anything. No one complained,” said Chandler Campbell, Mizzou's Director of Player Development and Career Planning. “Honestly, they just made light of the situation and were making friends around them on the flight and making friends with the flight attendants that were on there. So no, I didn't hear any complaints from anyone."

For tight end Tyler Stephens, the wait was a part of the reality check he experienced in those five days.

“What I worry about doesn't matter,” Stephens said. “The things I complain about, the things that I stress about 一 what is it compared to the four or five communities we went to? They faced way worse battles than me.”

During the team’s mission trip, the players visited kids at a couple of primary schools, another school for kids who went through traumatic events in their lives and a rehab center.

While there, the players began swapping stories with the people they met and encouraging them to push through their current circumstances. When they weren’t doing that, they were helping build a playground at one school or laying cement and cinder blocks in Puerto Plata to help build a bathroom in that community,

During this experience, Stephens realized how much community really means to those who lived there.

“The craziest thing was that we started working and just people who live in the community come by and they automatically start working. We don't know these dudes. They don't know us, but they saw us helping in their community so they got in line and started hauling bricks and, man, those dudes can work,” Stephens said. "Those dudes, they weren't breaking a sweat. They're out in jeans and hoodies and are just going to town nonstop. So it was really cool to see that and kind of connection without verbally communicating.

“When you go over there, it's evident how much community, friendship and being involved in each other's lives really matters to them. I was over there and I was talking to a native from there and they said, ‘America is rich in money and in jewels but over here we are rich in family and love.’”

Those words, in particular, hit Stephens hard with the senior reflecting on what his community is like at home.

“In America, you can live on a street and you might not know the person six houses down,” Stephens said disappointingly. “So that was an eye-opener, too. So now, I know my roommates. I know Bobby and I know Lena. So, I got to know their names and I've been there for a month and I haven't known them. I know them now.”

Joining Stephens and Campbell on the trip were fellow players Blake Craig, Caleb Flagg, Corey Flagg, Marquis Gracial, Gerald Lacy Jr., Jahkai Lang, Chris McClellan, Joe Moore, Orion Phillips and Kristian Williams, along with Director of Player / Alumni Relations Atiyyah Ellison, Assistant Director / Football Creative Gordon Meier and grad assistant Keyan Williams. Jess Dwyer, an athletic trainer who did her fellowship with the school, also attended.

Campbell, whose job is to help prepare players for a life outside of football through service, engagement and education, was tasked with putting the trip together and began the process last October after head coach Eli Drinkwitz approached her about the idea of the team’s first mission trip.

“Coach Drink actually came to me saying he wanted to provide the players with a bigger opportunity,” Campbell recalled. “We do so much community service locally. And I've done a lot of team community service projects. So, it's kind of a reward for how much they've been giving back to Columbia.”

Picking the Dominican Republic was more of a natural selection due to Brad Jenkins’ familiarity with the area. Jenkins, the founder of “Until They Know,” has served as a missionary of the DR since 2008.

His relationships there helped make the country the destination of choice.

When selecting the attendees for the trip, Campbell and Drinkwitz concluded that the upperclassmen should get the first crack at the opportunity to go before allowing some of the younger players to opt-in.

“When I initially saw the flier that came out, I was definitely interested,” Stephens said. “I definitely wanted to do it. I never really did a mission trip before. I've done things around the community and things here with Mizzou, but to go outside of our environment to a different country and just a different place, in general, seemed really cool to me. And I'd love to be a part of it. So that's why I chose to go.”

For Phillips, it was a bit surprising to him considering he just transferred to Mizzou from Murray State in the winter. But it was an opportunity he didn’t want to pass up.

“I was shocked at first because I've only been here for four months. I was like, 'Are they sure they're ready to take me?' I'm Australian. I'm known for being a bit excitable, crazy and wild,” Phillips said. “So when they asked me, they were like, ‘Well, as long as you're well-behaved, we'd love to have you there,’ and I was like, ‘I would love to get back out there in the community and have this opportunity.’”

Phillips was one of five transfers (Flagg brothers, Lacy, McClellan) from this offseason to make the trip.

The team drove up to St. Louis on May 11 and stayed at an airport hotel before waking up at 2:30 a.m. CT the next day to catch their first flight to Miami.

Phillips was excited more than anything for the trip, but was able to get some sleep. Stephens, on the other hand, felt the same anxiousness that he feels when traveling for road games.

“I definitely couldn't sleep. Every game it's hard for me to sleep just because of the nerves and the anxiety. And that's literally every game for me,” Stephens said. “I mean, I love it. It lets me know that I care, I'm prepared and I want to perform well. But going on that trip, it was the same way. I couldn't sleep before but when I got there, I didn't want to sleep either. There are so many sights to see and so many things to do. It's excitement just like a game. It was cool.”

After their two-and-a-half-hour flight to Miami, they quickly boarded their second flight and got to the DR later that day.

In one way or another, everyone who made the trip formed a relationship or created a life-lasting memory with someone they met in the DR.

For Phillips, he left the trip with a couple of interactions he holds close to his heart.

The first was when the group visited one of the primary schools on the first day. A little boy named Alexander came up to him and gave him a couple of pictures of cars. Despite the language barrier, they could understand each other by naming the cars in the pictures.

Then, using Google Translate, the two got to know each other better with Alexander wanting to learn more about Phillips than talk about himself.

It wasn't just Alexander, though. Many kids flocked to Phillips because they were intrigued by his shoulder-length blonde hair. In their community, hair like that is reserved for the females. So while the kids were amazed by Phillips’ hair they told him to cut it off. He didn’t cut it, but he got a kick out of the interaction.

Moments later, as Phillips kept his conversation with Alexander, the latter presented his new friend with a chocolate bar from his lunch and a departing gift 一 a bracelet with brown and green beads surrounding a white bead with an "A" in black lettering.

“I mean, they don't have much, but they were so giving,” Phillips said. “And then as we're leaving to go out, I'm saying ‘Bye everyone,’ and he runs up and gives me a hug and then he rips his little bracelet off and he handed it to me and I said, ‘Thank you,’ and so I decided to wear that for the duration (of the trip and) as long as it’ll last, but especially through the summer.

“If I ever get complacent or think a little less, I look at this and it just reminds me, like what would Alexander do to be in half of this opportunity? Let alone, going through these workouts and stuff. It's not as bad as people might put it out to be and it's all about perspective at the end of the day.”

Along with his interactions with Alexander, Phillips remembers visiting the kids who attended the school for the traumatized. Before entering, the group was briefed on not physically interacting with the kids. This meant things like hugs or picking the kids up weren't allowed 一 or so they thought.

“We get there, that lasted for all of five minutes," Phillips said. “The kids just wanted to be hugged. They wanted to be picked up. They really wanted to be 一 I don't know if it's loved or shown attention or embraced.

“We got told that they were struggling and they were going to be scared. I’ve never seen someone happier in their life. They just wanted to be with us so badly. They were hugging us. There were piggybacks. And that was probably the one that sticks out to me the most. We were told one thing and then the experience was so different.”

For Campbell, she had her own “life-changing experience” at one of the primary schools with Dwyer and a group of young girls.

“We would play for a little bit and then a lot of the girls would be like, ‘Can we please go just sit inside and talk?’ We'd ask them if there is anything they want us to know about them or that they'd want to share with us,” Campbell said. “A lot of them got really personal sharing about things that happened in their family and they broke down into tears. It just makes you realize that some of these kids might not have someone to look up to or might not have that mentor in their life that they can talk to about these things.

“It was really touching that I could share encouraging words with them when they were so upset and talking about something that they were trying to get over. And then again for me, it was a very life-changing experience for me.”

The experience didn’t just change the lives of the people who live in DR, but like Campbell, it changed the lives of everyone who attended. It reshaped their mindset and gave the players a perspective they otherwise probably wouldn’t have had.

It's even led to Phillips and Stephens being open to doing more mission trips even when their time at Mizzou is up.

"I would love to do more mission trips in my lifetime," Stephens said. "I love to go back to my home and work in the church community and things like that when I get the opportunity. You know, it's rare for us to go home. For me being 10 hours away, it's kind of difficult, but community service was something that was opened up to me and I'd love to do more of it."

For the next batch of players who want to join what might be an annual trip to the DR, they may get their chance. Campbell thinks it would be best for the team to return with new players to continue building the relationship between the football program and the community.

"The kids in the schools in the communities when you start to leave, they ask, 'Well, when are you coming back?' So, I think moving forward and for planning purposes, I would love for the communities to know Mizzou football is coming back," Campbell said gleefully. "Mizzou football is going to continue to make an impact in these communities. It's not just a one-time thing."

It's safe to say the trip accomplished what Drinkwitz and Campbell had hoped for and more. The players gave back, they want to continue to give back, they've gained another perspective on life and they learned lessons they can apply on and off the field.

"I'm never, ever going to take anything for granted and my new personal thing for the summer and since I came back is not to complain about anything because we complain about so many little things, you know, how hard it is ... I don't remember one person complaining," Phillips said. "They had just such a helping community. Let's just get what people need and be a bit more selfless. And that's definitely something I'm going to work on."

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