Rocky Mount police officer returns from mission trip

ROCKY MOUNT, NC (WTVD) -- As an officer with the Rocky Mount Police Department, Corporal Brad Summerlin spends most of his time responding to emergencies and assisting people in the community.

This time, he brought that mentality with him on a recent mission trip to St. Lucia.

Summerlin, a member of Oakdale Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, said his church partnered with Ambassador Baptist Church for their trip.

Twenty total people, including 12 from Oakdale Baptist and eight from other area churches, took part.

Their time was split up into three different shifts -mornings, afternoons, and evenings.

To begin each day, they ran a sports camp geared towards teenagers. Part of their focus was also on fixing a basketball court at a school, replacing the backboards, nets, re-cementing the poles, re-painting the court, and putting up fencing.

In the afternoon, they organized a Vacation Bible School, before setting up a Tent Crusade in the evenings.

It was Summerlin's first international mission trip, and an experience he hopes to take part in again.

"Absolutely. Without any hesitation, I can tell you if I could go next month and do another trip, I'd go. We are extremely blessed in the United States of America compared to other countries throughout the world. We're very blessed here. I would not hesitate one bit," Summerlin explained.