Monday, April 28, 2014

Meet the Team!

Ginny Flores

Ginny Flores is a sophomore in the McCombs Business School at The University of Texas and is from Rockdale, Texas. This is her second Let’s Start Talking Project in which her first project was last summer in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Ginny is the youngest of four, one sister and two brothers. She enjoys music, outdoor activities, and quoting movies.

Ben Hocher

Ben Hocher (pictured on the right) was born in Austin, Texas in the US in 1995 to his parents Brien and Karen Hocher. He has one brother named Matthew Hocher. While he is now back in Austin studying petroleum engineering, his home is in New Braunfels, Texas. He has been growing up in the Church of Christ and was baptized the summer of 2012. He enjoys playing the drums, the guitar, and just about any other instrument he can get his hands on.

Damian Silvas

Damian Silvas was born in Austin, Texas in 1995 and was raised in different parts of Texas after his parents divorced. He spent his years after the fourth grade in Paradise, Texas (name of the town is not illustrative of the scenery). He didn’t really pursue God until the 11th grade. Through a series of trials, God called him and enabled Damian to give his life to Jesus Christ in the 12th grade. He graduated in 2013 and decided to attend the University of Texas at Austin. With his free time he enjoys playing guitar, fellowship with his brothers (and sisters) on campus, playing with his dog, music, and cooking.

Briannon Trimm

Briannon Trimm grew up in the “Barbecue Capitol of Texas” (Lockhart, TX) to a Church of Christ family. She has one younger sister named Maura. She went to elementary school in Austin, Texas, and now attends UT there, where her faith has been tried and greatly strengthened. Her mother is a teacher, her father is a mail carrier / writer, and she grew up among shelves crammed with books. She loves drawing, and hopes to pursue a career in production design for films. This is her first LST project, first mission trip, and first time out of the country.
Hello, and welcome to the official UT Austin's 2014 Let's Start Talking Team Blog!

In less than a month, the team will be on the other side of the world in Taipei, Taiwan!

Don't know what we're all about? This year, four students from Longhorns for Christ (Ginny Flores, Ben Hocher, Damian Silvas and Briannon Trimm) will travel to Taiwan on a mission trip. There, they'll work five days a week for six weeks one-on-one with readers to improve their conversational English skills. They'll be working out of a workbook based on the Book of Luke, sharing the story and love of Jesus Christ.

From this point on, you can expect to find weekly, in-depth posts on our project. We'll be using this blog, as well as our Facebook page.

All of your help has been greatly appreciated, and we're rapidly approaching that airport and first meeting with the people we'll be working with this summer!