LDS Teen Service Trips Change Lives

Each AYS expedition is divided into groups of approximately 17 teens, 3 adult coaches and 1 AYS trip leader. Teens range from ages 16-19 and are required to live LDS principles and standards throughout the trip.

Working side-by-side with local villagers, youth participants essentially have the opportunity to immerse themselves  in a foreign culture for 17 days. And to be clear, an AYS experience is exotic and life changing, but it is also work.

Service projects range from building facilities for improving economic and hygiene conditions to renovating and adding rooms and libraries onto schools and orphanages. With one day set aside for sightseeing, participants also get the opportunity to visit an area temple and attend local church services, devotionals and FHE.

Founded in 1999, AYS has a solid reputation for changing lives of those who serve as well as the lives of those being served. Lifelong friendships are formed that transcend geography, economy and ethnicity and age. 

Many participants claim that AYS is the opportunity of a lifetime, and several return home to get right back in line for one of the next summer's expeditions.

Each trip is designed to provide a sense of  genuine satisfaction in completing a service project that will leave a lasting impact on participants as well as the communities served. And ultimately, the goal of AYS is to instill in youth a sense of love and appreciation, an understanding of the Church on both a global and intimate level, and to encourage a lifelong commitment to humanitarianism.