By Paula Wolf From LANCASTER ONLINE

You could say Jes Crills has a mission in life.

The 22-year-old from Akron — who grew up in a family that took mission trips in the U.S. and overseas — is in the midst of a two-year commitment for Youth With A Mission, serving in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

After a brief time at home, Crills left Aug. 24 to go back to the Caribbean nation, which is close to Barbados. She lives on Mayreau, the country’s smallest inhabited island.

Mayreau is just 1½ square miles, with one road and a village population of about 300, said Crills, who moved there in March. She spoke by phone before her return.

Many of the residents “are below our poverty line,” Crills said, and the children often lack shoes and wear the same clothes day after day.

Youth With A Mission’s 42-acre base on Mayreau is run by a young Lancaster County couple, Josh and Renita Lapp, she said.

The base is home to five full-time volunteers, Crills said. It includes five buildings — two staff houses and three cabins. Eventually, 24 buildings are expected to be constructed, she said.

“Rainwater is the only water,” said Crills, adding that it is saved in concrete tanks. “All our food gets shipped in” by boat.

“It’s a different type of living, but we love it,” she said.

According to its website, Youth With A Mission “is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. … We unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known.”

It currently works in more than 1,100 locations in more than 180 countries, with a staff in excess of 18,000.

Crills said YWAM has camps on Mayreau for children and youth, with the goal of “spreading the word of Jesus.”

Movie nights for teen girls — with plenty of hugs — are part of the mix, too, she said.

Adult villagers on Mayreau also seek help from YWAM staffers, Crills said.

“I like to go down to the village and hang with the older people,” she said.

There’s time for recreation as well.

“Saturday is our beach day,” Crills said, when it’s time to head down to the beautiful sands of Saltwhistle Bay.

Before becoming a missionary, she attended the Youth With A Mission discipleship training school for five months last year — three months of lectures and two of outreach, when Crills went to Guyana.

Though her initial commitment is for two years, “I plan to be (here) the rest of my life,” said Crills, who felt called to join YWAM since age 11.

She said she loves being in a tropical climate. “I hate winter and snow. I feel I was born to be in the Caribbean.”

Crills is a graduate of Ephrata High School and holds a nursing degree from the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences.

She is the daughter of Lynn and Sandi Crills and has three siblings: brothers Jordan and Jeremy and sister Joscelynn, wife of Michael Martin.

A member of Hinkletown Mennonite Church, Crills took a mission trip with her family to St. Croix in 2003 and 2008, where she taught Bible school for kids. “It’s a beautiful place,” she said.

They also traveled to Haiti after the devastating 2010 earthquake, and have been to many U.S. states on missions.

Crills said, “I’m really glad that my parents raised us on that.”

PHOTO: Suzette Wenger/staff The Crills family is pictured in their backyard on Friday, Aug. 22. From left are Lynn and Sandi Crills, son Jeremy Crills, daughter Jes Crills, son-in-law Mike Martin, daughter Joscelynn Martin and daughter Jordan Crills.

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