When I decided to go on the Washington DC trip, I expected nothing more than a lincoln sponsored trip to the city with my friends. However, after my first day of work, my expectations changed. I realized that this trip was not about us but rather the people we were there to serve. My first morning I was paired with a phone buddy named Tesfaye, a terminally ill man who had been deported from his home country to Ethiopia and from there to America. He had practically no family in the area and seemed to just be looking for a friend. I talked to him on the phone for over an hour, about everything from the Lutheran church to the hippies and Dead Heads. At the YSOP dinner I was able to connect to a man named Gregg, who approached me to ask if we could play Connect Four. I was terrible and he made fun of me, but I had a great time. This trip gave me another perspective on community service. It allowed me to connect to the people I was serving on an emotional level and it made me care.