A group of teenagers spent eight days in Limon, Costa Rica, not for leisure but to fulfill a mission.

Two members of Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro went on a mission trip to the country from June 14-22.

Members The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rocky Mount and Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tarboro went on the trip, also.

The group that went consisted of about 13 teenagers and four adults, three being from Tarboro.

Bill Thorne, 47, his son George Thorne, 16, and Kyle Alligood, 17, are residents of Tarboro that went to Costa Rica to help St. Marks Episcopal Church.

The Thrones attend Calvary Episcopal Church and Alligood attends Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tarboro.

Alligood said that even though his church went on a mission trip to New Orleans, he wanted to take the opportunity to go on a mission trip out of the country after hearing about it from Louise Anderson.

This was the first year that Bill Thorne went on a mission trip.

Bill took Anderson's spot who had to cancel because of a family emergency. Anderson is the deacon of the Church of the Good Shepherd who has led the mission trips for the last couple of years.

After getting the opportunity to go on the trip, Bill Throne said that he would return.

"It was a great experience. It's something I wouldn't have ever done if I hadn't of went for my friend Louise and now that I've went, I would go again," Bill Throne said.

"It was a mission in itself that he was able to go and chaperone the youth," Anderson said.

Each year the demographics of the people that go switch from adult trips to youth trips.

The adult trips consist of medical missions while youth trips focus on construction missions.

This year, with the majority of the people being teens, the mission trip was construction based.