In-Class Interview

My informant headed down to Maryland in the summer of 2008 for a ten-week missions trip sponsored by Ball State University's Campus Crusade for Christ. While she was there she ministered to people working on the boardwalk and helped community members where she was staying. Before leaving, she, and other group members, picked up a small, colorful bracelet to wear in remembrance of that summer. She wears this bracelet everyday to remember the people of Maryland, and also the friends she made while she was there.

This interview was more difficult than the other interviews I have conducted so far. I had many more questions for the informants of my subculture than I did for this interview. The most difficult part was getting the story. I had to coax it out of her because she seemed a little shy talking about her life at first. But, gradually I worked in my own experience with missions trips and we began a more conversation-like interview. Some of my observations and assumptions were correct in that the bracelet was a symbol of friendship that she bought in a store in a touristy type shop in Ocean City. I was also correct in thinking that there was a deeper story behind the purchase of the bracelet.