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Dillon Farrell’s room filled up with the sound of children singing gospel music.
No, this isn’t typically how Farrell wakes up in the morning.
Farrell wasn’t even in his own bed.
New Mexico football’s starting center was in Grand Goâve, Haiti on a missionary trip for a week to help the Servants of All Ministry orphanage last May. According to the Servants of All Ministry website, it is an orphanage that provides for children’s physical, educational and spiritual needs.
“There are kids that love you no matter what you’ve been through,” Farrell said. “They just open up their love through you. They don’t have anything, and they’re thankful for what they have and they’re willing to share what they have with you.”
Farrell said he traveled there because his former high school coach, Glenn Barras, is the director and president of Servants of All Ministry. Farrell mentioned to Barras that he would like to go to Haiti, and Barras then set up the trip.
This marked the fourth missionary trip that Farrell has been on. He made three other trips to Mexico from 2005-08 during his time at Christian Life Academy in Baton Rouge, La.
“I think when people hear you go to other countries they think you’re a good person,” Farrell said. “I still have this selfishness inside of me and I still deal with a lot of things personally. I’m not selfless because I’m not exactly Christ-like yet.”
Farrell said the best part of his trip was meeting the children. There were about 50 kids in the orphanage when he was there.
“It’s funny — they (the children) are kind of standoffish at first, but when they see you’re friendly they just want to be with you,” he said. “They treated me like a jungle gym and I had three or four on me at a time.”
Farrell said he spent most of his time assisting the orphans in giving clay water filters to people who needed them. He also helped teach English in some of the classes at the orphanage.
“As much as you don’t want to admit it, you want to be a shining light, a knight-in-shining-armor type figure,” Farrell said. “You go and these people give you more than you thought you would ever get.”
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Stat sheet
The Lobos are ranked second in the country in rushing offense at 328.9 yards per game, that’s about 2 yards less than No. 1 Army’s average.
Senior running back Kasey Carrier has rushed for 1,109 yards this season, becoming UNM’s first back-to-back 1,000 yard rusher since Rodney Ferguson in 2008. Carrier ranks 10th nationally in yards per game with 123.2.
Colorado State, UNM’s opponent this week, boasts the second leading rusher in the Mountain West Conference, Kapri Bibbs, who averages 114.8 yards per game. Bibbs had a career-high 312 yards against Nevada last week in a 38-17 win.
UNM has been one of the least penalized teams in the country. The Lobos are tied for third in fewest penalty yards per game with 29.1 yards and their 3.44 penalties per game rank them fifth.
