Students from Hendersonville, Tenn., traveled 13 hours to Penn State this week to offer prayers, scrub fraternities' bathrooms and give out hot chocolate.

On campus since Monday, the group of 11 students has been giving out free prayers to students and also donating its time around campus.

"We stand in elevators, and other random places, asking students if they have exams coming up, or anything else in their lives that we can pray for," Melanie Hoyt, a student from Volunteer State Community College, said.

Besides offering free prayers and food, they have been giving out hot chocolate, granola bars and Frisbees. On Tuesday, they served fraternities and downtown restaurants by cleaning their bathrooms, 19 in total.

Johnny Ponds, a former member of the Henderson First Baptist Church in Tennessee, brought the mission group to Penn State.

Ponds works at Pasquerilla Spiritual Center and is a member of Penn State's New Life Student Fellowship, whose mission is to provide students with a lifetime relationship with Jesus.

Hoyt said some students have prayed for sleep but mostly for their upcoming exams. One student asked them to pray for his mom's birthday, she said.

"We simply ask people for prayer requests, such as hurt family members or midterms. We get the student's name and continue to pray throughout the week," Garret Kidd, a student at Middle Tennessee State University, said.

On Tuesday the group went on what it called "Party Patrol" and headed to the Parking and Transportation Office with bagels, donuts and balloons. The group said these workers often go unappreciated and wanted to cheer them up for the day.

Jason Egly, a college minister at MTSU, has been with this particular group of students for eight months and has been a minister at the college for four years. He takes groups on all types of mission projects and hopes to come back to Penn State.

"Penn State has a wonderful campus, and it feels great to spread cheer throughout it," he said.

Yesterday, the group stood between the Bryce Jordan Center and Beaver Stadium giving out hot chocolate to passersby, yelling "Free hot chocolate, no credit cards."

"These students are a bunch of benevolent enthusiasts," Krupali Patel (graduate-physiology) said as she got some hot chocolate. "Giving up their time in this cold weather is so nice of them."