How I was called to missions

How I Was Called to the Mission Field

We were asked to write a blog about how we were called into missions. This is my story:

Growing up in a Christian home, I was exposed to ministry very early on. When I was 6 months old, my family moved to Panama. My dad was in the military and he also did ministry at a local church. We lived in Panama until I was 4, so I was able to see the country and learn about missions. After we moved to Belton, Texas, we stayed connected with the church in Panama. My dad became a pastor at a small church in Texas and we started collecting ‘Pennies for Panama’. Our mission was to help the local church in panama get a horse for the pastor who walked miles and miles to get from one church to the next. We had a jar that was filled effortlessly. It was amazing to be a part of something that we had already been a part of. I don’t remember too much because I was so young, but this was something that has stuck with me through the years. My family instilled the value of missionary work into me. Although we were unable to visit Panama again, we touched lives there. Many years later (right after we moved to Iowa in 2000) we reunited with my dad’s interpreter from Panama and she remembered that story. It was so nice to hear that one small thing blessed that community so much. Since that moment, missions have been tugging on my heart.

In 2004 after coming back from living in West Virginia, I looked into missions’ opportunities. I applied for a trip to Jamaica through Adventure in Missions and things didn’t work out. Everything was falling through and nothing was going the way I wanted it to go. I had my own agenda and it didn’t line up completely with God’s plan and his timing.

At Watershed, a young adult group, my friend Dennis came to speak about his mission experience in Kenya. I hung onto every word and could see the devotion in his eyes. I knew that he had his heart broken in Kenya and the people there. At the end of his talk, he gave the opportunity to meet with him afterwards because he wanted to send a group from Watershed. I was a little wary about going. I knew that in my heart I wanted to go, but was it God? A week or two went by and I had officially accepted the call to go to Africa. It was something I prayed about for a long time. I still was not 100% sure that it was God because I didn’t know how God called people. But, I knew I was scared and I was ready for what God was going to teach me through my time there.

Once in Kenya, I still didn’t know I was supposed to be there. After a few days, God revealed himself to me vividly. He showed me love and compassion that I had never felt before. My heart melted each time I looked into each and every orphan’s eyes. I knew by the end of the week, that I was going to be doing missions more than this one time. I knew that god had big plans, but never realized his plan was so extravagant. I thank God that his love is so great and mighty. Our Father who holds each and every one of us, holds the orphans, holds the forgotten, holds the broken hearted and holds me even when I don’t accept what he has given me.