21 years. That is how long I have been spending a week of my summer vacation in western Pennsylvania at a conference called NWMC (New Wilmington Mission Conference). For those of you who haven’t experienced NWMC, it is nearly impossible to explain in words what I experience there every year, but I will try to do so here. As the title of the conference implies, its focus is on deepening the missionary spirit. Missionaries from all over the world come to share about their experiences and to encourage others to be missionaries in their own towns or around the world. Every year, the conference also sends out a team of college age students to another country for six weeks before the conference starts. Growing up at the conference, Friday nights were always my favorite. It was on this night that the summer service team would stand up in front of the entire conference and explain how God had worked in and through them while they were serving in the country that NWMC sent them to. I knew from a young age that, when I was old enough, I wanted to be a part of the summer service team.
Last summer, I got my chance! On June 6, 2011 my team left for Seoul, South Korea. I was nervous, not because I was leaving my family for 6 weeks or because I was about to leave the US for the first time and travel half way around the world to a country I knew nothing about but because I was about to spend it with four other women. Usually, the teams are split close to 50:50 men: women, but not our team. This terrified me. Why, you might ask? Because I have always gotten along so much better with guys. I grew up with two brothers my own age, I have played sports my entire life, and quite honestly, I don’t do much stuff that the world would deem girlie so the thought of spending the next six weeks with only women (besides our leader) terrified me. In reality, I had nothing to worry about. I couldn’t imagine sharing that experience with anyone but those four ladies! All my concerns about the problems you could foreshadow happening when traveling with a group of women for six weeks never came true. Our group bonded immediately and continued to grow together throughout the entire trip. We laughed and cried and became a family (Seoul Sisters) and community of women that I never knew could exist. Obviously, God knew exactly what I needed, a community of sisters! We became the closest summer service team (well in our opinion anyways—JjimJilBang ladies? ) that NWMC had ever seen.
God taught me a lot on this trip, but ultimately the summer service team and NWMC is the reason I felt called to continue in the mission field. It gave me a heart for mission and for learning about other cultures and becoming a part of something bigger than myself. It is because of NWMC that I am about to travel the world and show God’s love to the nations. NWMC is a place where I can be myself and where God continues to shape my life every year.
This year was no different. Among the long hours of being a Jr. High counselor, the numerous sick youth and staff and the late nights and early mornings I found God everywhere I turned. NWMC is special because I can feel God surround me. The troubles of real life back home are forgotten, if only just for one week. The love of God flows so freely on the campus for this week. It is my hope that this love will continue to shine back home through those who were touched by Him throughout the week. I want to bring the love of God that I have felt each year at NWMC to the nations around the world. NWMC is where my faith truly began and where it continues to be renewed and strengthened each year. It is because of the love and support of the people I have met at NWMC that I am able to go out into the world and share the love of God that I have been shown each summer at NWMC.
