We were asked to write a blog about how we were called to this mission trip. Here is my story…
I have a passion to see the world. Fast forward to what’s brought me from a desire to be the next Rick Steves, exploring the globe for adventure and for the unfamiliar, to a desire to be the next World Racer, exploring the globe with adventure and with the unfamiliar (sorry, don’t know you guys just yet), doing the unnatural and unconventional.
For several years, I’ve felt a real burden to get my hands dirty, take bigger risks and go to darker places. I admire Anderson Cooper for his penchant to go to war torn countries w/o fear and borders. I relate to his view on how traveling has shaped his identity: “I’d always been interested in travel and in dark places on the map. I wanted to see these places and learn things about myself, as well as the people in them. A lot of compelling stories in the world aren’t being told, and the fact that people don’t know about them compounds the suffering. To me, there is value in bearing witness to what is happening to people who are living their lives with great dignity in the face of horror.”
In 2006, I went on my first mission trip, teaching at a summer English camp for two wks in China. While rewarding, it was far too short and still relatively w/in my comfort zones, since I spoke the language and went with friends. It did give me a greater appreciation for long term missionaries. I brushed off the possibility of going on a mission trip longer than a few weeks myself. I didn’t want to commit so much of my life to the unknown, and didn’t think I had it in me spiritually.
This year, as I was transitioning out of a job my heart wasn’t completely in, it was still heavy with the desire to venture to places unknown, unloved or untouched. I figured this was God’s timing; I needed to seize the moment. I looked into overseas volunteering opportunities, aid relief as a possible profession, year-long overseas teaching programs, etc. In June, I heard about the World Race during my pastor’s sermon. That night, I went home and read the blogs and site content voraciously.. I didn’t pray that much about whether I should go or not, nor did I consult anyone. I just applied and figured if it was God’s will and timing, it would happen. I was anxious to go! *Note: I don’t by any means suggest jumping in feet first and then praying about it, but in my case, that’s what happened.
Now what I’ve signed up for is slowly sinking in, and I’m glad I didn’t have too much time to think (and have doubt) about leaving ultimate comfort zones and giving up a year of my life. I see it as a year of life gained. I love this quote by William James, “Most people live…in a very restricted circle of their potential being. They make use of a very small portion of their possible consciousness, and of their soul’s resources in general, much like a man who, out of his whole bodily organism, should get into a habit of using only his little finger.” Whether or not we’re called to be a full-time missionary, we ARE called to live (and give) bigger. I’ve spent years living w/in my circle. Now I’m excited to stretch myself and to be stretched and molded into God’s potential being, to be used as part of the whole body.
(my class won the Golden Spatula for a creative cooking contest in China =P)
