September 18, 2014
Hello everyone!
There has been a big change involving the World Race. I am no longer going on Route 2, but I’m going on the January Fusion Route.
In the beginning of the interview process, I told them that if they thought I should go on another route, I would be willing to change. The World Race thanked me for the offer, and said that there are times when they do indeed ask people to switch because of route sizes, personality differences, or God simply told them to. Well, this is one of those times.
The Fusion Route is the first and only route to actually have teams made up of people from different countries! I have already met Korean, British, and Puertorican /Colombian teammates through facebook. One of the reasons I joined the team was that I was excited to be on a team made up of different nationalities. Some of my favorite memories are worshiping or working with brothers and sisters in Christ that speak in different tongues and are from different cultures. It is a glimpse of Heaven! I also know that it will challenge me, and allow me to see aspects of God that I may not necessarily recognize in myself or in the American culture. My greatest wish is that Christ will be at the center of this team! That God will use this team for His kingdom, that we will love the least of these, that we will not fail to entertain angels or help Jesus in disguise, and that Jesus will draw us deeper into Him, molding us into the people we were created to be!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg5qDljEw7Q
Another reason I said yes to the change was because I felt that I needed to be obedient. Sometimes in ministry it is all hands on deck, and one of the key words of being on the mission field is “flexibility.” I remember listening to an interview with Matt Redman, in which he discussed being the children’s worship pastor at his church. “It’s one of those things I thought I would never do. You know how you make unspoken vows? I’m a reserved English man, and I’m not very good at getting excited like that. But when you plant a church, it’s all hands on deck. You serve where there is a need. And now the kids and I have a lot of fun writing songs and such…It’s like what the prophet said to Saul when he anointed him king. ‘Now do whatever your hand finds to do for the Lord is with you.(1 Samuel 10:7)’ You just take the next step. What is God putting in your hand right now? And just be faithful.”
I will still leave in January, and the price is still the same. The countries that I will be going to the Fusion route will be Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the United States. Even though I’m going to different countries than I was before, many of the ministries are still the same, including two that very close to my heart: orphan care and helping victims caught in sex trafficking.
I will probably research and blog about the countries, like I have for the previous route, but it will probably be after I take the GRE test and after my sister’s wedding. Even though I am not going to the Route 2 countries anymore, I am glad I researched them. Some of the teams on route 2 have learned from them, and it is always good to have awareness and pray for the countries. Switching routes wasn’t completely easy. I cried, grieving in a way, because I won’t get to minister in the places that I invested my heart in or meet the teammates I had come to know on facebook. Yet, God has given me peace, even through my erratic emotions. J I will still be friends with those people, and someday, I may visit or even live in some of those countries. Who knows? J
I ask that you would keep supporting me, and continue to lift this mission in your prayers!
Thank you all again!
God Bless.
Tori Thompson
