1) I love mission trips. I love sharing the gospel with others. I love spending time with children who may or may not be well loved or taken care of. I love putting in hard work to build a house or church or school. I love meeting people who only have a few pennies and the clothes on their back, but who have more joy than anyone I have met in my life. I love going somewhere to serve and give of myself, but then realize how much more I receive in wisdom and humility from the people I meet. To the deepest core of my being, I genuinely love taking part in mission work.
2) I know I am called to do this. Deciding to dedicate 11 months to mission work around the world was not a rash decision. I have wanted and felt strongly drawn towards missions abroad since I was 14. I was too young to do anything long term, so I waited for God’s timing. Maybe after high school? God said, “Not yet.” So I took part in week long mission trips in college and loved it. I craved more time in the ministries I was serving, and I told God that… a lot! So I researched jobs abroad and looked into long term ministries, but struggled to find what I knew God had been telling me to wait for. Even when I finally found the World Race, there were still lots of obstacles to overcome and I almost thought God was saying no to this too. But I fasted, and I prayed, and I cried out, “God, please just tell me where you want to send me! I’ll answer your call, but just tell me where.” And then God answered with certainty, “Okay, this is it. I am sending you for 11 months, now Go.” Was the waiting difficult? Most of the time, yes. But is knowing without a doubt this is exactly where God is calling me worth the struggle? Absolutely!
3) This trip makes me uncomfortable. This may not sound like a positive reason for my choice to serve on long term missions, but it’s actually one of the strongest reasons for me to do this. Above, I listed what I love about serving on missions because I do love it and have a passion for it. But what I don’t always tell people are all of the things about the next 11 months that make me feel pretty uncomfortable. The truth is, as much as I love working in ministry abroad, the thought of spending a year in lands I am not familiar with, with people I don’t know, doing things I’m probably not going to be very good at… those things do scare me. It will undoubtedly be the most amazing experience of my life, but it’s not going to be easy. In fact, most of the time it’s probably going to be really, really hard. But here is what is awesome about that: God calls us to do what we think is impossible. The last thing Jonah wanted to do was go speak to the people in Nineveh because, to put it lightly, they weren’t the friendliest bunch. But God called Jonah anyway, knowing He could do more through Jonah’s reliance on Him than if Jonah only prophesied when he felt comfortable in his own abilities. God told Moses to go rescue the Israelites from Pharaoh, not because Moses was perfect in persuasive speech (because he wasn’t at all) but because He knew Moses would lead by relying on God and not himself. God usually doesn’t call us to be comfortable- He calls us to share the gospel in ways we may not always like or appreciate. He calls us to go and do things we don’t always feel confident to do. But that’s when God works the most and astonishes us with his Power, and Glory, and Grace. See, God didn’t create me, bless me with gifts, talents, and skills, and provide the means for me to serve so I can choose to spend my time relaxed, kicked back and satisfied with the bare minimum. If I choose a life path that I feel comfortable and confident I can handle, then I would never let God move and my efforts would be futile. So yeah, all the unknowns of these 11 months freak me out a little. I am not super comfortable with all the things God may ask me to do or say. I know there will be a lot of challenges and trials along the way. But how amazing it is to be a part of God’s story and to be used in ways I never dreamed of or thought possible on my own. I’m not 100% comfortable, but I feel 100% called- And that’s how I know God is working.
