The answer to the question of what led me to this mission trip actually begins a few years ago. I was sitting in my living room attempting to do school while my mind was determined to wander to the future. This wandering had become quite a frequent phenomenon for me as I was still adjusting to college expectations while operating under the false impression that I had to have my life completely planned out already. But on this particular night, I felt a distinct urge to search for any possible mission trips that I could go on since I felt mission work might be in my future. So, I did a google search on mission trips (fancy, I know), which led me straight to Adventures in Missions. Once I saw the Semesters options, I felt certain that I would want to go on one of these trips before I aged out of the program. I don’t really know how to explain what I felt when I came upon that realization. I felt nervous (I have always been a homebody), but I somehow also felt a comforting weight and almost inevitability in the thought.
Time passed, and nothing really happened. I would occasionally check in with the Adventures website to see what Semesters trips were being offered, but the timing never felt right, and the trips never seemed to be a good fit for me.
Once COVID-19 hit, I actually gave up the idea of ever going on a trip with World Race, figuring that there simply weren’t going to be any programs running. Then, about a month and a half ago, I once again felt an irresistible urge to check the Adventures website to see which trips were being offered (once again, in the middle of doing homework: it’s funny how timing is never really picture-perfect). That is when the Spring Central America trip seemingly fell into my lap! Here was something that fit with my schedule. Here was a trip that offered the perfect amount of familiarity versus new experience. Here was a trip that would help me practice the Spanish I was already learning in class. Here was a trip focused on children’s ministry, which I have always loved.
Whenever people ask me what I want to be, or what I want to do with my life, I have always had to answer with “I’m not really sure yet.” I have always wondered if I might be called to missionary life: it’s what I grew up in for the first few years of my life. Additionally, I love to learn of other languages and cultures and I especially enjoy discussing the belief systems of different religions and worldviews. Still, all I really know is that I would like to help people think in a more Christian manner and live a more Christ-like lifestyle. This could be in the form of apologetics toward unbelievers, but it could also be in the form of discipling those who are already believers. Either way, I simply want to help people more clearly see the answers offered in Christianity: answers that address the full spectrum of spiritual distress. This, and love of diversity, have been the only real criteria for a future vocation that I have had to go on for years. But then, just over a year ago, I watched a particularly tragic yet beautiful movie (that I unfortunately cannot recommend due to foul language) that depicted human suffering in such a poignant form that I pretty much broke down and had an existential crisis right then and there. But the Lord really used this experience as I emerged with a new criterium for my calling: I want to help people in their physical suffering as well as their spiritual.
Thus, my hope is that this trip will provide me with a greater understanding of the calling that Christ has placed on my life. He is truly the only relief for suffering in this world, and I am beyond excited to live for a few months in a community that wholly seeks to point people to Christ as the only source of spiritual rejuvenation while also coming alongside people in their physical struggles.
