(I won’t normally post this many blogs at once! I just started Christmas break and actually had the time to finish all the blogs I was working on!)
We receive various blogging assignments from Adventures in Missions. This is the first “homework assignment”. I kind of feel like my students with all this homework….
2002: I was a 17 year old attending Chicago Christian High School. I worked part-time washing dishes in a nursing home. I ran on the track team. I attended youth group at my church. I was looking into colleges and knew I wanted to be a teacher. I spent time with family and friends. The idea of being a missionary NEVER crossed my mind. One afternoon in March I received an informational packet on mission trips for high school students. I ignored it. About a month later, it appeared in my bedroom. I still ignored it. Eventually I read through it and saw mission trips to the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, New Mexico, and Alaska. I didn’t know anything about mission trips. My heart didn’t jump at the three warm places, no it jumped at the Alaska trip.
WHAT??? Who goes to Alaska? Well, I did. I applied, was accepted, and raised the necessary funds in two months to go on this trip. I was gone for the month of July. God completely changed my life on that trip. I went from living a passive Christian life to realizing that I was called to live out the Great Commission. While my team of 8 was in Alaska we worked in an EXTREMELY remote Eskimo village. We flew on tiny bush planes and landed in the middle of Kalskag, Alaska. Kalskag is the true definition of the “middle of nowhere”. There were only 300 people in the village and the only way to get there was to fly on a bush plane or wait until the river freezes over and drive along it for hours. There are absolutely no roads out to Kalskag. This village was filled with alcoholism, rape, poverty, lack of education, etc. We were told that a majority of the girls were raped before the age of 14 (often by their fathers, uncles, brothers, etc). We spent our days leading a Vacation Bible School and our nights were spent hosting a teen night. This is a small community, in the United States, that need Jesus. I think about these people all the time and pray that they are continuing to find the hope and love of Jesus.
2003-2007: Following Alaska, I developed a passion for missions. I knew that at some point in my life God would call me to the mission field. I went on a mission trip to Guatemala in 2003, Brazil in 2006, and participated in various ministries during my time in Ireland in 2004. Over the years I learned that a mission field does not have to be some remote village, or foreign country. I went on to teach 3rd grade at Salem from September 2007-June 2009.
2008-2009: Throughout the past year and a half I knew God was calling me to the foreign mission field. I wasn’t sure how or when that would happen. I loved working at Salem and was hesitant to leave. My time came to leave Salem, but He still wanted me here in the States. Now the time has come and I know that it is in His will to serve Him from September 2010-July 2011 overseas. Does it scare me? YES!!! A few of the things that make me nervous are:
1.Raising support
2.Leaving everything I know for a year
3. Going to potentially dangerous places
4. Not having the regular “luxuries”: consistent electricity, safe water, regular showers ,etc.
5. Living on $7 or less per day ($2 for food and $5 for lodging. This means we will often be sleeping on the floor, in tents, or airport floors and eating a lot of rice and beans!)
But the positives out weigh the negatives!
1. Feeding starving children in Kenya
2. Learning from the Gypsies in Romania
3. Befriending the women in Thailand
4. Bringing the light of Jesus Christ to India
5. Meeting people that the world has forgotten about.
6. Sharing the Gospel with God’s people all over the world.
7. Locating and working in ministries in a random country during our “Pioneer” months.
I am truly excited about this year of serving the Lord with Adventures in Missions. I know that this is God’s plan for my life and look forward to sharing about it with you! God has truly blessed me with this incredible opportunity and I do not take it for granted!
