We were asked to write a blog about how we were called to this mission trip.
Here is my story
Way back when (high school? maybe as far back as junior high?), I was listening to a radio broadcast about this thing called TeenMania. I was listening to some kids talk about Africa and the trips they had just made out there. How they described the people, the hurt, the culture shock, the need…it all pricked me somehow. My heart was moved, warmer maybe. My parents weren’t at home so I decided to risk it and call the 800 number to get more information. A kind woman answered and was able to answer my questions for basic information. I don’t remember much about what she said, except for the fact that it involved a lot of money.I began to shutdown and soon I lost hope altogether of ever going anywhere outside the US.Flash forward to 2003. I began attending a church back in my hometown. Through this community, God woke me up from my hopelessness! I heard about a mission trip to Cairo, Egypt and I figured it couldn’t hurt to at least ask about it. The college minister was able to give me all of the details. He and other college students were enthusiastic and encouraging to say the least. I thought that to ask for the chance to go to Africa was so far beyond my reach. (To be honest, I hardly knew how to bring God into the picture.) Going to Cairo was the realization of the dream I had of fulfilling back when I heard about TeenMania. I saw then how much God could work through. He could have kept that door closed as long as I lived, but He wanted to show me some things in the culture, the travel experience, the k ids, our bodyguard, and the tourist spots…1) He was always with me and 2) His glory will be known in all things.
Since that trip to Cairo, I’ve yearned to go back. I remember standing on a low roof of a mosque and thinking about the millions of people who were lost there. Like Christ, I wept. When I think about what I want to do after I graduate college, I want to be working with the brokenhearted, those who feel they’ve lost all hope, those who just need a second chance or a first chance. The idea of sitting behind a desk or at a cube for so many years hurts my insides. It’s just not meant to be for me, I believe.
Somehow, I came across this website called RightNow.org and ran a search through their “Serve Now” database. I didn’t find many results for a long-term, fulltime overseas job. I tried a search for “6 months-2years” and found the World Race. It was a traveler’s dream! Since I didn’t really know where in the world I’d want to work long-term, why not go to many places in just one-year and let God show me.
I began reading the racers’ blogs. One word: dangerous! I was glued to each article. Each day my heart has cried out, “that’s where I’m meant to be!” I don’t have doubts, but I have had my hesitations: the costs, the preparations, the unknown. The unknown. That’s where my biggest fear and my greatest anticipation are intertwined. The part of me that needs details and structure, to hold on to the kind of lifestyle I’ve known for so long pulls me one direction. But my love for Christ and will to follow Him pull me another. My heart smiles thinking about the World Race!
I can’t say that I’m not on the mission field right now. But on such foreign lands…God will show me again and again that 1) He is always with me and 2) His glory will be known in all things.
