Hello,
My name is Paul Koenen. I have lived in the same place for 25 years with my mom, dad and younger sister (who now lives in Texas) in St. Paul, Minnesota. I just received my 4 year degree in Information Assurance (Information Technology) and was looking for a full time job until I got a whisper in my ear to go on the World Race. (I am still looking for a temporary Information Technology job until I leave in September 2014).
I first heard about The World Race though the 700 club (http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/February/World-Race-Sets-Missionaries-on-Adventure-of-Lifetime/) when it was aired back in May. I heard a whisper that I should look into it, but I did not act on the whispers until October 13, 2013. I was at Minnesota Youth Convention with my students in my life group (Backdoor) and the speaker was talking about missions. God whispered into my ear again (like he had been doing every so often since I heard about it) that when I get home to just look it up. Late that night he told me again to look it up and I said “Fine I will just help me get some rest”. After I got home I looked it up and started working on my profile over the course of a few days. After talking to 2 of my pastors, they both agreed to support me in this and to be my references for the trip.
I am going to back track a bit to this summer. Each summer my church takes its kids, middle school and high students to their camp. They are each on different weeks and I went to the high school camp as a counselor. On the last night of camp, the preacher Eric Samuel Timm talked about writing a scarlet letter to someone who had hurt us. I was bullied a lot growing up and I had never truly forgiven them. I thought I did but God told me to write one anyway so I did. Then he told us to give it to the person or persons who had hurt us. if we could not, we were told to throw them into the fire pit in front of the Chapel. I felt a great peace over me that burden was gone and I can change my hurt into my story. Through this he started to work on fixing my heart towards those who hurt me and in turn, that led me to start listening to the call on my life.
The next step was the interview, I talked to Austin and we went over some of the details of the World Race, why I felt called, how I heard about it, and 3 things that greatly impacted my life (that will be in a latter blog). He told me it could take up to 14 days to let me know if I would be accepted. I had the interview on Tuesday and I got a voice mail that he called while I was at work. I got worried that I did not get into the race since it has only been 6 days. God asked me “why do you think that I did not tell you to do this?” That snapped me back to that this was his calling on my life. I got back to him on Wednesday and he said that I was accepted to the World Race. I was very excited about this. I told the high school pastor that night during Paradigm (name of the youth department that I volunteer for) and he was so excited for me. I also talked to the family life pastor (oversees several other pastors) and told him about The world Race.
In all I need to raise $16,284 for the trip, that does not include the cost of gear that I need. The cost covers all my travel, food, and other things that come up on the way that my team needs to pay for on the trip. If you would like to support me you can do so by clicking the link at the top of this blog that says “Support me” you can also mail a check to:
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 742570
Atlanta, GA 30374-2570
Be sure to put Paul Koenen in the memo line of the check, that way it will get into my account. I can not do this in my own strength, and I would love your support in this great adventure that God has called me to.
