I would’ve never thought that my life would be redirected in the way it did. If you would have told me even 2 years ago that I would be a missionary I probably would have given you the side eye and laughed! I guess this is because I’ve always envisioned missionaries as people that had years of experience, went to Bible school and live perfect lives. And although God had given me a picture that stayed with me my whole life that was a glimpse into that world, I still brushed it off. Afterall, it didn’t fit into MY version of the “American Dream.” The plan I had for my life included the business world 9 to 5, marriage, kids, possibly winning the lottery and starting my own theme park, have an early, successful retirement and live a long happy life. Instead, for now, I’m living that Missionary life and this is what the first 6 months looked like…
In India, we were given the opportunity to help build a Christian church, a country in which Hinduism is the top religion. More of our ministry here included putting on Vacation Bible Schools for kids in different villages, giving out free medicine at a medical camp and helping with their local child sponsorship program.
In Nepal, in the middle of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of Hindu believers, my team and I stood in a circle and publicly proclaimed Jesus through prayer and blessings. One day we packed into a bus destined for a Hindu Village to do open air ministry in a clear field to tell the Gospel. There was the time we jumped on a public bus, stood at the front and gave a spirit led message to all the passengers on the goal of this mission trip. Every Wednesday we got the opportunity to participate in street kid ministry; where we played games, shared a story from the bible then fed them. During our time there we visited many of the thousands of Hindu/Buddhist temples to pray and intercede for all who were there. There was the time we sought out Cabin Restaurants where we befriended and shared God’s love to the women who sell their bodies for money. I will never forget the day we went to the Boudhanath Stupa, which is the largest stupa in Nepal and their holiest Tiebetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet.
In Cape Town, South Africa ministry consisted of door to door evangelism, playing soccer & other sports with the kids, and presenting them with life lessons they can take away from our time together that align with the word of God. Our host volunteered his time at a local school where we got the opportunity to spread the word of God by talking to, encouraging and proclaiming Jesus to the students. This was a month of many salvations from many of the students, a drunk older gentleman in our neighborhood, a young man on the beach, to a man living in the Rasta Camp battling drug addiction.
In Swaziland, which has the highest prevalence of HIV as percentage of population 19-49 in the world as of 2012, we stayed at an orphanage on the top of a mountain which took 45 minutes to reach. My month included showing God’s Love to the buddy we were assigned, mine was a 12 year old boy named Welcome. I did a home visit to the home of a single mother, her and her kids received health check ups and after sitting with her and praying for her for a time, we took her clothes down to the creek to hand wash them and give her a break from her daily routine. One day two of my squadmates and I put on a Ladies Weekend event for the staff of El Shaddai Ministries. Here the local women expressed true emotions on what it is like being a women in this culture. Having a husband possibly means sharing him with other wives and exposing themselves to diseases including HIV. They felt trapped with no where to turn, since this is the culture and they would be disowned by their families if they didn’t adhere to it.
In Mozambique we stayed with a pastor with Africa on Fire Ministries. Our ministry for the month consisted of praying and praising God with families going through hardships, sharing the Gospel to new believers and simply fellowshipping with fellow brothers and sisters. We held a Crusade in the village of Maconda for people who never heard of Jesus, who subsequently accepted him in their hearts as their Lord and Savior. We ventured out to secluded villages only reachable by wooden paddle boats across a crocodile infested river to pray for the locals there.
Month 6 of The Race we headed to Europe, an area of the world with some of the highest rates of Atheism in the world. I spent this month in Latvia, where we partnered with a local missionary who is seeking to start a Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base. Our main focus was to promote an event he organized called the Festival of Love. The festival, was geared to have evangelical programs for all ages including a Christian clown show for the kids, performances and speakers for the youth and adults, followed by an altar call. After a little over a week’s time of this festival many people accepted Jesus into their hearts as their Lord and Savior!
Throughout these six countries and three continents thus far God has been moving in amazing ways and I am so glad He is allowing me to take part in it. My favorite scripture, Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Every time I think about this scripture now I think about those plans I had and how I wasn’t seeking the Will God has for my life when I made them. Yes, this is not the plan I had for my life but God’s plan, and it is far more epic than anything I could ever plan for myself!
