Hi family and friends (and random site visitors)!
Welcome to my official World Race blog page! This will be my first (and hopefully only) blog site so please bear with me as I figure out content for this. For now, I have decided to use this site to 1) re-post my email newsletters (so new supporters have an archive of my previous emails) and 2) post photos, videos, thoughts, etc. about my 11 month journey that I wouldn’t want to bloat my newsletters with. Makes sense?
So if you’d like to follow along with me, please SUBSCRIBE to this blog using the link to the left!
And without further ado, below is my first newsletter!
[First published on 6/11/2015. To view the original newsletter, click here.]
Hello family and friends!
I hope this newsletter finds you well! I first want to start by expressing my sincerest thanks to each and every one of you who will be embarking on this crazy journey with me. Knowing that I have your support and prayers is and will be the source of both my strength and my comfort…SO THANK YOU DEEPLY!
So over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to share with some people about my trip and decision to do The World Race. And through these conversations, I’ve been asked many of the same questions about it…so I figured I just address these same questions on this first newsletter so everyone has the same background story. And what better way than a Q&A style interview? LOL
So when did it all start? How did you come to the decision to do something like this?
The path to get to this point has been long, but one filled with many breadcrumbs that I believe God placed for me to follow. While my interest in missions began as early as college, it wasn’t until I went on my first short-term missions trip to Tuba City, AZ in January 2009 with my home church that the seed was firmly planted. And what started as a week-long experience sprouted to 3 more trips to Tuba City over the next 3 summers, as God revealed to me more and more about His heart for the lost.
So by 2012, my own heart for missions had blossomed such that I began wondering and looking into how I could use my gifts and talents to further the Gospel, possibly even giving up my “corporate” job to work for a missions organization. So I started that year by taking a 4 month course learning about various topics pertinent to missions. And by the end of the same year, I felt ready and primed to attend Urbana Missions Conference and find that “perfect fit” missions organization to work for. But while that experience was great and informative, I returned home and continued to work the same job for the next 2 years…
And then completely out of nowhere last summer, the idea of taking a year off from work popped into my head. The thought was so sudden and random but then as my mind became fixated on the idea, the question went from “Why?” to “Why not?” I had been working for 10 years and saved up some money that I could afford to take a year off to do something I’ve always wanted to do — travel and see the world. But of course, as I started to mentally plan my itinerary of exotic and interesting places to visit, God stepped in and threw some more breadcrumbs my way…
[Picture from my first missions trip to Tuba City, AZ in January 2009]
The World Race? And for 11 months…seriously?
Yes, The World Race! During my “taking a year off” planning period, I started getting emails from a friend about her upcoming missions trip called…duh, The World Race, haha. So as I began reading her support letters and looking into it, The World Race was basically exactly what I was looking for — almost like a “perfect fit”! It not only combined my desire to travel and see the world, but more importantly it was an opportunity to share the Gospel and extend the love of Christ to those who may not have had the chance to experience it as abundantly as I have. God’s sense of humor and timing can be so perfect at times!
And yes, it will be for a solid 11 months to 11 different countries, as I will be leaving in January 2016 and returning at the end of November 2016. Even though this may sound like a long period of time, especially for a missions trip, I believe God has fully prepared me for this upcoming adventure, and even affirmed it during my missions trip to Guatemala last summer. While that was yet another week-long trip, I got the sense from God that He wanted me to experience missions and His people more than a week at a time, to truly love on the lost and the unreached over an extended period of time. So I left Guatemala last year with the impression that it might have been my last short-term missions trip (at least for a while) and ready for a longer one. So really…11 months might even be too short at the end of it all!
[Check out the promo video below on what The World Race is all about!]
What about your job and getting married? Aren’t you worried about that?
Short answer — yes, LOL
But while my future career and wife prospects are of obvious concern, they are not my chief concerns. What takes precedence is my obedience to the Lord. Over the years, I have come to learn and understand just how much God really is in control and is orchestrating my life. And what I viewed to be mere coincidences in the past I now believe are breadcrumbs left by God for me to follow…I simply need to obey and take those steps as they lead me closer to Him.
As Scripture says in Deuteronomy 28:1-3, “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.”
And that is where I place my trust and hope — in the Lord my God, who will accompany me throughout the nations on this adventure and who will bless me before, during and after The World Race…and to whatever (and whomever) He may lead me to once I return!
So again I just want to say how truly thankful I am to have you join me on this life-changing and kingdom-impacting journey. I am humbled that no matter how brief or long our friendship has been, God has intertwined our paths such that we can come together united in spreading the Gospel and sharing the love of Christ through The World Race.
More details and specifics will come in future emails…but for now, thank you again for your support and God bless!
By His Love,
Sang Park
