Since I was a young girl I have had a heart and an inward drive to love the poor and and be of practical help to those in need as well as share the love of Jesus with those in other countries. Growing up, my parents would read stories to my siblings and I about missionaries who had completely given up their rights to a “normal” and “safe” life in order to respond to what they had felt called and driven to: the poor, destitute, and needy. These stories always impacted me very deeply. As I read more and more about individuals who had completely surrendered their lives to Jesus and gave themselves to the work of full time missions in other countries, a deep desire for this same kind of surrender and willingness to go love the poor and help those in need began to grow and grow inside of my own heart.
In highschool I never really had an urgency to go to college. I wanted to be a missionary. I had every intention of leaving America and starting missionary work some where in Africa. However, I have been out of high school for two years now and I have yet to embark on the journey to the nations that I so desperately wanted to do two years ago. In fact, there have been times in the last two years where I have felt like maybe those desires to go and be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need had died. I recently moved back home to Hawaii from Washington, DC. I had every intention of coming home and enrolling in college and working a “normal” job as I worked my way through school. However, that wasn’t really what I longed to do with my life in my heart of hearts. I wanted to go to school because it’s what most of American society tells young people to do these days. It was my form of security. A college degree in my mind was equivalent to a happy, secure, and financially stable life…
Well, about three months ago I began to find myself on my bed at night in deep thought about the future. I would write in my journal about a “longing” in my heart to do something great. It wasn’t that any of my circumstances in life were bad or my relationship with God was off kilter…I just began to feel this intense longing and passion for something “more.” I began to feel an ache and a tension in my heart that I could not explain. I just began to feel discontent and dissatisfied with the life that I personally was living. The thought of going to college and committing myself to four years of studying started to become less and less desirable…maybe God had not forgotten about my dream to do missions work after all. 😉
About a month and half ago my mom and I went out to coffee. She was honest with me about what she was sensing in regards to my future. It really was a lovely conversation with her that night at Starbucks. She told me that she had a realization. She felt that I would never feel fully fulfilled in my heart until I responded to the call of missions that I have felt calling my name since I was around ten years old. She encouraged me to just pursue missionary work with my whole heart and to trust God with the details. It was that night that in my heart I released the plan of pursuing college anytime in the near future. It was that night that in my heart I genuinely responded to the “call” to go out and serve those in need and to say yes to what I had felt God calling me to since I was little. I felt such a peace when I finally decided to just rest in what I knew to be God’s plan over my life. (Not to say I don’t stress and that I stay in that peaceful place all the time..I am continually working on trusting the Lord and trusting in HIS plans for my life.) With all of that being said…I still had no idea how or when or with who I was going to be sent out into the mission field. However, my mom and I both felt that I was going to go into missions quite rapidly and that it was all going to happen very fast.
Fast forward to April first. I was sitting in my bedroom watching spoken word poetry videos, (I LOVE spoken word poetry) and one came on called, “The World Race.” It was a spoken word poem on some “World Race” thing that I had no idea about nor could I gather what it was from the video…but it sounded intriguing and adventurous. So, naturally, I looked up “The World Race” in my search bar. Long story short, I found out that it was a christian missions program through an organization called “Adventures In Missions” that has sent out more than 100,000 missionaries since 1989. I found a trip entitled “gap year” which is a nine month missions trip to three different countries. It was intended for people who wanted to experience something different than the normal american college experience and/or for those who hadn’t gone to college yet and were still on the fence about what to do with their life. It is intended to get young people outside of themselves and to go help and serve those in need while sharing the love of Jesus at the same time. With that being said, I applied for the trip and payed the app fee and three hours later hit “submit” and then fell fast asleep. When I woke up the next morning I told my mom first thing what I had applied for and I informed my dad as well. I was so excited about the possibility of going to on a nine month missions trip to Malawi Africa, El Salvador, and the Philipppines. I could not wait to hear back from someone in regards to my acceptance…
Well, two days ago on April 27th I heard back! I am officially accepted and I am preparing to go backpack my way through three different countries and help those in need and share the love of Jesus! I feel that by saying yes to this trip to go to the nations and love people that I am practically responding to God’s call on my life as opposed to just saying yes in my heart as I did that night at starbucks with my mom.I know that this will be an amazing adventure with the Lord. I have not a clue as to what it will look like when I am actually on the field. I have never done something like this before. However, I without a doubt believe that this is just the beginning of a lifelong adventure in Missions!
I pray that this little blog encourages you throughout the next year! I will be updating it frequently before and during my actual trip! It is an easy way to communicate with all of my friends and family and I know that I will have lots of little updates and such along the way:)
I pray that whatever you feel called to right now in your heart that you would go for it and respond with a big YES!
Matthew 28:19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach the new disciples to obey all the commands I am giving you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
