My Journey to Missions - Pt. 2
My Journey to Missions - Pt. 1
In July 2011, I transitioned from my public school teaching job to working full-time in children’s ministry at MBC through the Future Leaders Program. In FLP we met weekly to do bible studies, get ministry training, and discuss books and articles we had read. I was greatly stretched and grown from various experiences through my year in this program (like having to prepare and preach a sermon to be critiqued by my class and a few of my favorite pastors from our church!). My favorite part of the program was the multiple missionary biographies we were assigned to read and discuss. I loved reading about their great faith, and was encouraged by their selflessness and commitment to God’s glory. Through these biographies, my interest in long-term missions was reawakened and stirred. I also started to realize that my response to these books was different from most... while other people just picked out principles to apply to their life here, and felt a stronger desire to pray for and support missionaries, I felt the longing and desire to go. I thought my response was a typical one, but was surprised to find that most people didn't feel the same way. I began to read more about missions and started praying with other people about it, and the Lord continued to stir up my heart as I read more in His Word about what the true Christian life should be marked by.
At this point I was thinking about long-term missions but had never even been
on a short-term trip! I knew my thoughts on missions could change once actually
on the field, so I was eager to go on a short-term trip and see what God would
do. An opportunity to go on a trip to Haiti through Frontline soon arose.
I was actually kind of bummed because I wasn't really thrilled about going to Haiti. I always
envisioned going somewhere in Africa for some
reason. I’m not sure why, but I remember actually thinking previously that Haiti was a
place I specifically did not want to go to (funny how the Lord works). But,
this was the only short-term opportunity that had come up and I decided it was
better than nothing.
In June of 2012, I ended up going on the trip and serving for a week with Mission of Hope. I loved being in Haiti. I loved being in the midst of a different culture and language. I loved seeing God’s presence at work in the global church. I loved being able to serve physical and spiritual needs. And I loved being out of the independent and consumerist mindset of America. Again, I as talked with others on my team about our experience, most people felt called to be more intentional in their mission field back at home and to support work happening globally, but I still had a desire to go. People who were on the trip with me and knew my thoughts about long-term missions commented on how comfortable I seemed in Haiti, and how they could envision me being successful in missions.
Upon returning home, I began researching different ministries and missions organizations. I randomly came across a blog by a lady (who I now know as Susan) who was serving in Haiti. I looked into the ministry she was with and realized she was a teacher at an English-immersion school called Sonlight Academy. One of my hesitations with long-term missions had always been not knowing what capacity in which I could serve. I wanted to actually be useful and not a burden. I didn’t want to go just to go, or out of selfish reasons. I have a degree in education, but don't know another language fluently enough to teach in it, so I thought teaching was out of the question. Other than that, I couldn’t really think of any other skill I could use on the mission field. So I was intrigued when I realized that the opportunity at Sonlight was something I could actually do and was trained in. I decided to just put my feelers out and contact the principal of the school last August. I wasn't decided on anything yet, but after a few rounds of email inquiries I felt pushed to at least put in my application and see what would happen.
To be continued…
In July 2011, I transitioned from my public school teaching job to working full-time in children’s ministry at MBC through the Future Leaders Program. In FLP we met weekly to do bible studies, get ministry training, and discuss books and articles we had read. I was greatly stretched and grown from various experiences through my year in this program (like having to prepare and preach a sermon to be critiqued by my class and a few of my favorite pastors from our church!). My favorite part of the program was the multiple missionary biographies we were assigned to read and discuss. I loved reading about their great faith, and was encouraged by their selflessness and commitment to God’s glory. Through these biographies, my interest in long-term missions was reawakened and stirred. I also started to realize that my response to these books was different from most... while other people just picked out principles to apply to their life here, and felt a stronger desire to pray for and support missionaries, I felt the longing and desire to go. I thought my response was a typical one, but was surprised to find that most people didn't feel the same way. I began to read more about missions and started praying with other people about it, and the Lord continued to stir up my heart as I read more in His Word about what the true Christian life should be marked by.
(My FLP class)
In June of 2012, I ended up going on the trip and serving for a week with Mission of Hope. I loved being in Haiti. I loved being in the midst of a different culture and language. I loved seeing God’s presence at work in the global church. I loved being able to serve physical and spiritual needs. And I loved being out of the independent and consumerist mindset of America. Again, I as talked with others on my team about our experience, most people felt called to be more intentional in their mission field back at home and to support work happening globally, but I still had a desire to go. People who were on the trip with me and knew my thoughts about long-term missions commented on how comfortable I seemed in Haiti, and how they could envision me being successful in missions.
(My Haiti 2012 team)
Upon returning home, I began researching different ministries and missions organizations. I randomly came across a blog by a lady (who I now know as Susan) who was serving in Haiti. I looked into the ministry she was with and realized she was a teacher at an English-immersion school called Sonlight Academy. One of my hesitations with long-term missions had always been not knowing what capacity in which I could serve. I wanted to actually be useful and not a burden. I didn’t want to go just to go, or out of selfish reasons. I have a degree in education, but don't know another language fluently enough to teach in it, so I thought teaching was out of the question. Other than that, I couldn’t really think of any other skill I could use on the mission field. So I was intrigued when I realized that the opportunity at Sonlight was something I could actually do and was trained in. I decided to just put my feelers out and contact the principal of the school last August. I wasn't decided on anything yet, but after a few rounds of email inquiries I felt pushed to at least put in my application and see what would happen.
To be continued…
Comments
Post a Comment