THIS SUMMER HAS BEEN IMPACTFUL BEYOND WHAT I CAN CONVEY.
I traveled to three different countries in three days with probably less then 12 hours of solid sleep. I went on excursions pretty much every other week of the whole three months, each with a different purpose and environment. Each excursion exposed me to a wide variety of concepts, like-minded organizations, and a variety of issues.
I’ve spent time in a foreign culture with the intent of gaining the skill of learning how to integrate into any culture I may come in contact with. I’ve also found avenues to explore in the future, including opportunities that can help me gain more knowledge and skills as well as hone in on skills that I already have. These are all opportunities that will serve to cultivate the passions for God’s work that I’ve continued to develop while here.
Over the course of 12 weeks I have gone on a journey where I have been stretched in ways that I didn’t expect and grew in ways I didn’t know possible at the time. Issues and burdens I’ve carried that I wasn’t aware of are now gone through God’s work and through the patience and guidance of staff here.
All of these experiences combined with the classes I’ve gone through in this program have shown me how far I’ve come since the first week, and I can now say with complete confidence that I know I can move to another country for the purpose of kingdom-minded work.
I’ve also realized this need for long-term kingdom-minded work for the purpose of long-term relationships. I’ve spent a frighteningly short amount of time with a local friend that I made while here. We finally had the conversation I was hoping to have since we became friends about the story of Jesus that changed my life, and now I have to leave. This is distressing for many reasons, but even more so when I think of how many people in the world have never even heard this story.
The story above is from a student who went through Cafe 1040’s Overseas Missions Mentorship. This mentorship exists to guide and direct students to think strategically about where they will serve, aligning themselves with God’s heart for “every tribe, tongue, and nation.”
