Why I Stay

On Saturday, I went to the World Race training camp that was held at a retreat center a little over an hour from the Adventures in Missions office. It was the same location of my own training camp and a flood of memories hit me as soon as I set my feet on that red Georgia dirt. There was where I pitched my tent, there was where I first met my team, there was where I had my first emotional breakdown (like all World Racers do). I sat in the back of the pavilion during worship looking back to the fearful girl who stood there almost three years ago. She is long gone. I learned so much through the Race, and if you can believe it, even more at the Adventures office.

 

Standing in the middle of the next generation of Racers, an unrequited sense of action rose up inside me, as it often does. I want to be one of them again! I want to go! I want to hold the orphans and look into the faces of the widows. I want to sweat, get dirty and not know what is coming around the bend. There many called to GO, and few who answer. AND SO I GO.

                              

I go back to the office on Monday morning to answer e-mails and look up passports and find lodging for youth groups. I know there are few who go, but there are even fewer who STAY. We send out thousands of missionaries every year. There are only 150 of us in the office. Because it is hard. It is harder to STAY.

 

Some days, to be honest, I must talk myself into believing that my job is important, I know that missions change lives. The trips I took as a teenager lead me to the Race which both broke me and freed me. Without the people in the offices that wouldn’t have been possible. So I am so grateful for all who have helped send me. I am thankful for those who have not gone themselves, who have sacrificed personal interactions and the ministry and the travel to send others.

 

 My job is to SEND over 100 teenagers to serve in 8 different countries this summer. I talk to thousands of students and parents. There are only two of us who work with this program and it can be exhausting most days, but I believe in them and I believe that they will change the world. It was a high school mission trip that got me started in missions in the first place over 10 years ago.

 

 

This is a new side of missions for me and God is teaching me a lot through it all, but I am getting the feeling that I will be in missions for a long time, whatever it looks like. This is the hard part: I need support. I need others who are willing to be the senders so that I can do my job. I raise a portion of my salary so that we can keep the cost of our trips low and more people can GO.

 

I am looking to raise about $400 a month and any extra will go towards leading our trip to Jamaica this summer, which is also part of my job. I will also be going to Washington, D.C. ans Western Pennsylvania.  If I can find 20 people who will give $20 a month, I will reach my goal! Please let me know if you want to invest in me long term. You can give by clicking on the “support me” button in the upper left hand corner.

 

My job is important. I believe in this next generation, and I believe that they need to be raised up as a generation that loves and serves God with all of their heart. That is why I STAY.