Ten years ago I was visiting some missionaries in Austria with my mom, while there they asked if I would come back and help them. My job was to be an administrative assistant to the husband as he was leading the small and growing church. I was very excited and I came home, prepared, raised support and went. I was there for six months and God changed my life and grew me up. Those six months gave me a small taste of real missionary life.
yeah... 10 years ago... I feel old
So, in the past 12 plus years I have experienced many aspects of missionary life. Because of these opportunities I have had a heart that was and is very soft to the work that God is doing in the eastern and western countries of Europe. Over the years I found myself not drawn to any one country.. .but instead toward the missionaries and nationals who were working in each country. I fell in love with taking college students on mission trips. Seeing a student’s eyes opened and their heart softened by the people and culture that they encounter is one of my greatest joys.
Some of my favorite memories over the past 12 years are the times with a student while in-country as they wrestled through what they were experiencing.
Working with DELTA ministries gave me my first insight into the importance of good training and debriefing for a team or person of a mission trip. It has been a blessing to my heart to be able to be the one who "understands" the difficulty that a person has upon re-entry.
I went to visit my friends Rick and Mary Beth Holladay just after Thanksgiving 2004. They are with a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ called Crescendo... Amazing ministry. While there I met Deb Heefner and Jesse and Tricia Marcos. Deb is the Western European Campus Facilitator for Campus Crusade and Jesse, along with his wife Tricia, are the STINT partnership coordinators for Europe. About 10 minutes into my first time meeting Deb, she handed me her card and told me that she needs an assistant. My first thought? "Oh great. Someone else who has a wonderful plan for my life." :-) But over the course of the week with the Holladays in Kandern, Germany, the thought sat heavy on my heart.
The whole week it felt that God was calling me to think more seriously about this offer. I talked to Deb at the end of the week and we both realized that God was prompting us each in this situation. She and I have kept in communication since then as we try to put this all together. I have talked to and prayed with and asked for prayer from many dear, and wise people in my life. Each person, though sad at the thought of me leaving this area, has had incredible and immediate peace that this is where God is taking me.
I too, can sense that God has me in this place of life for this reason. I look back over the past years, from my experience with the college students at GSCC, to my experience overseas, to my various roommates, my various jobs, my ability to pick up languages fairly easily and the ease that I have in traveling and entering new cultures and I see how these have all prepared me for this next step.
The actual job description as Deb and Jesse and I have discussed, is as follows: Part time administratively assisting Deb and Jesse in the Area of Affairs Campus Office located in Kandern, Germany. This would include logistics and planning for conferences, travel coordination, organization and tracking of CC growth in Europe, and anything else I can do to make the office more effective and organized. The other part time would be helping to track and care for the single STINT women in Europe.
This is the perfect blend of the passions and the skills that God has honed in me. And it looks like the blend in me of details and people is the perfect blend for the need. My various experiences in Europe have prepared me to not be shocked by too much while living and traveling for this job. I am blessed to be able to have this opportunity to fill a much needed position with this incredible team of people.
I am committed to being in this position for 2 years.. At the very least. And I have no doubt that God might just call me to this longer term. I see that this is a very strategic ministry and I would love to be a vital part of it. I will be fully committed to the ministry while I am there and I would expect nothing less.
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