How I Was Called To The Mission Field

We were asked to write a blog about how we were called to this mission trip.  Here is my story…
    
    It is actually kind of cool to share this story.  I can’t tell you how many countless times I have shared it within the last few months.  But I am excited to share it with you.
     I was actually raised kind of like a missionary’s kid.  We didn’t live in some foreign country as full-time missionaries but we sure spent a lot of time going on mission trips.  A lot of that time was spent down in Mexico.  We would go down and visit my Mom’s parents (my Mom was native to Mexico) often and stay at their home while we went to local churches and helped out where they needed us.  We also went door-to-door, visited orphanages, just showing Christ love to everyone we came in contact with.  As a teenager, I enjoyed mission trips even more because I had all my friends from church join our family.
     In 2002 I started school at California Baptist University (CBU).  CBU is all about fulfilling The Great Commission (they even have a huge globe in front of the school that says, “The Great Commission”) and so they always give opportunities to students to go on mission trips.  Well, something told me to go but I didn’t have the money to go (come on, I was already paying for school).  A friend of mine told me about this organization that does mission trips within the US and Canada and it was free.  I was sold!  I applied then next thing you know I was on a flight to Canada.  It was there I started feeling a tug but I still wasn’t quite sure if this was real.
     In 2005, as I was browsing The Newsboys site, I saw an invitation to join them on a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico.  This was an opportunity that I didn’t want to miss.  I went expecting to meet The Newsboys (which I did) but instead I met God in that place.  I had gone to Mexico my entire life but never had I seen Mexico like this.  We were in the slumps.  People’s homes were made of 4 pieces of wood just leaning against each other, all that fit in most of these homes was a full-sized bed which was shared by the entire family, towns shared one outhouse amongst them all.  We did some door-to-door and asked people what they wanted us to pray for.  Most of them asked for nothing more then their health.  These people were content.  When we asked them why they were so happy, they just responded with, “God has given us all that we need.”  I was taken away by this, here in the US we want more and pray for more and yet these people were content.
     The final night, Ron Luce spoke on The Great Commission and how we are ALL called to missions.  He talked about the different rolls we play.  Some of us are called to prayerfully support, others to financially support and yet others were called to go.  He said that even some of those who were on the trip were called to be supporters not goers (though they were not there by accident).   As he spoke, I asked God to reveal which roll I played.  It was then that I felt God tug at my heart.  He told me that I was to go.  From that moment on, I knew that this was my call.
     In 2007, I had another opportunity to go to Tijuana, Mexico.  This time, I did a lot more door-to-door and a lot less building.  I was one of two people in my group that knew Spanish pretty well and so different groups used me as their translator.  I also was the translator for VBS.  It was a ton of fun. 
     When I came home I was excited but I told God that this was going to be it until later on down the line.  I wanted to slow down.  I wanted to wait until God sent me a husband and then my husband (whoever he may be) and I could go together.  I asked God to reveal to me what He wanted me to do after camp was over.  One day I googled the words “adventure” and “missions” just to see what would pop-up.  To my surprise, I liked what I saw on Adventures In Missions site.  It was then that I saw the “11 countries in 11 months” advertisement box.  It led me to The World Race website and even though I didn’t want to go, I applied.
     I knew that I wouldn’t be accepted.  There was no way that God was calling me to this because He knew that I didn’t want to go.  Well, one day I decided to check my account out again and it read across the top, “You have been accepted.”  From that day, I did everything in my power to make sure that I didn’t go on this trip.  I missed deadlines and didn’t answer my phone when they called.

I know this is long but I get so excited about missions!!!