Elizabeth looked at me with an expression that said: You’re crazy! Her mouth held a thousand questions, but all that came out was, “Why?”
I was in my last semester of nursing school and was planning to spend the next year serving in the Philippines with AFM. Elizabeth, the nurse I had been assigned to work with during clinicals at the hospital that day, had just asked what my plans were after graduation and was visibly shocked at my response. I smiled at her reaction and simply explained that there was a need in the area where I would be going, and I wanted to help people. She brushed off her shock, and we continued about our day, but something from that moment stayed with me.
The motivation to be a missionary is not easily understood, and to people like Elizabeth, it may seem to be insanity. Why would someone like me, on the verge of a promising new career, with all the places I could go, my whole life in front of me, go to the mission field?
Looking back at the answer I gave Elizabeth, true as it was, I see that it lacked expressing the full depths of my desire to be a missionary. Yes, I want to help people. Yes, I want to touch the suffering and hurting in this life and offer what I can. But what I want the most is for Jesus to come and end all suffering. Therefore, as a missionary, I aim to reach all I can with the good news of heaven to prepare them for His return.
In reflecting over the past year, the “why” is driven home more clearly by realizing the sheer number of unreached people. I have heard many striking illustrations of their vast numbers. However, none impacted me as much as when I began entering into their lives. In each individual, I saw how deeply a lack of knowledge of God impacted life for the worse. As I considered these situations, I often realized that this was just one person in one village and that there were many more such villages in the surrounding areas. Many had similar, or perhaps even greater, needs yet were seemingly just beyond my reach. Several such experiences have strengthened my desire to, by God’s grace, reach every unreached person that I can. Even more, realizing the vastness of the work has sparked a prayer in my heart that many more young people will heed the call to mission service. Truly, the work is great, and the laborers are few!
Perhaps you are called to spend a portion of your life working for the unreached. Will you go? It would be an answer to my prayers.
