I wrote my three choices on the student missionary application: Thailand, Palau, or “wherever I am needed most.” Initially, this was going to be Thailand, so I fundraised in my church, telling them all about the “Land of the Free.” Two months before departure, I was told that I was needed in another location. As I was committed to going where God needed me most, I gladly agreed to the new assignment. I would not trade that experience for anything.
Forty years later, a tremendous need remains — the need of reaching the unreached. You, as a student, can respond to God’s call by taking the gospel to an unreached people group.
This month’s issue shows a fraction of the impact student (and short-term) missionaries have on people’s lives.
Imagine surprising your student with a happy birthday message that slowly reveals itself during a classroom game of Hangman (Ratcliff p 47), showing her that she has not been forgotten . . . or serving a year overseas and discovering a new calling for your life, directing you into a college degree that prepares you for a career supporting global missions (Gorton p 11).
Imagine going abroad for the salvation of others and finding God tenderly continuing to work out your salvation and His plans for your life at the same time (Bjeate p 27, Diaz–Vazquez p 45, Dörnbrack p 29 and Patino p 24) . . . or helping to nurse the physically sick back to health (Hess p 36) or delivering the spiritually possessed (Cuculicchio p 14).
As the icing on the cake, imagine witnessing the baptism of the previously unreached who chose to commit their lives to Christ through your faithful witness.
Forty years ago and 5,554 miles away, I embarked on an adventure of making friends to lead them to Christ. I still consider it one of the best years of my life.
Make this your best year ever. . . . Go!
