I just got back from my mission trip with my Homeland family last night and it was AWESOME! 38 kids were saved and over 500 kids were reached!! Praise God!! But there were 3 things that happened before and on this mission trip that made me realize what I want to do with the rest of my life.
First off I want to say that I am an Elementary Education major and I have been in Homeland for 7 years. Every summer I have gone on a mission trip to various places in the United States to teach kids about Jesus, except last summer. I was too caught up in other stuff and since I had a choice to go on the mission trip I decided to not go. The day the rest of Homeland went on the mission trip I knew that I was supposed to be there and I was miserable the whole time they were gone. That week I had already decided that I was going to go on this summer’s mission trip.
As we were fundraising for this years mission trip, I came to realize that this is my last year in Homeland and being in Homeland has been a big part of my life since I was in 7th grade. I got to thinking, “Well even if I can’t go perform with everybody during the year, I can still go on the mission trip during the summer since I will be home.” Keep in mind that I haven’t said anything to anybody about this at this time.
(1)The Tuesday before the mission trip I went over to Aunt Gloria’s to drop something off and we got to talking and she mentioned that even though I can’t participate with Homeland during the year I can still go on the mission trip.
(2)The next day I was at church and the guy who was talking with the youth was talking about being a missionary.
(3)That next night was our first night of the mission trip and Ricky Davis was coming along with us. During worship he was telling us about how his past mission trips to Africa and Haiti, and he asked if anyone wanted to share anything. At that moment God spoke to me and told me that I will be a missionary, and He will use me to teach kids about Jesus.
Since I declared my major as elementary education I was kind of wary, because I wasn’t sure that being a teacher is what God wanted for me. That night I silently dedicated my life to working in children’s missions (and of course I had to share it the next night.) God wants me to be a teacher so that I can use that knowledge to teach bible clubs, Sunday schools, and vacation bible schools to elementary aged kids. I have already decided to not take summer classes so that I can go on the mission trip for the next few summers. As for the future when I graduate from college, I have no clue where God will lead me. If I stay in East Texas I want to work with Gloria Russell Children Ministries, but if God leads me somewhere else I want to work with Child Evangelism Fellowship so I can continue to share my faith in Jesus. I knew that this mission trip was going to be big for me (: Again this is something that I want to share :)