My church, Watermark Community Church, partners with e3 Partners Ministry to send young adults on short term international trips. A friend had just gone to Ethiopia a few months earlier and a conversation we had about her experiences there sparked something in my heart. I wouldn't realize until many months later that that spark was God igniting a passion in me for missions.
In September 2010 I went to an informational meeting about the Watermark/e3 Partners international missions trips. After applying and interviewing, I was invited to go to the Amazon in Brazil. I believed that if God wanted me to go, then He would provide the monetary support...all I had to do was ask.
Our training meetings began in November 2010 and occurred monthly until our trip in May 2011. I’d always known that as Christ followers we are called to share our faith, but I didn’t completely understand what that looked like. As our team trained for Brazil I learned how to articulate the Gospel, my personal testimony, Bible stories, and the evangecube. We took a "Find your Mission" class at Watermark to develop our personal mission within Jesus' Great Commission to all Christians. Through support raising, I began to see what an incredible opportunity overseas missions presents at home for evangelism.
The Brazil trip was life changing. I could feel my heart for the nations grow as we experienced the culture of Brazil and spent our days in villages along the Amazon River. When I returned home, I had a longing in my heart to return that ran deeper than just the excitement of the trip. I began looking for ways to get more involved with missions by researching various organizations. God was calling me into full-time missions, but I wasn't quite ready to start on that journey.
In July 2011, a friend told me about an e3 Partners trip to East Asia that needed more team members. I knew that if I went I would be saying yes to more than just another trip, but to a lifetime of missions. Just two weeks before departing for East Asia, the company I had been working for went bankrupt. My first layoff. I couldn't see it then, but God was opening wide the doors to pursue full-time missions. I battled with whether having a corporate career and living in Dallas as my mission field wasn’t what God still wanted for me. When I returned home from East Asia I had to decide between comfort and security or trusting God.
God is faithful. He always answers our prayers (although not always with a "yes"; more often it's "no" or "wait"). I applied to become a Church Planting Coordinator with e3 Partners Ministry and was accepted as a candidate in December 2011.
The call to be a missionary is for every Christ follower. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commands: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, until the very end of the age." For me, the call is to tell the nations about my Lord and Savior while equipping disciples both at home and abroad to do the same.
In September 2010 I went to an informational meeting about the Watermark/e3 Partners international missions trips. After applying and interviewing, I was invited to go to the Amazon in Brazil. I believed that if God wanted me to go, then He would provide the monetary support...all I had to do was ask.
Our training meetings began in November 2010 and occurred monthly until our trip in May 2011. I’d always known that as Christ followers we are called to share our faith, but I didn’t completely understand what that looked like. As our team trained for Brazil I learned how to articulate the Gospel, my personal testimony, Bible stories, and the evangecube. We took a "Find your Mission" class at Watermark to develop our personal mission within Jesus' Great Commission to all Christians. Through support raising, I began to see what an incredible opportunity overseas missions presents at home for evangelism.
The Brazil trip was life changing. I could feel my heart for the nations grow as we experienced the culture of Brazil and spent our days in villages along the Amazon River. When I returned home, I had a longing in my heart to return that ran deeper than just the excitement of the trip. I began looking for ways to get more involved with missions by researching various organizations. God was calling me into full-time missions, but I wasn't quite ready to start on that journey.
In July 2011, a friend told me about an e3 Partners trip to East Asia that needed more team members. I knew that if I went I would be saying yes to more than just another trip, but to a lifetime of missions. Just two weeks before departing for East Asia, the company I had been working for went bankrupt. My first layoff. I couldn't see it then, but God was opening wide the doors to pursue full-time missions. I battled with whether having a corporate career and living in Dallas as my mission field wasn’t what God still wanted for me. When I returned home from East Asia I had to decide between comfort and security or trusting God.
God is faithful. He always answers our prayers (although not always with a "yes"; more often it's "no" or "wait"). I applied to become a Church Planting Coordinator with e3 Partners Ministry and was accepted as a candidate in December 2011.
The call to be a missionary is for every Christ follower. In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commands: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, until the very end of the age." For me, the call is to tell the nations about my Lord and Savior while equipping disciples both at home and abroad to do the same.
