It's hard to believe we are already almost halfway into January! But I have a plan for this year and I'm excited to share it!! I have applied for the TESOL certification course with YWAM in Lebanon, Pennsylvania and am awaiting confirmation of acceptance. The course runs from February 21-March 18 and will certify me to teach English as a second language, something I have been interested in for awhile and fell in love with while in Nicaragua last year. I have already been accepted into the School of Ministry Development (SOMD) with YWAM in Louisville, Kentucky. This school runs from March 28-August 20 and will include an outreach to Mexico for around 6 weeks. The SOMD is a school that prepares students to start their own ministries and teaches on topics such as: spiritual giftings, public speaking, developing your personal ministry, fundraising, personal vision and mission, biblical counseling, how to share the gospel, geography, and spiritual leadership. The students of the school become staff during the outreach and actually lead youth groups on short-term mission trips in Louisville as well as in Merida, Mexico.
Why am I going to the SOMD? Because I have a dream to start a ministry! For a long time I have had an interest in leading short-term mission trips and one day in December, while re-organizing my storage unit and thinking about the future, it seemed to all come together. During my DTS my entire worldview seemed to change and I recognized such a need in the United States....a need for a reality check. I thought, "If people could just go into other countries and could see life from another perspective maybe positive transformation could take place in our country." What if I could facilitate those trips? They would have a dual-purpose: to help those going on the trip and also help those in the destination country. I want to partner with long-term ministry leaders in Latin America so I can bring teams to serve them throughout the year. You see, I don't want to take people to feed the hungry or tell people about God and then leave a few days later. How will that bring lasting change? But if I can partner with those in Latin America that lead ministries that continually reach out to a specific people then I know that what is done on the short-term trips is part of a bigger picture. I can be certain that the short-term trips aren't simply a feel-good experience for those going on the trip but they are actually benefiting the people being served. But what can it be for those going on the trip? A chance to broaden their worldview and see how big God is and to see how people in other countries live. It changed the way I see life and I believe if more people from the US can go into other countries and experience these other ways of life and receive teachings on important principles and then take all of that home with them there WILL BE positive transformation in the United States. (Besides all of that, I heard my calling to be a missionary while I was on a short mission trip to Mexico so I suppose I am a bit partial in believing that short-term trips are an excellent setting for people to receive their calling as a missionary!)
So for now, that's the plan. Is it an easy one? Nope. It's big. It's overwhelming. It's more than I can do. But it's what I love and I have found a deep passion within me to go after this dream and I believe with all my heart that it's a dream God has placed within my heart. It's what I'm meant to do. So....LET'S DO THIS!
