Thanks for taking a minute out of your day to read my blog!
If you don't understand why I'm writing this post about a mission trip to Nashville, then take a second to read my last blog post that explains why...
The most common question I've gotten so far is "Why Nashville? Of all places, why there?"
First and foremost- that's where God led me.
I spent many hours searching for mission trips that I could go on this fall.. you'd think that would be an easy task.. well let me tell you, much to my disappointment- it is not. I searched many well known mission organizations websites, looking for a United States Mission Trip taking place during the fall of 2013, that an 18 year old could go on by herself. I ran into "roadblocks" everywhere! Either the trip was out of country, I was too young for it, it wasn't scheduled until next fall, or I had to gather a whole group of people to go with me. However, I knew that because God called me to stay a year and serve Him through mission work, that there was a trip for me somewhere.
I quit searching the Internet and began praying. The next day, I told my pastor that I would be taking a year off from college and explained what God was calling me to do. His eyes immediately lit up and he told me about a mission organization called e3 ministries. He wasn't sure if they did mission work in the US, so that afternoon when I got home I once again searched the Internet. Much to my delight, e3 offered two US mission trips this fall. After reading the first, I thought "well this is neat", but I didn't feel that was where I was supposed to go. Seconds after beginning to read the description of the second trip, my heart quickened. I began searching the website, trying to find their age requirements... I couldn't find it anywhere! I saw a box that could be filled out if you wanted more information, I filled it out quickly and submitted it. I wouldn't allow myself to feel too excited, because I just knew that they were going to tell me I was too young.
I received an email back within minutes. I assumed that the email would be an automatic, standard, cookie cutter email that was sent to everyone who submitted an interest. Much to my delight, it was a real person! I scanned the email to see how old I had to be to go on the trip, and once again I couldn't find it anywhere! There was a number posted at the bottom of the email, so I called it. 20 minutes later, I had finished a great conversation with Mike and Mary (the team leaders), found out that my age was perfectly fine, discovered that the first teleconference with the team was only ten days away, and heard all about the purpose of the trip. I wanted to go more than ever! As I hung up the phone with them, I told them that I would continue praying about it and let them know as soon as God let me know.
I spent that afternoon just spending time with God, praying to Him, singing to Him and reading my bible. I asked God to reveal a bible verse to me that confirmed if I should be going to Nashville or not. I was almost done with my devotion and about to leave, so I opened my bible app on my phone to check a verse out in another translation. As I opened my app, a verse popped up. That verse was in Colossians 1. I decided to read the chapter and discovered that Paul was writing a letter to fellow Christians.. he was telling them that because we are Christians we have hope for us stored in heaven. He shares that we learned of this hope when we learned of the Truth (Jesus Christ) which is the Gospel. I just sat there for a minute and re-read and re-read this passage of scripture. I couldn't believe it. Since I was young, God has called me to bring hope and comfort to the hopeless, and our youth pastor has encouraged us to always find biblical truths (scripture) that supports everything we do. I had become frustrated because I couldn't find a bible verse to support this calling in my life.
Here it was- all in one. My life verse, and God's answer. I was overjoyed! I was on my way out the door to attend our Sunday night church service.. so I told my mom on the way and also got a chance to share with my church family that evening!
After the service that evening, my best friend came to me with tears in her eyes and shared a moment from our past that I had forgotten about. At one point in my life, I doubted the love and salvation of Christ.. I attended a summer camp where they had us make "card board" testimonials at the end of the week... you write one word that describes you from the beginning of the week on the front, and one word that describes you at the end of the week on the back... my word on the front was "doubting" and this... was the back of my sign...
Which brings me to my second point about why I am going to Nashville- The people who live there.
A lot of people do not realize that Nashville is the fifth fastest growing metro area for foreigners. There are 87+ people groups living there, and every day 137 different languages are spoken in this city. 50,000 Muslims live there, along with 10,000 Somalis and 15,000 Kurds. Out of the Kurds and Somalis, there are only one or two known to profess Christ as their Lord and Savior! These people need hope, truth and the gospel!
Because God has blessed me with His hope, I can bring the comfort He has brought me, to others! I am beyond excited for this amazing opportunity to serve God.. and to love others. I will be spending a week in Nashville in October. I will keep blogging to keep you all updated on where God is taking me, what He's doing, and how you can help! In the mean time, I will be staying here (in my home town) and sharing the hope with people I meet and work with on a daily basis.
I am in love with people I've never met, in places I've never been!
May the hope of God be in your heart today,
-SaraKate
