Some people may think it's an itch all young people get at some point in their lives. Others may think it's just a reason to escape from the "real world" and avoid your problems. I would argue that everyone has a certain measure of a desire to see the world and explore what else is out there. Because we are curious. But perhaps there is some truth to the saying that "curiosity killed the cat". . . but hey, I bet that cat saw some pretty extraordinary things before he hit the dust. But who knows?
These are the questions that I think we are all asking:
"Who knows? Who's seen? Who's heard?"
Well the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9
"no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”
So keeping this in mind only makes us all the more eager to go out and experience what our heavenly father has in store.
The point is that if you are a Christian, or maybe even if you aren't, there may be a reasonable explanation for why you desire to get out there so much. As a matter of the fact, Christ himself called his disciples to go in Matthew 28:19-20, which is more commonly known as the great commission to "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, to the very end of the age.”
This is what I would say has been brewing in my heart for my whole life as I have grown up in a missionary family. My parents were missionaries in Niger, West Africa for 6 years, and I did my time there as a baby for about 1.5 years so not really old enough to remember much. But hearing about their experience as I grew up really captured my interest and a realized more and more how much I would love to go back to Africa again or really just anywhere the Lord might call me to go.
In 2014, my current church at the time, Redeemer Church of Knoxville, was planning to go on their annual missions trip to Fort Liberté, Haiti for the summer and I was squirming. I had desired for many years to be able to go with this group to the nation of Haiti but hadn't surpassed the age requirement until this year when I was 15 and more ready than ever. The only problem was that I had no money and didn't have many means of raising it in the amount of time I had left before the trip (I felt the call that I was supposed to go that summer only about 3 months before we were supposed to leave). My parents, seeing the burden God had put on my heart to go, but also knowing that we did not have the financial support to send me at the time, told me to do really the only thing I could in this situation: pray. They said if God wanted me to go this summer then he would provide everything I needed, but if he didn't then that was his providential plan and we would trust him with whatever he had in store. It was at this time that I started to understand the power of prayer and that God really does hear us when we cry out to him. But all the more this was when I learned that he is a good GOOD father who loves to give his children good gifts.
I started writing letters to friends and family and picked up any form of support raising that I could through bake sales and even painting peoples calculators (because yes I was desperate).
Over the next month or so the letters started to flood in and I was dumbstruck at the amount of people who were willing to give because they loved me and loved what God was doing in and through me.
I ended up raising almost
DOUBLE
the
amount
that I needed to go and was able to love on the children of Haiti for about a week through walks and talks and constructing buildings and painting with our hands.
It was more than I could have asked for and I found myself being ministered to more than I felt I was ministering unto those I thought I was going to!
And you know, I think that's exactly how God intended it to be because it has continued to be a pattern throughout the years!
Especially when I was privileged with the opportunity to go on an outreach to the Solomon Islands during my GAP year through my Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Tauranga, New Zealand.
But contrary to popular belief, no, I was not in New Zealand the whole time, and when I was, it was a lot less like a vacation than it sounds, but more like a grueling heart-and-soul searching boot camp if you'd like to call it that.
The Solomons were a place where God opened my eyes to how he has revealed himself to people in different parts of the world. It was an honor to be able to distribute Bibles in a language that it hadn't been translated into before and to get to preach the word and share the love of Christ with these people. I cherish the beauty of all the many cultures that make up the world we live in! And I'm so excited to experience more in years to come!
And now a year later I have news that God has yet again provided a way for me to go... where might you ask?
Back to Africa!
Nairobi, Kenya, to be specific.
I will be working at camp there called Camp BlueSky which is best described as an "American Style" Christian Summer Camp where we welcome kids from all over the world to partake in one of the best weeks of their lives. It is full of adventure and fun and learning about and worshipping Jesus.
I will have my own cabin of girls each week and will be leading the arts and crafts skills throughout the weeks.
I fly out May 23 and come back July 26.
I'm so excited to see what God has in store for these next couple of months and how he is going to meet me there!
Prayers for safe travels and smooth transitions are much appreciated.
Thank you for keeping up with what the Lord is doing in my life.
So much more is to come!
If you'd like to know more about Camp BlueSky, check out their website here: https://www.blueskykenya.org/
Peace and love to all,
Sarah Esther