Welcome back to my blog!
As I have mentioned before to many of you, God has been leading me on this journey from the very beginning. I would like to share with about how this trip has come about from the start…
I was 12 years old when our church had two missionary families from Russia come to speak within a few weeks of each other. Because of the different areas that I helped with, I heard them speak in youth Sunday School, children’s church, as well as in the adult services. Hearing the families speak from their heart and tell about the miraculous things happening in Russia filled me with excitement. But also hearing about the very few missionaries there, and the many people who still needed to be reached broke my heart. It was then that my burden for Russia began. It was also then that I knew that I would someday go to Russia and be a part of the spreading of God’s
love for everyone.
For many years, anything having to do with Russia caught my attention. Any mission’s event that I attended I was reminded of my burden for Russia. I talked about Russia a lot and managed to convince some of my best friends that I had been adopted from Russia:) I apologize if you were one of the many victims of that joke.
At one point, I was invited to go on a mission’s trip to Russia, but it fell through early on. I looked into going on other trips to Russia and other countries but it never worked out. I honestly began to get frustrated because I wanted to go on a trip but they always fell through. I eventually began to forget about ever going overseas and focused on my future in Early Childhood Education. Not that I had fallen away from God, I just was focusing on what He wanted for me in the US and not anywhere else.
This brings us to the last week of 2008. I was in Cincinnati for the AG World Missions Summit, a conference solely about reaching the lost around the world. There were workshops, information booths about different ministries, nightly services, meals with a missionary, and rooms that were created to look like different countries. Thousands of college students, as well as, missionaries from around the world attended. An absolutely amazing experience! Honestly, the only two reasons I went was because someone paid for my registration and because my sister forced me:) I KNEW that something was going to happen there and was being quite stubborn about it. But I’m SO glad that God is patient, gives us second chances, AND has a sense of humor! At the conference, my heart was quickly reopened to the people lost around the world, especially Russia.
For almost every meal at the conference they had what they called “A Meal with a Missionary” where each table had a missionary that you could talk to and hear about their ministry. One day at lunch, I was determined to find a table with a missionary from Russia to talk to. I know now that God lead me to that table, because there is no other possible solution! I found a missionary from Russia and spent the meal listening to her story. At the end of the meal I asked her a few questions (I don’t even remember what they were) and suddenly she said, “I know who you need to talk to” and proceeded to call someone on her cell phone. It was one of the most awkward situations I’ve ever been in. When she got off the phone she told me that I would be meeting another missionary from Russia the following day at the Eurasia information booth. She gave me a first name of the lady I was meeting, her phone number, the other missionary’s phone number, and sent me on my way. I had no idea what was going on.
The next day, I was looking around the Eurasia booth for someone I’d never met to have a conversation that I had no idea what it was going to be about. Fun times (and if you know me, not a situation that I enjoy). After asking around I met a missionary’s wife from Khabarovsk, Russia. She seemed to know exactly what was going on so I just followed her lead hoping that I would catch on sooner or later. She showed me pictures of her family and the children that they ministered to. She talked a lot about a program where college students would come and study in a university while helping them in their ministries. I told her that the program sounded like an awesome opportunity and she pretty much asked me if I was interested. In fact, she asked me in a way that I was, of course, interested. No, no, no, no, I explained, telling her that I was starting my first semester in a few weeks at a community college. NO, I was not interested in living in a dorm (let alone a foreign country dorm) and no I didn’t have my license to teach yet… I haven’t started school yet remember? No, I wasn’t interested, but yet her words and the disappointment on her face tugged at my heart. And I couldn’t figure out why… But I DID know what this meeting had been about NOW… I did ask about short term missions trips (as in weeks) and she wrote down their information for me on a card.
After the convention, I told my family about the awkward situation and the program that the missionary had asked me to become a part of (just to see their reactions). They responded in a positive way about the program in general but not in terms of me. I quickly put the whole thing out of my mind. About a week later my phone rang and I listened to the missionary's wife explain how she thought she had a missed call from me. Here we go again, I thought. Indeed I went through much of the same explaining as before. My sister teased me for awhile after that I had “missionaries calling me.”
In July of 2009 my young adult group held an all night prayer meeting. Pretty early on in the night someone asked if they could pray for me. God spoke right through and into my heart in a way He’d never done before. There were quite a few things that He said but there was one subject that stuck out especially that night (and even worried me). He said, “There are dreams in your heart that people don’t even know about…. I pray that you would start to hear those dreams… People have preconceived ideas of what your dreams are and that’s not the way it should be… Those aren’t the dreams God has for you… Dream God’s dreams for you…” Much of my prayers that night were concerning what that meant and what were God’s dreams for me?
It wasn’t until October of 2009 that the idea literally smacked me in the face that I COULD go to Russia and DO that program. The pieces began to fall together in my mind and I began to PRAY. In January of 2010 I finally e-mailed the missionaries to get some information about the program. I communicated with them and others at AG headquarters and finally I submitted my application in March of 2010.
It is SO AMAZING to know that God holds my world (your world) in His hands! That He is guiding me (you) according to His plan and sometimes we don’t even realize it. As I have this blog, I will be posting verses and other words that God and others have spoken to me concerning this trip.
God is INCREDIBLE! And I stand amazed.
Leah
As I have mentioned before to many of you, God has been leading me on this journey from the very beginning. I would like to share with about how this trip has come about from the start…
I was 12 years old when our church had two missionary families from Russia come to speak within a few weeks of each other. Because of the different areas that I helped with, I heard them speak in youth Sunday School, children’s church, as well as in the adult services. Hearing the families speak from their heart and tell about the miraculous things happening in Russia filled me with excitement. But also hearing about the very few missionaries there, and the many people who still needed to be reached broke my heart. It was then that my burden for Russia began. It was also then that I knew that I would someday go to Russia and be a part of the spreading of God’s
love for everyone.
For many years, anything having to do with Russia caught my attention. Any mission’s event that I attended I was reminded of my burden for Russia. I talked about Russia a lot and managed to convince some of my best friends that I had been adopted from Russia:) I apologize if you were one of the many victims of that joke.
At one point, I was invited to go on a mission’s trip to Russia, but it fell through early on. I looked into going on other trips to Russia and other countries but it never worked out. I honestly began to get frustrated because I wanted to go on a trip but they always fell through. I eventually began to forget about ever going overseas and focused on my future in Early Childhood Education. Not that I had fallen away from God, I just was focusing on what He wanted for me in the US and not anywhere else.
This brings us to the last week of 2008. I was in Cincinnati for the AG World Missions Summit, a conference solely about reaching the lost around the world. There were workshops, information booths about different ministries, nightly services, meals with a missionary, and rooms that were created to look like different countries. Thousands of college students, as well as, missionaries from around the world attended. An absolutely amazing experience! Honestly, the only two reasons I went was because someone paid for my registration and because my sister forced me:) I KNEW that something was going to happen there and was being quite stubborn about it. But I’m SO glad that God is patient, gives us second chances, AND has a sense of humor! At the conference, my heart was quickly reopened to the people lost around the world, especially Russia.
For almost every meal at the conference they had what they called “A Meal with a Missionary” where each table had a missionary that you could talk to and hear about their ministry. One day at lunch, I was determined to find a table with a missionary from Russia to talk to. I know now that God lead me to that table, because there is no other possible solution! I found a missionary from Russia and spent the meal listening to her story. At the end of the meal I asked her a few questions (I don’t even remember what they were) and suddenly she said, “I know who you need to talk to” and proceeded to call someone on her cell phone. It was one of the most awkward situations I’ve ever been in. When she got off the phone she told me that I would be meeting another missionary from Russia the following day at the Eurasia information booth. She gave me a first name of the lady I was meeting, her phone number, the other missionary’s phone number, and sent me on my way. I had no idea what was going on.
The next day, I was looking around the Eurasia booth for someone I’d never met to have a conversation that I had no idea what it was going to be about. Fun times (and if you know me, not a situation that I enjoy). After asking around I met a missionary’s wife from Khabarovsk, Russia. She seemed to know exactly what was going on so I just followed her lead hoping that I would catch on sooner or later. She showed me pictures of her family and the children that they ministered to. She talked a lot about a program where college students would come and study in a university while helping them in their ministries. I told her that the program sounded like an awesome opportunity and she pretty much asked me if I was interested. In fact, she asked me in a way that I was, of course, interested. No, no, no, no, I explained, telling her that I was starting my first semester in a few weeks at a community college. NO, I was not interested in living in a dorm (let alone a foreign country dorm) and no I didn’t have my license to teach yet… I haven’t started school yet remember? No, I wasn’t interested, but yet her words and the disappointment on her face tugged at my heart. And I couldn’t figure out why… But I DID know what this meeting had been about NOW… I did ask about short term missions trips (as in weeks) and she wrote down their information for me on a card.
After the convention, I told my family about the awkward situation and the program that the missionary had asked me to become a part of (just to see their reactions). They responded in a positive way about the program in general but not in terms of me. I quickly put the whole thing out of my mind. About a week later my phone rang and I listened to the missionary's wife explain how she thought she had a missed call from me. Here we go again, I thought. Indeed I went through much of the same explaining as before. My sister teased me for awhile after that I had “missionaries calling me.”
In July of 2009 my young adult group held an all night prayer meeting. Pretty early on in the night someone asked if they could pray for me. God spoke right through and into my heart in a way He’d never done before. There were quite a few things that He said but there was one subject that stuck out especially that night (and even worried me). He said, “There are dreams in your heart that people don’t even know about…. I pray that you would start to hear those dreams… People have preconceived ideas of what your dreams are and that’s not the way it should be… Those aren’t the dreams God has for you… Dream God’s dreams for you…” Much of my prayers that night were concerning what that meant and what were God’s dreams for me?
It wasn’t until October of 2009 that the idea literally smacked me in the face that I COULD go to Russia and DO that program. The pieces began to fall together in my mind and I began to PRAY. In January of 2010 I finally e-mailed the missionaries to get some information about the program. I communicated with them and others at AG headquarters and finally I submitted my application in March of 2010.
It is SO AMAZING to know that God holds my world (your world) in His hands! That He is guiding me (you) according to His plan and sometimes we don’t even realize it. As I have this blog, I will be posting verses and other words that God and others have spoken to me concerning this trip.
God is INCREDIBLE! And I stand amazed.
Leah
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