This past weekend was an amazing weeked. I had the chance to go to Clovis and not only visit some of my friends but I got to speak at the church there and tell them about my call to missions. For those of you who missed here it is...

It is great to be back here in Clovis and I want to say thanks to Pastor Randy and everyone here at Faith Community for allowing me to come share some of the ways God has been working in my life over this past year. There are so many familiar faces as well as many new faces so I want to start by sharing a little history about my life and journey with God.

As many of you know God moved my family to Clovis in 1999 when my dad accepted the position of Children’s Pastor here at Faith Community. I was in the second grade when we moved so this was the place where I spent most of the formative years of my life, especially in the area of who I was in Christ. It was also during both the move to Clovis from Bakersfield, and then the move from Clovis to Lompoc that I saw how important it was to be open to what God wants and then be obedient to follow Him as He leads your life no matter what it is He is calling you to do or where it is He is calling you to go.

From an early age in my life I always felt that God was calling me to be a missionary when I grew up. I remember sitting in Sunday School class with Norma Hyde over in the annex as she told the stories from the missionary books. There were times she needed help and I was always the first to raise my hand and want to help. I loved hearing the stories, seeing the pictures, and thinking of how exciting it would be to right there on the mission field with the people in the stories. Little did I know it would really happen.

Then whenever missionaries would come to church I would love to hear their stories, see the pictures, and be so excited to hear how God was working in the area of the world they were called to. I knew that this was what God was calling me to. As I entered my teen years things changed a little bit and a call to missions seemed to be much bigger than what I could be part of, and it started to seem like something I could never do because fear started creeping in – fear of leaving my family and friends, living in hard situations, and even eating foods that aren’t normal. But even during this time I remember getting the missionary books from Jean Shamp so that I could still read about the exciting things going on around the World. It also gave me the chance to do “my part’ of mission work without “fear.” It was during this time that I kind of felt God wasn’t really calling me to missions, but instead he was calling me to be a Children’s Pastor like my dad.

Fast-forwarding to 2010, which was an exciting year for me because, I turned 18, graduated from High School, went on a mission trip to Peru, a mission trip to Mexico, and started college. It was during this time that God started to intervene in my life in a big way as He started to reveal the path He had for my life in a very clear way. Before we left for Peru during one of the training times Pastor Charles mentioned that it was weird that I had never gone on any mission trips out of the country before and yet here I was going on two mission trips, Peru & Mexico, within a month of each other. He said he wondered what God was going to do. I told him I was getting to finally go because my dad was going to Peru with me, which meant my mom didn’t have to worry about anything happening to me. However at this point I started praying that God would make His desire for my life clear and that I would without a doubt know what He was calling me to. I believe that it was during this prayer leading up to both of these trips that God started working in my heart to make the calling clear.

As you have probably heard from the people here at Faith Community who went to Peru it was an incredible experience. The multitude of experiences, emotions, and opportunities for ministry were endless. I was able to participate in many different ministry opportunities including promotions, kids festivals, painting a church, drama skits, and visiting a girls home to name a few. While visiting the girl’s home one of the women shared her testimony and all 12 girls in the home accepted Christ – what an awesome God we serve. It was neat to go to the schools, public schools at that, and do drama skits about Christ. While these were all great experiences there were two special times that God used to shake my life right out of that comfort zone and reignite the call He had for my life into missions.

The first thing God used was spending time the 40/40s who were down there serving on the mission field. Being able to hear them tell the stories of how God was working not only in Peru, but also how He had worked in their lives leading up to this time and how He continued to strengthen and develop them as He led their missionary journey. I found during this time that many of my fears were many of the fears they faced and still face and yet God was working to show that nothing was impossible when we turn our lives over to Him and walk with him. One example of that was how my dad and I spent a whole day walking, and boy did we walk, with one of the 40/40’s named Sammy who could speak very little English, and we spoke very little Spanish so you would think it would be a quiet afternoon, and yet there was so much communication as we allowed our common goal to further God’s Kingdom work. I still keep up and chat with Sammy over facebook. It showed me that when we allow God to work nothing is impossible and language barriers are nothing to be feared.

The second thing God used to reignite this passion and call was the whole weekend of the mega event “Love Extreme.” While it was a long day, and we saw over 1,000 people come to know the Lord that day it was the Celebration Service the following morning that God set the call in stone for my life. At the end of this service they started with a small candle and just a couple of people and ended with all the staff of Extreme Nazarene on the stage with candles showing how God uses us, people, to carry His light into the world. They said that if there was anyone who feels God is calling them to be a missionary they should come to the front and light a candle also. So that day in Peru at the celebration service I went forward and lit a candle and accepted Gods call on my life to be a missionary.

After the service I was talking with one of the 40/40’s about how I felt that God was calling me to be a missionary and how I wanted it to start NOW. I mentioned how I hated that I would have to wait so long before I could come back. She was excited that I had accepted God’s call to the mission field and said that they needed people immediately to go to Tacna, Peru. I talked to one of the mobilization officers, Brent Deakins, that day in Peru and they decided to set up an interview for me while I was still in Peru. I didn’t know the results of the interview before I left to come home but when I got home I had an email from Brian Tibbs saying that they had accepted me as a 40/40 and they wanted me to head back to Peru in two weeks.

For many of you who know my family you can probably imagine how this went over, my dad said go for it as long as this was were God was leading, my Mom was the voice of sanity and I was on fire and ready to go. It was during this time that God taught me some very important truths about “the call” and especially “the call to missions.” So it was during this time of praying, my mom and dad praying about whether or not 2 weeks was the right time and me praying for God to change their mind or change mine that God continued to reveal these truths. The truths that the “call’ isn’t about me and only me, but about how God wants to use me to reach others for the Kingdom. It was the truth that while our faith is a personal decision it doesn’t stop there because our faith is about inviting people along for the journey with you, and this is especially true when it comes to a call to missions.

As you see, I didn’t go back in two weeks, but I am now heading back in January 2011 to the mission field which helps me see the truth that the Lord had the perfect timing and plan for my for me just like Jeremiah 29:11 says, “They are plans for good and not disaster, to give me a future and a hope.” So I want to be able to share with you all my future and to invite you to partner with me on the journey I will be taking these next 27 months. Thank you all again for letting me share my call with you, and thank you for the impact you have had as a church on my life.