What Happened?
In this post, I zoom in on a very important transition that took place in my life. I will give you the backstory to where I was in 2016 and where I am now.
Take a look at the photo above. There are two blonde girls that had a massive impact on me. One is in the back row holding a popsicle (Paige) and the other is in the front, with a headband on (Katie). In 2016 and 2017, I led a team to Lima, Peru. Paige (back row) was our host for the 10 days we were there. Some of you have heard, or seen, that the wheelchair ministry is a big deal for the church and we support that ministry on our mission trips. The mass distributions are held in different areas in and around Lima so we get to travel and often it's a long ride. A 10 passenger van could quickly become a 17 passenger van - it's great!
Back to the blonde babes, Paige and Katie. Paige was 25 years old when I met her, she’s from Arkansas, moved to Lima a few years ago, she met a Peruvian, they got married, and are now full-time missionaries together. She has never received a salary, and plans to remain in Peru serving alongside Camino de Vida (CDV). (side note: she is on a missionary visa and cannot receive a salary because of that, so she fund-raises for most of their living expenses.)
On the 2017 trip, riding to our distribution site, I sat next to Katie. She was 27 at the time. She went to CDV for a missionary internship for 5 months, returned home, raised the money to return to CDV to be a full-time missionary, quit her job, and left the states.
Now, they are not the only ones who have given up their life of comfort, familiarity, and time with family to serve in South America - there are more missionaries who did the same (1 being from Alabama). However, God used these two to show me that when I listen to His call, in faith-filled obedience, He will take care of me - He will use the unexpected to do the unexpected. My call may look differently than theirs, but it’s from the same source.
God used these two to show me that when I listen to His call, in faith-filled obedience, He will take care of me. He will use the unexpected to do the unexpected.
I have worked since I was 15 years old and here God is telling me it's time - it's time to wholeheartedly study His word and do His work. This was in 2016. I drafted an email to my boss a month after returning from the first trip to Peru, with a change of status request attached to go part-time, and saved it. No, this was not some spiritual journey that had me feeling good about my deeds - this was not my first mission trip.
Fast-forward to 2017, the email was still sitting in my "drafts" folder. We returned from Peru (the 2nd trip), knowing Paige's story, then Katie told me her testimony - I couldn't shake it. Everyday, the desire and the calling was getting stronger and stronger. ONE WHOLE YEAR HAD PASSED AND I HAD DONE NOTHING. I spoke to my husband, in full blown tears in April 2017 - he agreed that I should submit my request to go part-time and return to school full-time. We went to our mentors, just to be sure we were in full agreement, because when I commit to the Lord - I'm there, until he tells me otherwise. Everything was moving fast now and I had complete peace. I submitted the request to my boss on May 31st- it got approved (only Jesus could have done that as there were no part-time positions available). I went part-time Aug 1 and started full-time school Aug 9.
In addition to all of that, God used my mentor/close friend to ask the right questions at the right time and one of those questions was - "what do you see your role being within missions?" First response, I don't know. Second response, doing training. I had no idea what that meant 3 years prior (2013). But that's what God does, drops seeds! Then, I started working on a training manual for missions around October 2016. We finalized it in August 2017 and we held our very first Missions 101 on September 17, 2017. Our expectation was to have around 10 people attend the first one, but we had 27 attendees. (below is the pic of the first class.) I was given the opportunity to teach the first class and was ecstatic to say the least. A response I had given my mentor years ago had come to fruition. WHAT!!! WOW!!! I led the training again in December and several times after. I have trained over 100 prospective missionaries from 2017 - 2020. Below is an email response I received from one of our attendees - I will forever hold it close to my heart. It is a testimony of how great our God is and how your support is eternal! [happy tears]
"Dear Stacy, I am sending you my personal thanks as I recover from the Nepal Mission, my first mission ever, and apparently I chose the most challenging, physically, mentally, and spiritually! It was amazing and so worth it. I could not have done it without your training! I told Lisa T this when we chatted upon my return and she encouraged me to let you know too, so I am. Everyone should take your course if they are even thinking about missions, and definitely required if they do sign up. Frankly, I would schedule it as a required course BEFORE they sign up. You really hit the nail on the head about flexibility, accountability, compassion and true servant-hood. I would like to share more but words cannot express my gratitude for your wise counsel and with that great smile of yours! You are an inspiration! Many thanks and blessing to you!
-Nepal Team member
What's Next?
As of May 2020, I have my Bachelors in Biblical Studies (on a missions track).
As of today, 1 Sep 2021, I’m living my dream - working part-time and serving. I’ve been taking Italian lessons a couple days a week for the last several months. Learning another language is far more difficult than I imagined. Also, I’m dreaming of continuing to live in Europe. 🙏🏼 I pray that’s what’s next - continuing to serve abroad.
I feel I must do a quick timeline of all the things God has done in my life over the last few years.
2016 April - First trip to Peru, met Paige
2016 May - Felt initial call to return to school, i.e. work part-time
2017 February - Beautiful ladies from the Philippines church stayed with us for several days. They encouraged and prayed over me to move forward with the above, photography, and travel blog.
2017 April - Second mission to Peru. God used Katie and Paige. I was refreshed.
2017 May - God used my aunty, dad, and a lovely lady to encourage moving forward with this - 3 TOTALLY UNEXPECTED responses (I broke down in the parking lot at work talking with a friend, then in aunty's office later that day as she said the exact same thing my other friend did in the parking lot, then she cried too LOL)
2017 May - Things were clear, I sent the request to go part-time at work
2017 Aug - Officially on part-time status at work, full-time status at school
2017 Aug- launched this travel blog
2018 April - returned to Peru on the third mission trip there.
2018 Aug - returned to Thailand on a mission trip. Had a mind blowing experience. Will link post on that at a later date.
2018 Aug - confirmed we were moving to Italy
2019 Feb - moved to Italy
2019 Aug - started part-time job doing what I was in Hawaii but on a much smaller scale and far less intense.
2020 Feb - visited Thailand and the church we partner with in Bangkok
2020 Mar - COVID invaded the world
2020 May - graduated college 🎉
2020 Sep - blessed as co-lead of the women’s ministry with the church in Italy
2021 Feb - blessed with a financial role with the church in Italy/joined the staff
I stay in awe of God’s grace and provision. We make plans all the time, but hold on loosely and allow God to move mightily. His plans are far better than ours. We had no intentions of leaving Hawaii, but I thank God everyday that He brought us here. It’s here that something special has happened in my spiritual walk with Christ because of his grace. I’m not ready to articulate exactly what has happened, but it’ll come.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I actually wrote it back in 2018 as a missions update, but wanted to post it on the blog updated through 2021.
God bless you all,
Stacy
