The Pursuit (Part 2)

After the realization that I no longer knew what I was going to do when I graduated, I looked for ways to use my talents. Every year the college group at my church went on mission trips around the US for the week of Spring Break. My senior year we were all going as a group to a big missions conference in Memphis, TN. Since about 200 people were all traveling together to Memphis, there were a lot small details that needed to be taken care of. After a conversation with one of the staff members, I was given the opportunity to help the coordinator. Kevin was great at big picture things and interpreting the Lord's leading for the group, but he was very disorganized. He gave me free reign over bus seating and room assignments. I also did research on places to stop for food along the way. It was so much fun!

I know it may sound crazy to some people, but I really enjoyed making room assignments. I also helped plan the big fundraiser that we did every year at the church. It may not have seemed like much to some people, but again I really enjoyed myself. I learned that I enjoyed having some control on things behind the scenes. I think it stems from my need to be "in the know."

Every summer the college group went on month-long trips around the world, usually supporting a team of full-time Denton Bible missionaries. Since I was finally going to have the summer free I decided to sign up. God led me to the team going to Austria and Slovakia. I had never been overseas, but boy was I excited! Our leaders, Matt and Liz, were going over to Vienna to live as missionaries with Serve, the Denton Bible mission organization. Since they were leaving 3 weeks before our trip, they asked one of the guys to be a co-leader and asked me to be in charge of the finances. As scary as it was to be in charge of the money for a team of 11, I, again, really enjoyed it!

While we were in Austria, we helped set up a camp for the high school and college students of the Baptist churches. It was such a blast to get to know some awesome Austrians. One of the guys on the team had previously lived in Vienna doing missions and knew some of the students who came to camp. In Slovakia we worked with the national director for Campus Crusade for Christ to put on an English camp. God totally worked it all out, having 9 teachers for 9 students. We were able to have quality one-on-one tutoring time. The students ranged in age from 14-26. It was a wide age range.

I was partnered with a sweet girl named Mirka. She was 24 and has just finished college. She had a heart for the children in Africa and wanted to go on a mission to work as a nurse in North Africa. I loved being able to talk to her about the culture in Slovakia and also her love of Jesus.

Overall, I completely fell in love. Slovakia was one of the most beautiful places I had ever been. The people were so sweet and loved talking about Texas with us. Even though I was homesick and very tired after a month of walking through Central Europe, part of me never wanted to leave. I wished all my friends and family could move to Slovakia. :)