Thank you to Laura Pollard, Elyse Cyr & Lori Konopasek, missions team leaders, for writing today's blog.
You may have heard the chants in the hallway: “SB MIE 2015!
SB MIE 2015!”
This Spring Break, eight students and four staff will be
embarking on the first ever Shepherds College Spring Break Mission Immersion
Experience – specifically christened SB MIE 2015!
At the crack of dawn on March 31st, eight brave
students and their fully caffeinated instructors will leave from O’Hare Airport
and travel to St. Mary’s, Jamaica for an eight day missions experience. We will be partnering with Kenneth and Eileen
Terroade of Uphill Ministries and experiencing life on the mission field in
another country. Students will be
leading Vacation Bible School, participating in service projects, and sharing
the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
As students and staff prepare for this trip, two words
continually come up in our meetings and conversations: faith and flexibility! Faith has been woven into this trip from the
beginning. During the genesis of this
trip, Elyse, Lori and I continually looked at
one another and exclaimed, “Are we really doing this?! Are we crazy?! Is God going to
provide?!?!” The answers to all of these
questions we tossed around were a big “YES”!!!!
Yes, we feel that God has given us a burden and a desire to expose our students
to mission experiences, yes, God has proven over and over again that HE is
Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides, and yes we probably are crazy, but as
we’ve said from the beginning, “Go big
or go home!”
When we asked what these two words mean to our students,
these were our students’ responses:
Crystal Nystrand said: “Flexibility means to go with the
flow and do whatever needs to be done.
Faith is to believe that God will provide and let Him take over you.”
Olya Porth said: “To me, faith means that I have to trust in
God in everything I am doing to get ready to go to Jamaica. Flexibility is to do something that you don’t
want to do, but you do it anyway.”
Willetta McVicker described faith and flexibility as: “Faith means to trust and believe without
seeing and to know that God will make a way in His will. Flexibility means to do or go where you are
told without arguing and to get out of your comfort zone.”
When asked about faith and flexibility, Wade Phillips said,
“Faith means to have a relationship with the King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords. Flexibility means to go with the
flow to wherever the journey to Jamaica takes us!”
Micah Muma defined faith and flexibility as: “Faith means that I don’t need to worry- I
just need to have faith that God has it all under control. Flexibility means that I just need to go with
the flow with changes or anything on a trip or in life.”
Jonathan Ingram said: “Having faith is trusting God that He
will provide for you. When you realize
that you can’t do anything on your own.
Flexibility means to go with the flow- you may be set on something to
happen, but then God throws you somewhere else.”
Andrew Gummow said that “Faith is believing in God and
flexibility means to do whatever is asked with joy!”
Nikki Monroe described faith and flexibility as: “Faith
means how much you believe in God.
Flexibility means being able to switch gears quickly without getting mad
or anxious.”
We could not be more grateful for this opportunity that God
has provided and this team that He put together!
Hmmm…Faith and flexibility may not only apply to a Spring
Break missions trip to Jamaica…
Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.
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