Institute for Global Opportunities

IGo Ministry trips: Did they change my life? More than I can ever say in a brief paragraph! For me, it was getting out of my safe little comfort zone and gaining a new perspective of what life on earth is really about. It was experiencing the joy and passion that was so alive among many of the Asian Christians and so absent in many North-American Anabaptists. It was going into places where the gospel hadn’t ever been taught. It was being with people that had absolutely nothing, yet showed unlimited hospitability to us.

It’s not fair! It is so not fair! Why have I been blessed with way more food than is healthy for me when there are other children of God who live in the agony of hunger-emaciating starvation? Why do I complain about my mattress being too hard when there are many who have no place to lay their heads and who may not even survive the night? Why have I been taught what’s right and given a personal choice about purity when there are girls being sold into the sex trade every day? Why do I know truth when many will die in the hopelessness of their lies?

IGo . . . in the vision stage for several years; then, finally it came to be a reality in 2007. We have had 4 semester’s worth of students walk the halls, live in the dorms, sit in the classes and go on the ministry trips. We are now teaching the 5th group.

“My people have changed their glory for what does not profit... My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (See Jeremiah 2:11-13)

God’s broken heart for His people as seen in this verse really hit me recently. Even we, who call ourselves Christians, are often guilty of turning to broken cisterns rather than the fountain of living water.

To summarize, the long-term team members based here in China were very impressed with both of the (IGo) teams who came to us from Chiang Mai. Throughout the two week Summer School all of them were fully committed to the teaching programme and enthusiatic to spend time with their Chinese students outside of the classroom. To be honest, it would seem that the general character of those within the Mennonite movement is ideally suited to living and working in China!

Dear God, You said to whom much is given shall much be required. Surely I am more indebted to you than anyone else in the world! And Lord, this morning again you have allowed my eyes to see and my heart to feel the pain and emptiness of those in darkness, and those in tremendous poverty without you. You have made me responsible for what I have seen and heard. Why, after these thousands of years, is there still poverty and ignorance like this? Why are not more people catching the burden when the need is so blatantly obvious?

A pickup in front, cars on both sides, and a long line of traffic behind me. And what are all those motorbikes doing swerving in and out of vehicles and butting in front of the line at the stop light?! I thought a trip to the grocery store was supposed to be a quiet, scenic ride. Oh, that’s right! I’ve exchanged the quiet roads of Northern Minnesota for the busy streets of Thailand.

A call to missions . . . in Thailand. When did it come? When does God prepare someone for a call? Did He only start preparing us after the call? Or does He prepare us long before the call? I am not sure that we can answer all of those questions, but as we look back over the years, we see God’s hand moving in various ways, moving from one call to the next call, and always preparing us for what lies ahead.

I have been teaching school in Reading, PA for the past 5 years, which has been very instrumental in my journey with God.

Our family has had the blessing of being able to serve the Lord in full time mission work in Grenada, West Indies. After tasting the blessing of being in full time ministry, I struggled with the thought of leaving it. Yet, I knew that the Lord’s call for us in Grenada was not for a much longer period of time. As we began to wait on the Lord for His direction, we were asked about joining the work of IGo in Thailand. We never expected to end up in Asia, but we wanted God’s will for us.