Really it starts when my brother died in Sept. of 2006 a few weeks before my 24th birthday. I was a college graduate, just back from working at a camp for the summer and planning on subbing and getting my special education lessons. His death and breaking up with my first boyfriend were pivotal in me deciding that I wanted to be more adventurous. But I couldn't be more adventurous for no reason - I needed a purpose.
I was involved in InterVaristy Christian Fellowship on my campus and at our Fall Retreat there was a video plug for URBANA - a week long missions conference that InterVaristy (IV) puts on every three years to bring in the New Year. My best friend Heather and I decided we would go. It was a blast! I loved that conference, I had a great time, learned a lot and got this bug in me for world missions that has never gone out! The main speaker in 1996 was a man named George Verwer - who started an organization called Operation Mobilization, he is a great speaker.
I checked out that organization, at that time they were not a great fit. I had college debt and at that time they wouldn't take me with the amount I had. Or I had to be willing to raise the support for others to pay it for me. I wasn't willing to do that and they wanted a two year commitment. I felt I could only defer my loans for one year - so wanted only a one year commitment.
I found an organization called Educational Services International - now they are called Teach Overseas. Which is a more fun sounding name! You can find them at www.teachoverseas.org. They take college graduates, train them to teach English as a second language and put people in a variety of places around the world where they can share their life and faith through relationships. It was right up my alley and I loved it.
I loved my year in Russia and have friends from that experience to this day.
Toward the end of my time there I had made the decision to stay another year, but the college loans were this anchor around my neck that told me no. You need to go pay this off first. So my plan was to go back to the States and pay off those loans in four years so that I could get back out into world missions. My prayer through all this was that I hoped to find a husband during that time that would also be passionate about world missions and that we could go onto the mission field together.
Upon returning to the States I moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota
Russia
1997-1998
