Only 20 days left! Can You Believe It?
It’s hard to believe that I will be leaving for training camp in 20 short days. Can’t wait to start this journey and to begin this amazing opportunity I have to spread the hope and love of Jesus to the nations.
What has life looked like?
I just finished student teaching at the beginning of December. That was a great season and it helped me learn a lot about myself, teaching, and the students I was working with. I got to experience 2nd grade for 10 weeks and then I was with kindergarten for 5 weeks and both classes taught me different things and helped me to learn various things about teaching and how to interact with students.
After completing my time as a student teacher, I became a paraprofessional at the school I was at for the short time I had until my trip. I have loved getting to experience working in a Christian school versus a public school and seeing the differences and the change it makes when you allow the Lord to be the center of all things even education.
During my time as a student teacher, I got the chance to share with my 2nd graders about my mission trip. A lot of them have a servant’s heart and want to serve others so my cooperating teacher thought they would enjoy getting to learn about my mission trip before I was done with my experience in their classroom. So I put together a little presentation that included the countries I would be going to, a picture of the flag, where they are in
the world on a map, and then potential ministries I would be doing. The students enjoyed learning about my journey that was to come and even had many questions to ask. After I was done, my cooperating teacher surprised the students and me with a gift for my mission.
The students enjoy keychains so my cooperating teacher thought that having cross keychains for their backpacks would help them to remember to pray for me and my trip and then also for just a general reminder to pray.
Faith/Spiritual Journey
Preparing for a trip is a lot of work and can be stressful and then you add the fact that it is a trip for the Lord and that makes things more difficult and challenging. The enemy tries all of the tricks to try and get you to lose your faith and to give in to what isn’t true.
One of the things that has been testing me through this whole journey has been fundraising. I have the faith and hope that the Lord will provide the means for those that he has sent but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come without challenges. There have been many ups and downs with my faith in the Lord in his provision for the funds for this journey but in the end, I always come back to the same conclusion and
that is the Lord will provide and He will support me through the journey he has put me on. Struggling to fundraise is hard and it takes a lot of energy and an emotional toll on you when it is not going well but it is also rewarding. One of the ways it is rewarding is that I get the chance to talk to people about the love and hope of Jesus and how he is going to use me to spread that love and hope to others. Also getting to talk to new people and tell them what the Lord has for me in this season has been a fun experience.
I know fundraising has been hard and the journey is not done but I will get through it and will finish through with the love and support of the Lord. It may be hard at times, I might get stressed out or confused, and/or I might lose hope for a bit but I will eventually come back to his hope and love.
Right now, I am feeling especially grateful to those who have been a part of this journey so far and those who continue to be there and support me through all of it. Sometimes it can feel lonely and pointless but being able to see the little things and the glimmers of support in the hard is what helps me to continue and to get through all that I need to.
What is next? What is to Come?
So now that I am done with student teaching and have officially finished college the next step of this journey is training camp. I leave to go to the World Race base in Gainesville, Georgia on January 12th and will be there for 2 weeks learning about the Lord, his heart for missions, preparing for logistics, learning about cultures and norms of other countries, and so much more. It will be a wild ride and I can’t wait to experience all that comes with it. Then after training camp, my squad will launch onto the field to our first country which is Thailand, and begin our ministry there. I will update you guys through training camp and throughout ministry on the field as I can so that you can follow along with it all.
Ways to support me:
Prayerfully
– Preparation for my heart and my squad
– For continued faith in the Lord to provide
– Training camp and all that is to come
– For my family and friends and their hearts while I am gone
– Guidance for how to fundraise on the field
Financially
– For the Lord to move in people’s hearts
– For people to be willing to support me financially on this journey
– Highlighting people to talk to
If you feel led to support me financially, please feel free to donate using the link below.
Donation Link
https://adventuresinmissions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/january-2025-world-race-expedition-11-months-25w0102/participants/mvonrueden
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