Our Executive Assistant shares a bit of her travels in faith

A Heart for Missions

I haven’t always had a heart for missions. In fact, in February 2002 when I walked into worship and heard that pastors from Africa would be speaking, I thought, “Man, another missionary to listen to!” and grumbled under my breath. Yet, that day God touched my heart and called me to go to Rwanda.

Despite lots of obstacles, by October 2003 I was heading to Rwanda with six other women to support the widows and orphans. I was prepared to teach children Bible songs, but the Lord had different plans. God revealed to us that the principalities and powers of darkness were fighting for Rwanda in a conflict of faiths. Rwanda is like “Boardwalk” in Monopoly—whichever faith wins Rwanda will win the continent of Africa. The Lord allowed our team to pray down strongholds of unbelief, hatred, spiritual ignorance, sexual immorality, idolatry, deceit, and traditions. And God used this experience to continue changing my heart.

God did not stop working when the mission trip was over. My church, First Baptist of Mount Holly, had a missions breakfast in February 2004. Since I thought our Rwanda trip would be the entire presentation, I had invited all those who had prayed for and supported me. Instead, ours was one of many different outreaches highlighted. Another one happened to be the Burlington Center Mall Ministry. One of my supporters was intrigued by the Mall Ministry and went to visit. She attended a program, and then became a volunteer. When the Administrative Assistant job opened up, she told me about it. Since the LORD had softened my heart toward missions, I was willing to consider a career path unrelated to my engineering degrees. I applied and I have been working here since July 2004.

Sitting out front as a host, I have observed that a significant percent of those walking past the Mall Ministry speak a language other than English. How important it is that they have God’s Word in their native language. I have been trying to get tracts and Bibles in other languages—especially Hindi, Arabic and Punjabi—but have not yet been able to find them. What joyous reactions we witnessed when we posted the Scripture for one window display in five different languages!

Quite to my surprise, I’m learning that my attraction to people from different cultures, my enjoyment of foods from around the world and my ability to minister effectively to people in other cultures is a spiritual gift called “Missionary!” It’s hard to believe that I had to travel nearly 8,000 miles in order to be sharing Christ with people from around the world at a Mall Ministry less than five miles from my home. God has such a sense of humor!