Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 3/4/2011
.....to see the solicitation of prostitution....apparently you can just go to McDonalds.
So, I should say, first of all, I'm making a lot of assumptions here. If you disagree with me that's fine, i promise i won't be offended, just know, that assumptions are being made. Feel free to make your own:
A white American, at least upper fifties, maybe low sixties, sits across from a Thai girl, maybe upper twenties....maybe. They're a few tables away so I can't make out what the man is saying. She sits with a meal. He sits across with her, not eating, but asking her for the receipt, so clearly he bought it. He says some things, then makes a gesture with his hand to his ear like a phone, and asks, "you'll call me?", after she nods, he smiles, gets up, and walks away. I pity this man, he's empty, he's lonely, he's walking in darkness, and may or may not realize it. He must have been hurt in the past, he must have experienced heartache....maybe he's never felt love from a woman, so has come to southeast Asia to try to find it. I pity him, I think this man is broken....until i see the flourescent light reflect off the silver wedding band on his finger....this man isn't broken....he's shattered.
How does this happen? I could understand a little more if he was single, (not excusing his actions, but, i don't know, at least it would make more sense) Does his wife know? He probably has kids.....they're probably the same age of the woman he just made an agreement with. And i've heard stories about married men coming to these countries for this, but it doesn't really stick until you see it.
Later that night, at a bar downtown I met a guy named Grant. We played pool, and started up a conversation. After the initial telling me how bad America sucked for various reasons, we had this dialogue:
Grant: well my wife is Thai and....
Me: sorry, did you say your wife was Thai?
Grant: yeah
Me: where is she at right now?
Grant: she's back at the hotel
Me(look of confusion)
Grant(sheepish grin): she's very understanding....you know come out have a few drinks, have a good time.....as long as i come home at night, she's ok....
And, thats about the time a lady from the bar came up and told us we needed to start playing, because people were waiting for the table....ironically she didn't tell Grant he needed to take his turn when he was too busy groping the girl that might have been 19....
So yeah, i know....i'm a naive 27 year old...i've been in one "serious" relationship, and that ended about six years ago....and the older i get i realize it wasn't so much serious but silly. But how as men do we get to this place? What happens, to make us think, that we will find joy in an isolated encounter with a stranger, when we can't find it in the woman who devoted herself to us on the altar. How can we betray that. I know lust is a struggle for men, and i'm not saying it always completely goes away after marriage. And I know sin is sin, and if you look at a woman lustfully you've alredy committed adultery. But still, how can we take it this far?
It makes me angry when i see john's disrespecting women in the bars. It makes me furious when i see married men disrespecting women in the bars and the woman they devoted themselves to. Like I said....i'm a naive single 27 year old, but i can't comprehend how you can touch a woman....touch a girl, with the same hand that's holding the symbol of your commitment to your wife. I think about the heartache that would cause my future wife, and it breaks my heart to know, those are the emotions that these women feel, and should feel when this happens.
Alright, so i feel like this was kind of a blog/soapbox, for that I apologize....my bad. Pray that we continue to have pity for the john's because of their brokenness, but pray that we still pity the husbands, for they're broken as well....and in some ways far more. But also pray for Grant, and the other men, who are trying to fill a void in their life that in the end will leave them more empty than they already are. That they would realize true love isn't found in a night with a girl thirty years younger than them. Pray that they would be filled, with the love of and for their wives, but more so they would be filled with the Love and Hope of Christ....and they would be satisfied.
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 2/3/2011
I've read the Gospels, I believe the Gospels, but still, just as the disciples, I've seen him feed the five thousand, then question his abilities to feed the four thousand:
We've been working in an organization that's not faith-based, which all our team members had reservations with at first....we're a missions organization, how are we not working with a Christian organization? Not only that, but it laid out the guidelines in our volunteer packet--"no volunteer shall evangelize, and practice/preach their faith"...or something along those lines.
So how do we as a team with a mission to show the love of Christ work here...and that's when the conviction came. God, asked me at least, "Do you really doubt, my abilities?" No one noticed that this organization wasn't faith-based until after we went there the first day, and if we had noticed, we probably wouldn't have agreed to work here. And, now I know that that wasn't an accident. We've been praying as a team for opportunities to share Christ's love, because the packet also mentioned, we could share our faith, if we were asked questions. We also talked about how while our main focus is on the kids, and their protection, and working in prevention of them being trafficked, we also had an entire staff to be ministering to as well.
I've been praying to God, that I would see opportunities, and seize opportunities when they came. The other day, we had opportunities, but as usual I didn't see them, until later. As we were sitting in the meeting room, during break, one of the staff members came up and asked if we had had lunch yet. I answered with the logical, and truthful answer, "yes sir."(opportunity 1, missed) He persisted though, "we would like you to join us for lunch." Alright, that's cool, I can still eat. So two teammates and I went downstairs and they pulled up some extra chairs. As we sat down, I wondered, should I say something about praying? But I didn't (opportunity 2, missed). Luckily, one of my teammates did ask, and even though a couple seemed hesitant at first, as Erika started grabbing people's hands, they smiled and agreed. And then, she asked me to pray. So there I was, with an opportunity, and a task before me. And the first thing I thought was..."should, i mention Jesus?" and the second thought i had a split second after that was, "How can you not?" And so i did. And as 9 grown adults sat around a table designed for children, i held the hands of a teammate and the director of this organization, and i prayed...in Jesus' name.
It wasn't shouting from a rooftop boldness, and it wasn't getting arrested for preaching the gospel in the streets boldness, but it was a start, and something i've been praying for for a long time, and a lot of people have told me they've been praying for....and i don't boast, because i didn't do anything special, but Christ said to not deny him before men, and i've done that way too often in the past. No we weren't in a buddhist pagoda, but just as believers, our bodies are temples, and our homes are supposed to be places of worship devoted to God, just as our churches, the building of this organization, staffed by buddhists, is a buddhist temple.....and God allowed a group of believers to infiltrate this place, and share our love with the children, but staff as well, and we weren't overbearing, and we weren't forceful, and Christ allowed their hearts to soften, and let believers come in and preach their faith, through our actions and our words.
There's been a number of other opportunities as well for our team to share things, and God is using us in impactful ways, and i pray He will continue to do that in the next week. And hopefully, when we leave this place in a week, we will leave the breath of Christ when we do.
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 1/2/2011
I was confident. I knew I had enough time. Even as bad as i am at procrastinating( i meant to post this blog yesterday), i thought this would be different. I had about 5 months to prepare for this trip. I figured that would be more than enough time. The trip itself still seemed incredibly far away, even after training camp. I knew though, once the holidays hit, it would seem closer and closer, but still... plenty of time. Thanksgiving was here and gone, and there was still a month before Christmas, and then it came, and that's when it really started to hit me. It hit me the most when I started to have to say goodbye to people. First of all the reality of the trip came that much clearer, but then i started having other thoughts as well, like, "the next time i see this person, i will be back from overseas, how will my life be different, how will i be changed?", "how are my relationships with people going to change as a result of my experiences through this trip?" just another question to add to the list, of how God is going to move in my life and others over the next few months. The first person i had to say goodbye to has been my best friend most of my life...and that was tough. Then i started having to say goodbye to other family members, high school friends that were in town, and it sort of became overwhelming. The time was quickly approaching. And now with New Years day here, it is all too evident that, this is going to happen, we're doing this. I leave this year...no, I leave this month....no, I leave in two weeks.....am i ready??? I don't feel prepared. The two things that I still needed to get supply wise, i still haven't gotten, and two has turned into twenty. I'm not sure i feel mentally/spiritually or even physically prepared, but i'm not sure i ever will feel like I am. The worst thing about procrastination, is you actually realize everything you have to do, when it seems to late. With that being said, if you'll allow me to be cliche for a moment....
As i was thinking about 2010 last night, reflecting, praying, I realized a few things. 2010 had some of the lowest lows, and darkest points of my life--but also some of the brightest. God delivered me from a few things that were holding me back from this trip, and living a life pleasing to Him in general. As a result of that, he's drawn me closer to Him. I finally, after 3-4 years of "considering" going overseas for missions, was broken out of my apathy and concern for safety and security, to jumping out on faith, and actually going. I got pretty close a few times, and even though, technically i haven't gone yet, I don't see anything standing in my way this time, and the biggest thing that has always been there, my feelings of incompetence and doubt, aren't going to hold me back. I realized though, i'm still incompetent, and i completely doubt myself and my own abilities, but as my relationship with Christ improved this year, I found myself relying more and more on his grace, and his mercy, and what he supplies me with. I am competent in Him, and don't doubt what I am capable of, through Him.
2011 is here. and I'm looking very forward to it. As i was sharing with a good buddy last night, this is the first year in a long time, that i feel better about where i'm at at the end of it, compared to the year before. I feel like i've actually grew/progressed from 1/1/10. It's interesting though, because this is also the first year in a long time, that i'm even less sure about what's going to happen. What are my experiences going to be on this trip? what is He going to call me to, during it, and afterwards? But for maybe the first time in my life, i'm ok with the uncertainty of it all.
So I kind of got off track, and this blog i just noticed is really about two different things, but in a way its still related....I hope. Going back to what I was saying before, I don't feel prepared, partly because i'm notorious at putting things off, but partly because, I have no clear idea of what's going to happen, and how to fully prepare for it. But, and I know this sounds contradicing, I'm not prepared....but I'm ready.
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 12/1/2010
In the first part of this blog I talked about why getting involved in human trafficking was important in general. Another reaction, or question I get, (and initially asked myself) is why, as a male, get involved with this issue that mainly affects women. 27 million people worldwide, and 80% of those are women...why should I get involved? Here's a few reasons that God has shown me over the past couple months:
-I think all a man has to do is think about his wife, or his daughter, or his niece being trafficked, and that should be enough to want to get involved, to end the atrocity. I don't have either of these, but all I have to do is imagine it, and it's enough to make me want to get involved.
-20% of 27 million, is still 5.4 million people--a huge and significant number of males being affected. Also, when we decide support of an issue is important, based on how many people are affected by it, we reduce that person to a statistic and not as a human being. Let's not see people as numbers on a page, but PEOPLE, with hearts, and emotions, and pain, and souls.....if just one person was being trafficked, should it still matter? Absolutely.
-For some girls the only, and i mean the ONLY, idea they have of a man, is one who is a rapist, an abuser, and an exploiter. This is how they come to view all men. We have to be godly examples of men for these women, showing them, we are capable of love, and respect, if we ever hope for them to trust in Christ.
-we can't forget that human trafficking is not just sex trafficking. Men are exploited mostly in labor sectors, sex trafficking is obviously terrible, and I have gained a huge passion for that, don't get me wrong, but we can't overlook the fact that there are men (and women) also enslaved in other parts of society other than prostitution.
-We simply need to step up as men of God, and say we will not stand for this.
-Men can't say this is a women's problem, and women need to fix it, that is ridiculous.
-I don't know the statistics, but I can assume that, even though 80% of people being trafficked are women, at least 80% (if not more) of the people, in power in the human trafficking industry are men.
-The solution to ending human trafficking, is one of supply and demand. If we end the demand for sex trafficking, (again the demand is mostly from men) there will be no profit, forcing those in control to close the industry. We have to minister to those who control the demand, if we hope to put an end to it. There are always millions of other girls at risk to being trafficked to replace those that are rescued.
-If more men bucked up, and took a stand, we probably wouldn't need so many women to step up to council the massive number of girls being rescued, because not as many would be in the industry in the first place.
-Lastly, this isn't a woman's problem, because women didn't create it. Our gender created the problem, our gender allows it to exist, and if we as men of God don't step up, because it doesn't "effect" us as much, then we aren't part of the solution...and we aren't part of the problem either....we ARE the problem.
Over the last few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about the men involved in especially the sex trafficking industry. The pimps as well as the johns. I've thought about how I'll react to them. My initial emotion towards them, like I think most people's is one of hate. But God has changed my heart towards these men. Obviously, yes I hate what they're doing, but the emotion I feel the most towards these men is pity. I was sharing with a friend the other day, how I pity the men that allow this industry to exist, as much as the women. The girls and guys trapped in this industry, are living in a world of immense darkness, loneliness, fear, and a number of other emotions. But they're there against their will. The men who profit from the industry, or are consumers of this industry, are there by choice. They willingly, day in, and day out enter this darkness, because they think it will bring them joy....and in this way, their slaves as well, to their own desires and misconceptions of what a successful and satisfying life is. What better example of someone who needs the love of Christ, and the message of the Gospel, then someone who willingly enters and stays in a world of darkness, because they're too blind to leave it?
And this is what I hope to be a part of ending early next year. I hope to be a part of ending human trafficking, and I hope to be a light in the darkness, so those trapped there, for whatever reason, might see there's more to this world than this, that there's a greater joy, and a greater love, than they ever could have imagined, in Christ.
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 11/10/2010
 In High School I struggled with slavery. I often wondered what I would've done if I lived during the period before the Civil War. I think it's easy to say, I would've been an abolitionist, I would've been against it, I would have fought to end it. But I have to be honest, and say I don't know if I would've done that. Whether we like it or not, even in the slightest, we are products of our environment. Growing up in the South, there are still some strong racist cultural ties in many parts. The first school I taught at was in a city called Denton, NC, which contained one of the biggest/strongest chapters of the KKK, and these ties are still evident. Confederate flags were a staple on most kids clothing, and they didn't wear it for "southern pride and tradition". I was teaching Algebra, but still had to take time out of many class periods to try to teach tolerance. If I grew up in the South during the time of slavery, I don't know what I would've done. I probably would have been brought up learning that whites were superior, and that slavery is supported by scripture. I hope I would've been able to see through the lies, and be against it. But I also hope I wouldn't have just been against slavery, said "that's horrible", and feel good about myself because I didn't agree with the people that allowed slavery to exist. I hope I would have tried to replace hate, with love and be a voice for those that couldn't have their own, even though I could've endangered myself in the process.
I say all of this because, slavery exists. It doesn't affect me, it doesn't affect my family. I could be content in researching, learning some of the warning signs, and bringing it up in conversations about how horrible it is. But I feel like I have to do more than that. There's two different reasons people question why I'm wanting to be a part of this. First of all, is why at all? When I tell people I'm going overseas, they assume I'm teaching because that's what I was doing before, or some people ask if I'm in the military. When I told a former co-worker I was going to be working with human trafficking, his response was, "Why do you want to do that?" My initial reaction, and response to him was, "why not?" I realize, I could've and probably should've elaborated more, but when it all comes down to it, that's the right answer, what reason do we not have for trying to fix this problem. In America, it doesn't make sense to do something that doesn't benefit you. It doesn't make sense to leave a good job, good benefits, safety, and security, to go try to stop an issue that still a lot of people don't know about, and which is providing Americans with cheap goods and services. The bad thing about today, is people think if they're a fan of a cause on facebook, or get e-mail reminders from the One Campaign, their making a difference. This isn't to say these aren't good things, awareness is one of the keys to ending an atrocity; the reason the Holocaust was allowed to exist for so long was because people weren't aware.....but we have to be more than just AWARE. We have to become aware, and then DO SOMETHING.
 In the movie "Hotel Rwanda" Don Cheadle's character, upon hearing that the genocide is being reported on, and going to be shown on American news channels, is elated because he believes it will bring an end to the genocide. The American Colonel who is stationed in Rwanda discourages him though, when he says, "America doesn't care about you, they will see this story, say, 'that's tragic', and then turn back to their dinner and forget about you." I'm not trying to be anti-American here, I think the same could be said for a lot of Western civilized nations. But this is what we are content with a lot of the time. Let's see a 2 minute soundbyte on a social injustice, feel bad about it, and then get on with our lives. If it doesn't directly affect us, we don't want to get too fully involved. But this is a terrible and misconstrued view to have on life. If everyone said, "I'm not black, how does this affect me" the trans-atlantic slave trade would have existed a lot longer than it did in America. If everyone said, "I'm not a Jew, how does this affect me" Hitler would've been a lot more successful in eradicating the Jewish population from Europe. And if we say, "we're not affected by human trafficking, what's the point of getting involved" then this issue, which has already acheived staggering statistics, will only get worse, to the point where it may be impossible to stop it. I'm not happy about human trafficking, but I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to be a part of ending it. It gives me hope that, if I lived in the early 1800's, that I would have said, what I and the rest of this squad are saying today, "I can't sit idly by and let this continue.....I am an abolitionst."
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 11/10/2010
So from where I left off, training camp....It was pretty great for the most part. I was challenged immensely, and was exposed to many different things, that I hadn't been experienced before. Overall, it was a good experience. I was forced to ask myself some questions, about what I believe, and about what my relationship with Christ was. I didn't agree with everything that was said, or every point that was made, but i didn't immediately discount anything that sounded strange just because it didn't align with my preconceived belief system. I walked away from training camp with some things to think about, some things to ponder, and some things to reflect on. Also, the good thing about training camp, was that this whole trip became a lot more real to me. Meeting my squadmates, team-building, learning more about trafficking and what we would be doing, all brought me to the realization that, this is about to happen. The worst part about training camp, is it made me extremely anxious. I'm ready to go, and as I sit, typing this, I still have about two months. Now, I'm not completely prepared still, packing wise, logistic wise, support wise, or probably any other aspect. But, I'm ready to get started. Most of the other squadmates have voiced how this is a struggle too, and we've gotten some good advice from other squadmates. There is still two months to go, but we are all where God wants us to be at this time. I'm trying to take it a day a time, and seize the opportunities God has given me, and the relationships, and interactions I have in North Carolina, towards glorifying Him.
Also, at training camp, we were formed into our teams, so we know who we will be spending the the trip with, and who we will be working with more closely. Here's my team:
--This is Team Nehemiah Project. The idea for our name was brought to us by fellow social studies teacher extraordinaire Tim Bradley. The book of Nehemiah has some powerful parallels to what we will be doing in SE Asia and here in the US (hopefully, i'll touch on this in a future blog) I'm very excited about standing beside Tim, and these amazing women of God (Erika, Katie, Cameron, Kylie, and Kristin(not pictured)) to take voice of Truth and Love to the ends of the earth, as well as right here in the States.
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Posted in Man Blogs! by Jason Mendenhall on 11/2/2010
Alright, so this is kind of silly, but serious too. And i hope, and definitely don't intend to be blasphemous in anyway:
No, this isn't a picture of me.....if you look closely his biceps are slightly smaller than mine. But yeah, that's Hercules. In 6th grade I had to do a book report on someone in Greek Mythology, I chose Hercules. After I read the book on Hercules, I wanted to be Hercules. And I kind of still do. I relate a lot of times with people that aren't real, which sounds silly...because it kind of is, but I think there's a lot you can gain from applying stories to your life, here's just a couple ways, Hercules applies to mine:
-Hercules was a screwup, but he was given chances at redemption
-Hercules was given seemingly impossible tasks, the myths called them "labors"--i like this term. We've been given labors as well, and like Hercules I/we can complete them when we put trust in our Creator instead of ourselves
-Hercules was able to be successful over his enemies, because he was not fully human; he was born from a god and a mortal woman. This allowed him the ability to conquer foes and do things simple humans couldn't. PLEASE REALIZE, I'm in no way saying i'm half-god. I am 100% human. But as Christians, we have God, Christ, the Spirit living inside us, which gives us a huge advantage over anything, and we need to realize this when combatting human trafficking (and anything for that matter). We are not merely men (and women, and the unthinkable, and the impossible, can be done, but not on our abilities.
Make sense? Hope so.
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 11/2/2010
I had written a blog earlier about training camp, but my computer jacked up before i could post it. I tried to write it again, but like most of my blogs, it was just a stream of consciousness, and when i tried rewriting it late Halloween night watching "Child's Play" here is what i came up with. It's a lot longer than the first blog, and only talks about half as much. I have a rambling problem, it comes from a couple years of having to fill 90 minutes of class time with 60 minutes of instruction. But instead of editing it, I thought I'd just throw this up more as a part I. All great movies start slow for plot development...consider this a masterpiece.
So I'm an introvert. We had to take this personality test before camp, and when i got the results, introvert pulled the sweep in the I/E questions: Introvert-10, Extrovert-0. I was kind of concerned, because the people on staff were going to think i was a hermit, with the inability to communicate. When I was in middle school/high school, this was probably true. It's interesting how God works. He's done amazing things in my life. He's taken me from the kid who didn't say anything, and cringed at the words, "oral presentation" or "put yourself into groups" to a profession, which most people would say you have to be extremely extroverted. I was amazed most mornings, driving to work, knowing that I was a teacher. Knowing that, I would be standing in front of a group of 25-30 teenagers, for close to 5 hours of instructional time everyday. God's given me the skills to do that, even though I don't feel qualified. I feel kind of like Moses, who after being told by God that he was going to be His voice, tried to convince God that he couldn't do it. If you ask most people that have known me for a long time, they would say I've changed a lot, and in many ways I have, I have become more outgoing, but truth be told, I agree with the personality test results. I'm an extreme introvert, but I'm not a hermit. I can take (somewhat) control of two dozen teenagers, give presentations, hold conversations....but it's also mentally/emotionally draining for me. Don't get me wrong I love doing these things, but I'm still an introvert. I'll never be the "life" of the party--but I'll have a good time....and i'll probably never be shirtless at a sporting event, but i'll still high five and fist bump you and some strangers on the row behind us when our team scores a touchdown.
Probably the biggest negative thing of me being an introvert is when I meet new people. I struggle with this, and also become incredibly nervous in unfamiliar situations. This is what happened before training camp. I was excited to start the drive down to Georgia, 300 miles of highway, on a nice fall day, with some Dispatch CD's playing. But with about 20 miles left, the familiar feelings started. The tenseness and the nervousness of having to spend 4 days with complete strangers (apart from the random facebook wallposts and blog creeping). But that was one of the great things about training camp. These feelings vanished almost immediately. I became incredibly close, with some incredible people, in an incredibly short amount of time. A closeness, that I felt like I could share my life stories, and almost anything about me with. The only other person I I can do this with I've known my whole life. I know this was God working, to begin uniting us who would be working and living together. God fast-forwarded the time it takes me to create close friendships, and it was pretty amazing....the bad thing was there are still a lot of people on the squad, and we didn't have a lot of time to get as close as I would have liked to with all the people on the squad. The last day and a half of camp, when it was just our squad was incredible, and the big thing that I've been worried about this trip--getting along with people went away. The times when our entire squad is together on the race, I think will be pretty sweet. Speaking of the squad, here they are:
--the TFK Squad, as we're called right now
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 10/26/2010
So, i wish i wasn't such a slacker, and had done this blog before training camp, because i feel like expectations have changed slightly from before and after. Anyways, the answer to, "what are my expectations for this trip?" is tough. The first thing I guess that came to mind was to expect the unexpected, but once you expect the unexpected, it's expected, so it's no longer unexpected...right? I don't know exactly what to expect though because I've never been heavily involved in this issue, i've never been overseas, and i've never been in an experience like this, in terms of living in a community of people this close together, for this period of time before. Here's just some basic, and possibly general things/emotions I plan on experiencing:
-I expect sometime in the first week (possibly the first day) of the trip, to ask myself, "what the heck were you thinking?
-I expect to be tore up emotionally, and probably weep at some point, over the injustice I see
-I expect, I'll have to pray fervently for God to take away the hatred I feel for some people I will meet, and replace it with love.
-I expect to be extremely uncomfortable, physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally
-I expect to be used by God, to take back what is his
-I expect to learn, what true community is
-I expect to become closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ
I don't want to say things like, "I expect my world to be flipped upside down" or "I expect my life to be radically changed"......will it be changed, of course....I can't see how it couldn't be. But i don't want to put expectations on this trip, that my life will be completely altered, where somehow my calling is going to be a long-term missionary overseas, or I will devote my career completely to the cause of ending trafficking for the rest of my life. Could that happen.....absolutely, but if it doesn't, and that's what I expect, then this trip might then seem like a disappointment. I do expect amazing and powerful things, because that's what kind of God we serve, but God will also choose how to reveal these things to me as well as the rest of the squad....and yes I do believe a lot of what we experience, will be something none of us completely expected.
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Posted in General Posts by Jason Mendenhall on 10/26/2010
i'm a procrastinator.....not like, 'oh yeah, i always late til the last minute to do something.' I'm a chronic procrastinor. It comes into play in all facets of life...meeting deadlines, being on time, returning calls....blogging. I guess you could say i work well under pressure, but most people don't believe i have the genes that cause a person stress, because it seems that i don't care about things. There is one thing that completely stresses me out though, and that's big decisions that actually involve commitment. I didn't apply to college until March of my senior year, I switched majors five times in three years at Appalachian, I am terrible at establishing relationships. I also have a problem with rambling, but hang with me, this all has a point. I've though a lot about life lately, and especially this last year. All around me at the school I taught at, I saw people who had grown up, lived, and now worked in the same community their whole life. I am in no way saying this is a negative thing, but I was becoming extremely restless, and had decided in college, as well as felt God calling me to something else, for at least a little while. I ended a relationship in college, because I saw that, if I stayed in it, I would be living in the same community for the rest of my life. Then one day, I woke up an realized that's what I was doing anyways. I had felt God calling me to do something overseas, but I kept putting it off for one more year. I realized, if I didn't leave now, I never would. I had been in contact with TeachOverseas, and had actually signed a contract with them, to teach this year in Eastern Europe, but the closer it got, I felt this wasn't where I needed to be. (I was also feeling burnt out on teaching in general.) When I found out about the World Race, it seemed to be exactly what I needed, to drop everything, and just go and be God's hands and feet, all over the world. Commitment issues came into play again however, and I questioned my ability to handle a year of something like this, (especially with it being my first time overseas.) So I switched to the shorter trip that was only supposed to last about 5 months. To be honest, when I found out it was focused on human trafficking I almost dropped out. I wasn't quite sure what it was, and felt like there were already other big problems in the world that I had had a passion for (world hunger, genocide, education initiatives as a way to end long-term global poverty.) I saw trafficking as another issue, that I nor a lot of other folks knew about....therefore it didn't really matter as much. Yes, I feel terrible about feeling that way now. I did some research on human trafficking...looking up statistics, interviews, psa's, etc. God spoke to me through this, and said something to the effect of , "Now you know about the issue, now you know what effects it's having on millions of people's lives, and now that you know, you're responsible for doing something about it.".....And that's what happened, now that I knew, it was impossible to ignore. I still tried to make excuses, but for each one God had an answer, and so two weeks before school started, I resigned, and committed to the World Race, and now here I am preparing, partly terrified, because it's an amazing committment, and because of the unknown, but also excited, because it's an amazing opportunity, to work with some amazing God loving people, to bring light into some of the darkest places in the world, and through God's hand, set captives free, share the love of Christ.....and be the beginning of the end of human trafficking.
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