A year ago from now I was probably sitting in a classroom taking notes. I was getting ready to graduate. I didn't know what I wanted to do then. Graduation was a surreal eclipse of a life that laid dormant on the other side, and the thought of taking on full responsibility for myself was scarey. After being handed my diploma and moving home for the summer I ended up in Mount Vernon again.
People say that college is the best time of your life. You learn who you are and what you believe, and you learn how to be independant from your family. This is all true. I learned all of these things, and the experience was life changing. However, my move to Mount Vernon after graduating has been the most stretching experience I've ever had in my life.
Last year around this time I was going to Peace Corp informational meetings, learning about the program and what it could do for me and how I could get involved. I was dead-set on going overseas, preferrably somewhere in Europe, to do community service. I wanted to teach English. I had a lot of support from friends, and my family was behind me too. Expenses were taken care of and one of my loans would have been forgiven up to 15%. But, God had a different plan.
About a month or two from the time that I moved down to Mt Vernon my dad had told me that it he had seen on the news that getting into the Peace Corp was becoming more competative because of the current employment situation of the country. I was surprised at how much that discouraged me. So much so that I stoped the application process entirely. Plus, I didn't feel like there was any motivation on the Peace Corps' side to contact me about my application process. I apparently had a guidance counselor, if you will, that I never talked to on the phone, only recieved automatic e-mail messages from. It was very impersonal. But, I believe that God killed that dream, because he had something better.
I'm going to Peru May 17th. About a month ago my friend Joe had shown me this information about a program called Extreme Peru 40/40. The idea is that 40 North Americans are sent to Peru where they are trained in missions and learn Spanish. After, each North American is matched up with 40 Peruvians (thus the name 40/40). These partners then go out into communities and minister and plant churches. The whole mission lasts 27 months. To find out more information go to http://www.extremenazarene.org/
At first, when Joe showed me this program, I looked at it and pushed it aside uninterested. It wasn't until a month later that I saw my friend Brandi on facebook and she told me she was in Peru and what she was doing that I had gotten interested. I read her blog about it and she said she was only kidding when she told me to come down to Peru, but I heard God's voice through her words and my spirit was stirred.
When I got out of work I called my friend, Laura, and told her how I was feeling. I wasn't sure whether this was a real call by God or if it was just emotions, but after a word of prayer I realized that I was being selffish by refusing this oppurtunity that God had given me. I didn't want to leave my friendships behind... that was my main reason for not wanting to go. God spoke to me through this and allowed me to see my err.
Over these past few weeks God has been building me up in His strength, pointing me in the right direction. All of the chruch services I have gone to have inexplicably been aimed toward direction and where God wants us to be in His will. Everything seems to be pointing in this one direction, and it's so comforting to be in God's will and see where He wants me to be.
The other day I was sitting with my friend, Vicki, and we were talking about Peru. In the middle of our discussion she just stopped and told me bluntly that I am right where God wanted me. And in relation to our conversation I realized that it was true. God's truth is undeniable.
I am passing go... now I just have to collect $17,000. I trust God will provide. I fear, but I trust. I am looking for 20 people who would be willing to support me with $30 a month while I am in Peru. If you are interested in getting involved in this missions oppurtunity and would like to become a part of my financial support, let me know and we can get together and talk about the options.
-Trev
