Experience Missions on a Global Outreach International Vision Trip

Ever wondered what it is like to be a missionary? Or maybe you just wonder what it would be like to get a taste of another world? At Global Outreach International (GOI), our missions organization offers several opportunities a year for you to better understand missions and what it means to be a missionary along with the chance to experience life outside of your normal and familiar world.

Designing the Opportunity to See Missions in Your Future

GOI vision trips are designed to help you cast a vision for your future. If missions have always been in the back of your mind or you are actively seeking a missionary career, then this opportunity will provide the benefit of considering your future in ministry, especially if you are exploring overseas missions. Our team at GOI desires to be at work discipling those who want to understand more about missions work. We offer several trips throughout the year. In March we went to Africa and visited Uganda. We visited the Middle East in May and this Fall; we will travel to Ecuador. These vision trips last two weeks or less and will give you a taste of the culture, the needs, and the opportunities. Several internship opportunities are also available, allowing participants a more immersive experience as you have time to work and develop relationships.

So much good eating can be found at local shops like this in the Middle East!

Exploring New Terrain

I so badly want you to see what I saw. I want you to feel what I felt. My first vision trip with GOI is where I met Uganda, a landlocked country in Eastern Africa that cuddles up to Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Nile River. I had never been to Africa. I came to explore and meet our missionaries there. These missionaries are highly esteemed colleagues who are teaching me daily what it means to serve them as the GOI Vice President of Development. I already believe in this organization and its efforts to bring the name of Jesus to the farthest reaches of the world. But during that first in-the-field experience, I could hug the people, eat their food, hear the African birds, and see the hidden beauties of that magical nation.

Bananas are a common crop in Uganda.

While my feet stepped through the sod of Africa, I was strangely reminded of home. I recalled my schoolgirl days spent out in farm fields running, growing, and dreaming. I went wherever my imagination wove into my mind in those days. To be candid, this sensation surprised me since I was thousands of miles from home. Yet the soil was producing crops that fed the people who built houses on the land that “Jack” built (Mother Goose’s nursery rhymes anyone?). The language, the plant life, and the people all looked very different, but the soil under my feet brought me home.

There are so many opportunities to serve with GOI in Uganda. That was a big reason why I wandered there first on my journeys through the GOI world. I am in awe of all that is happening, and I am in awe that so much more work still needs to be done in this little corner of the earth.

But first, the people.

Discover Where You Fit

Exploring a part of the world that is new to you means two things. First, you discover so many differences; it cannot be helped. I tried to understand what the people were saying. I tried to find out where I was supposed to go and who to talk to. I tried to greet the missionaries and the people to show them kindness and gratitude. But what I knew was not going to take me where I needed to go.

Unfortunately, I discovered I had been holding biases. The expectations I had confronted me, and I suddenly understood what they were.

I expected loud and gregarious people. No. They were so soft-spoken and so gentle. The overly loud, overly done culture of America sat in my mind as a stark contrast. I self-consciously tried to ratchet myself back to meet their gentleness.

I expected a bit more suspicion than I am accustomed to. Instead, the people fed me with so much open-handed kindness.

I expected the people to be disheartened and hopeless living in Africa. They turned the tables on me and the Christians displayed their joyous and genuine faith in their facial expressions.

It was the very definition of beautiful.

Whatever other negative expectations I held; they didn’t happen. Instead, I discovered the dozens of ministries operating in Jinja, Uganda, and the surrounding areas. I also witnessed the suffering of the many more who still needed help. Did I mention there is so much work left to do?

The friendly and engaging people of Uganda.

Can you see yourself working with young women experiencing an untimely pregnancy? There are some lovely women there who care for young women and their babies. Do you imagine Bible study in your future? Community Bible study is steadily growing there and will need more leadership soon to split the group allowing for more growth. Business Development? Yes. Missionaries are teaching job skills to release those stuck in the cycle of poverty to become citizens who contribute to their society. Perhaps you like theology and enjoy teaching. There are several opportunities for Bible training, pastoral training, and theological seminary where the search for teachers is a continual challenge.

Do you have training in physical therapy, speech therapy, or occupational therapy? There is a place that provides these services, but in many locations in Uganda and throughout Africa, people do not have access to this kind of care.

Do you want to teach? There is an elementary and secondary school for international students and local students. Do you have a heart for third-culture kids? If you know what that is and have a heart for it, you can visit someone who is actively serving missionary and ex-patriot kids.

Come see what I saw. Come and taste the food. Come and hug the people.

Envision What the Future Could Be

I am a farm girl who grew up on a 350-acre farm in rural Tennessee. My father grew up during the Great Depression in the 1930s. One of 13 children, he had to drop out of school in eighth grade. However, he was one of the smartest men I have ever known and was particularly excellent at math. He would put high-school students to shame today with his ability to solve complex math in his head. He had no option for a calculator in school. Even if they had been available, his family could not have afforded one.

Let me tell you a story about my Daddy. Decades ago, he embraced the new idea of terrace farming. At that time, it was typical for entire fields to be plowed up where row crops would be planted. But, working with the local soil conservation office, he agreed to plow only the sections that would be planted and leave the areas that would naturally carry water (low spots) unplowed and grassy. You simply left it green (with grass) to prevent the topsoil from being washed away in rainstorms.

My father embraced the idea, understood it, and got quite a few strange looks and joking comments from fellow farmers who had never seen the practice before. In fact, some thought it was downright crazy; waterways were always plowed. But he listened to the new idea and continued to learn. Today? Well, it is common practice because it works and is smart farming.

The farms I visited in Uganda showed me the same spirit of innovation. Farming God’s Way is a ministry dedicated to teaching farming techniques at a low cost. They waste few of their resources all while teaching the people who God is and how much He cares about them. I was so impressed with their techniques as local farmers learned how to increase their yield without spending more money. The farmers increase their skill, get out of debt, and can sell what they don’t need to the local market. They earn profit, care for their families, send their children to school, and change their family trees forever.

Uganda Village Life is very agricultural and very simple. When Farming God's Way taught how to bring higher yield at little to no extra cost, they can find their way out of debt and support their families.

GOI vision trips help enlarge your ideas of what the possibilities are. What gifts, skills, and education do you have that you can bring with you? We will come back to Farming God’s Way, but first let’s go to Jordan, which represents a much darker part of missionary life.

Experience the Roller Coaster Ride

Hopelessness

In March I was introduced to Uganda. In May I met Jordan. So very many differences... But again, I have been confronted with people who are suffering all over the world throughout my career. It’s why I work in the non-profit sector. I love that my work often gives hope and a voice to those who have neither. But then, Jordan.

I have never been faced with what felt like a completely hopeless situation in all my life until I sat in the living room of a Syrian refugee. I have more than 33 years of experience working in the non-profit world. This situation was crushingly brutal in a way I had not ever been faced with. A young Syrian refugee woman, she escaped the ravages of the battles in Syria. She is a first wife whose husband married a second wife. Her young son, now eight years old, has needed multiple surgeries since he was four. As you might expect, this medical situation added a great deal of stress to their marriage.

Options to Choose or Traps to Endure

She was given in an arranged marriage to a man she did not know when she was 14 years old. (I was in eighth grade when I was 14, listening to Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes. What about you?) At 22 years old, she had been married for eight years and had six children. Her husband decided to leave for Germany with his second wife, and as a Syrian refugee, she cannot legally work in Jordan. Returning to Syria would mean no running water and no electricity in most places. Her sisters, who are living in Syria, told her not to come. They couldn’t feed their own children, and certainly not hers. Medical care is difficult to get in Syria and with her young son already going through so many surgeries, it just didn’t seem like an option.

Her husband did propose one option. She could send her six children to Germany with her husband and his second wife, but she could not come. Her brother in Jordan said she could live with him, but not her children. If she sent her children with her husband, she felt there was a strong chance she would never see her children again. Besides, what would her husband say about her to her own children?

Middle East CityScape

When There is Nothing Else

If there was ever a time to use the word hopelessness, this is it. She is trapped at every turn and cannot help herself. This is usually where I come in and think, I will just make a few phone calls, connect a few people, and plead her case. I know lots of people who would want to help her.

But that day, I didn’t have that option. At least, I didn’t feel it. My mind went blank with options. I wept. I mean, the tears racing down my cheeks kind of weeping. That’s when the team leader encouraged me to pray with her.

You know what he said to me?

I didn’t know Arabic and she wouldn’t know what I was saying anyway, I reasoned. I couldn’t even give her any money. Even if I did, it wouldn’t change her overwhelming poverty in both finances and lack of a supportive family. So, I decided I would pray. And I did. Tears kept rolling down my cheeks. I had to blow my nose... a lot. It was ugly.

The Darkness with No Exit

I was angry. Enraged. Why must people suffer so? I wanted to blame the government. I wanted to blame religion. I wanted to blame the culture. And as you know, each has played a part in this young woman’s grief. Her entrapment is in part due to systemic blocks she does not have the power to overcome. I like to fix things. I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, but on this day, I was powerless to benefit this woman in anyway. Not one single way.

Where will her suffering end? When will it end? How many other women have similar tragedies happening in their lives? How many 2nd, 3rd, or 4th wives are experiencing the pull between choosing their children and the ability to earn money to care for their children properly?

Oppression is Another Word for Powerless

It is hard to be a woman in the Middle East. Women are not so privileged. Many cannot decide who they want to marry or when they get married. I desire for women all over the world to have the privileges I have received to earn a higher education and benefit from more opportunities as a result. This possibility was clearly too far of a leap for this young woman. The opportunities I’ve received would never be available to her. She can’t just go get a job and take care of those kids herself; her family is gone. Her husband would only help if her children were out of the picture. But she will always be a mother; there is no turning back once you discover that life is growing within your womb. She doesn’t want to leave her children. My mother’s heart ached with the reality that she would probably eventually have to make a Sophie’s Choice to never see her children again. Just the idea was untenable.

II remembered Farming God’s Way in Uganda and how the people learned to increase their crop yields, holding hope and promise that God is at work and because of Him everyone’s life will be better.

But life doesn’t always get better, even when you see people deciding to follow Jesus. This mother is a believer. She is my sister in Christ.

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I learned so much about regenerative farming in Uganda. Farming God’s Way teaches where each crop grows best, and what other crops grow well with the crop you start with. For example, growing corn and beans in the same field is very beneficial. The beans provide the nitrogen that the corn needs to be fed. The corn provides a trellis for the bean vines to climb up as they grow. The eager farmers are taught what they can use to feed the soil. Rather than purchasing fertilizers, they use what they have to feed the soil the nutrients it needs. Yes, farmers are often in debt and cannot spend money, but when they learn the principles of this method, they discover hope and a future.

Hope Shows Up in the “With”

I prayed for that woman in Jordan. Tears still ran down my cheeks. I experienced compassion in a different way. Karen Swallow Prior gives a beautiful definition of compassion in her book, On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books. The Latin words that make up the word for compassion are “com” meaning “with” and “passion” meaning “suffering.” Our word compassion literally means “to suffer with.” The heartbroken mother I prayed for explained to my leader (who knows Arabic) that my tears said more to her than any words could. She knew I felt her pain, and that was a great comfort to her. Her response still surprises me. No problems were solved. She still lives in this horrific situation, yet she was somehow comforted knowing that another suffered with her.

After listening to the heartache of this young mom who is truly trapped, God showed me that this is not the end. There is hope. I learned how many Muslims felt about their Islamic faith after ISIS and the Taliban have operated so ruthlessly. Once they learn that the Quran affirms the actions of ISIS and the Taliban, it is very upsetting, and they often deeply question their faith.

Light Always Penetrates Darkness, No Matter How Dark

1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”

After that experience, I visited with many others who were questioning their Islamic faith. It began to dawn on me that fruit was growing in that dark, brutal society. The name of Jesus has been catching on in the shadows, and there are many who are quietly coming to faith in Jesus Christ. My friends who lived in the Middle East for 10 years as missionaries never witnessed anyone’s baptism, nor did they hear of anyone who had been baptized in their community. Not one. Through those men, I see the spirit of love, kindness, and equality that comes from the love of a Savior who values each precious soul.

On this trip to Jordan, our team had the privilege to witness four Muslim men declare their faith in Jesus Christ through baptism. I watched in wonder at this miracle. Many are turning to Jesus and getting baptized. The light of Jesus Christ has indeed pierced the dark places of this world. There is a beautiful momentum that fills me with hope that more darkness can be penetrated by the light of Christ.

Hope Has a Name: Jesus

After visiting a local business development shop, I found more reason to hope that Jesus is a light in the Middle East. The employees are all women and many shared that they loved working there. Why? I would ask, curious. “This is the only place I can be myself,” they explained. They felt a sense of freedom to enjoy who they are as a person, aswomen, and as employees who are productive members of their community. They have become a strong community bonded together through similar circumstances.

A woman's life depends on her family and larger community in Middle Eastern Culture.

There is more - so much more. There are stories of hope and faith so pure and beautiful that I felt convicted by my own lack. I am better and so much more from having experienced the work that GOI is doing in the hardest places of this world. The reality is this: we are all called to go, either sending or supporting. My role, at this point in my life, is to support. I invite you to join me today.

Want to learn more about the experiences mentioned above? Here are some links with more information.

• Farming God's Way in Uganda - Klint and Vicki Ostermann
• Vision Trip and Internship Opportunities with Global Outreach International
• 2025 Vision Trip to Jordan