Reflection

It is very surreal for us to think we will be leaving WISE in just a few short months and returning home to the United States. While our one year commitment at WISE is coming to a close, we continue to reflect on all the wonderful things God has allowed us to be a part of with this mission and how these blessings will forever be in our hearts!

Is there such a thing as a “Missionary Type”? For us, it was very safe to say working on a mission field was not on our radar.  I (Maddie) had been on a few short-term mission trips and EK had never been on any.  We always felt called to ministry but envisioned God calling us to work strictly in our local churches and communities.  Little did we know that there is not a “Missionary Type” and God had additional plans for us…

One day we were contacted by WISE’s director and his wife, Brice and Amanda Wurdeman, out of the blue, asking if we would like to teach at WISE for a year.  I will say it again, working in the mission field was not something we had ever thought about, but we decided to pray about it to give God a chance to tell us what to do.  Over the next few weeks God did so many things confirming that WISE is where He was calling us.  He gave us peace by allowing us to meet someone from St. Vincent and the Grenadines in our small town of Columbia, Missouri. We also asked Him to close and open doors for us…so He did. Once we made the decision to come to WISE God blessed our support-raising tremendously and made the overall transition go very smoothly.

God has taught us so much during our time here, we could write a book about it, but for the sake of space we will just list a few: to be flexible, willing, humble, submissive, culturally aware, joyful, thankful, and to try to be present in every moment God has given us. Our time at WISE has most of all taught us about trusting in God and how His plans are better than ours.  We are still amazed how God changed the trajectory of our lives in such a short period of time.  Often we get really stuck in our “plan for life” and we forget to look around to see what God has prepared for us.  Our encouragement and prayer for others is to lean on and trust in God and to always keep your ears and heart open to His calling because you never know what He might ask you…He may even call you to the Caribbean!

It is bitter sweet to know that our time at WISE will be complete at the end of June.  It has been a joy to watch God’s work at WISE. It has been a privilege working with the faculty and students along with the community and we will dearly miss them.  However, we are confident that God already knows His plans for us and we are excited to see what He reveals.

Christian Service

This semester we implemented "Christian Service" for all of our students.  The requirements are for each student to complete at least 5 hours of service to people in the community.  The goal of this was to encourage our students to get off campus and interact with new people as well as letting them learn they can serve anywhere!

We were not sure how it would go since this is the first time WISE has done something like this. However, our students are loving it!!!  I have been so proud of their initiative to walk the streets of the community meeting people and offering help in many ways. So far our students have helped cleaned people's homes (sweeping, moping, cleaning dirty dishes), babysat, cleaned up yards, and volunteered to help in activities such as children's Sunday School and Kids Club.

I met with the WISE student council last week and they thanked the faculty for introducing Christian Service to the students.  Many students expressed they would have NEVER thought of doing anything like this, [which is a little comical since we do talk about serving others at this school...it is in the Bible isn't it? :) ] Some of the students that are graduating in April plan to take the idea back to their home churches to encourage others to serve in many ways.  The student council was also inspired to do a Christian Service activity as a student body so next week all the students are visiting an area of town that needs a lot of cleaning up. They plan to help where they are needed and also meet with people to build relationships and pray for them.
I will let you know how this service project turns out and try to post some pics of it as well.

I know a lot of times we think we don't have much to offer to other people but sometimes simply sweeping someone's floor, or cutting their grass can make all the difference in someones life and most of all it is showing them the Love of Christ through you!

Have a great day!