Blog --> https://derekmissiontrip.blogspot.com/
(Edit) As of right now, I have almost reached my goal of $6000. Thank you to everyone who supported me. I am also hoping to raise another $1000 on this page to give to the Aomori Christian Center, which will contribute towards their initiatives in reaching out to the community around them. The Aomori Christian Camp is often underfunded, so please consider donating even if my goal is reached.
Hello! This winter I will be going on a 13 week mission trip to Aomori, Japan with OMF International Serve Asia from approximately December 26 to March 15. I will be serving at a rural mission camp called Aomori Christian Center, where I will be working on outreach initiatives via teaching at English camps at local churches, helping with retreats held at the Aomori Christian Center, maintaining the camp grounds, and several other potential projects. I hope that you can support me, whether it be financially or spiritually, or both! As an additional request, I hope that everyone will keep me in their prayers to be filled with the love of God so I may share it bountifully. Thank you:)
This is what I will be doing:
1. Partnering with local churches by leading and running English classes for all ages, and by helping with internaional worship services in English.
2. Organizing worship, songs, skits, camp games, and activities for children's camps and university retreats. Assisting staff with meal preparation and cleanup. Assisting maintainence staff to care for the camp grounds.
3. Managing snow on camp grounds. Aomori Christian Center hopes that this is the first year in which they succeed in keeping their camp open during winter so that people can come and enjoy activities at the camp. This will open more ministry opportunities.
This is where I will be working:
This is my purpose:
Through much prayer and turmoil throughout the last few months, I now know that God has called me to serve him by ministering to those who do not know him during this winter. I want to share God's love and the hope he brings. I want to build relationships with people and share about the goodness of God. I also want to learn from missionaries and be inspired by their faith in God. I hope to develop a stronger cultural sensitivity so I may learn how to care for different peoples. I also believe that God may be calling me to work in the missionary field upon graduation of college. I hope that this mission trip will clarify God's calling for me.
This is what the money will cover:
Flight, Housing, Food, Insurances, OMF Training Materials, Miscellaneous Fees
All money I do not use will be donated to the Aomori Christian Center.
To clarify, I did not set my own donation goal. OMF set my donation goal based on their history of the expenses needed for a 3 month mission trip to Japan.
This is my story:
In high school, I was incredibly involved within Christian spheres of life. I was the president of my high school's Christian club since junior year, I was a youth group leader at my local church, and I was even a nursery helper at my local church! I loved learning about God, and I loved serving Him in whatever capacities I could. I wanted to help those around me see God the way I saw him, and I tried reaching out to the non-Christians around me as well. During this time, I was blessed to have amazing mentors who taught me much about God and who helped me to undersand his goodness. Even when I was going through difficulty or doubts, God used these mentors to keep my mind focused on Him. Unfortunately, I began to stray from God my senior year of high school. I had so many doubts, and the more I learned about and witnessed the suffering in the world around me, the more I lost hope in God. Regardless of whatever logical explanation I heard or read, my heart could not fathom how a loving God could allow such immense cruelty to exist in the world. Furthermore, I lost hope in my own convictions regarding God. Wasn't it arrogant to think that my view on God was right while all those who believed in other religions (or those who didn't believe in any religion) were wrong? People far smarter and far more competent than me didn't believe in Christianity, so how could I be sure that what I was believing was right? I kept seeking God throughout senior year of high school and freshman year of college, but even if I found logical answers, I was never appeased. College only made things harder, as I was exposed to more and more viewpoints held by different people, each of whom was equally convinced they were right. I felt that religion was more a product of one's upbringing than it was a faith. However, God had always been keeping watch on me, and he showed me by and by that he is the one true Savior. College has been incredibly tough for me on an emotional level. Going through several extremely painful circumstances revealed to me just how broken the world is, and I began to realize how much we all needed a Savior. I turned to the Bible, and whereas all I had read before was condemnation, I now read love. I began to feel God's love, and understand how much he loved His people. God truly does care for each and every one of us, and his love is the only pure, true love in the world. I want to share this love with those around me. I want those who are hopeless and those who are suffering to know that there is a God who loves them and who wants to know them. I want to share about the God who I know forgives our sins and never forgets us. Recently, God has touched my heart to share his gospel with those who don't know him. The last few months have been a battle understanding God's will for me, but I know now that he wants me to share the gospel in Japan.
The reason for Japan:
Last summer, I went to Beijing to teach English. It was probably one of the most transformative experiences of my life, as I had not gone to Asia in 18 years. While I was there, I began to realize how much I loved Asia. I loved the people, the area, and the culture. I loved going out to restaurants, stores, etc. and conversing with the people. I loved just walking around and exploring the area, taking in an endless supply of sights for my hungry eyes. However, I was also acutely moved by this experience. Knowing that billions of people on the Asian continent did not know Christ was emotionally stirring to me. Though I had known this before, the knowledge was merely factual. Seeing, interacting, and loving the actual people made this need starkly known to me. The difference between me and them was thin - my parents came to America, while their's did not. It was not by my own righteousness or greatness that I had come to know Christ. Rather, much of it was through God’s blessing by bringing my parents to American where they found a church and found Christ. Thus, I see Asia as a land of people that I love, and I hope to show by love by teaching and sharing the good news of Christ. Therefore, I am going to Japan to share the gospel. My role there will be to assist with operations at the Aomori Christian Center, located at the northern tip of Japan. There, I will be organizing worship, songs, skits, camp games, and activies for Christian camps. I will also assist with meal preparation and cleanup during this time. I will also be assisting with English camps. During this time, I want to learn more about Japanese Christianity, as well as gain a greater cultural sensitivity. I also believe that God may be calling me to work in the missionary field upon graduation of college. I hope that this mission trip will clarify God's calling for me. If you have made it this far, thank you for reading my story!! I hope that you will be praying for me, as I am trying hard to prepare spiritually for this trip!
