Over the summer, 10 Union students participated in Global Opportunities Trips, with five students traveling to East Asia and five to Central Asia.
Specific locations are withheld for security reasons.
Each team flew out in early June, so they had the opportunity to spend nearly an entire summer on the mission field, sharing the gospel and ministering to others.
On both GO Trips, students stayed on or near a college campus. They worked as an extension of college ministries with which they were partnered.
The students took classes during the day that focused on a language study.
A main goal of both trips was for the students to develop relationships with other students at the college so that they could share the gospel.
David Carothers, assistant director of student mobilization, said an important factor and focus for both teams in Asia was to serve as an extension to the ministries in which they participated.
Andersen Russell, a recent graduate with a degree in social work, was on the Central Asia team Russell said her weekly responsibilities included taking language class and being involved in an English club at the university.
She also participated in Monday night Bible studies and team meetings.
Russell said that the team’s “main focus of each day, though, was to build relationships in order to show Christ’s love and in hopes of finding opportunities to share the gospel.”
Carothers said the GO Trip staff is still in the process of meeting with team members for debriefing, but “all of them, in some way or another, would say this was life changing.”
Carothers also mentioned that a significant part of the experience is learning how the church functions in other countries and cultures, adding that the process is eye-opening for students.
Logan Smith, sophomore Teaching English as a Second Language and Christian ministries and missions double major, was on the East Asia team.
Smith said the “most moving part of the trip … was seeing how spiritually dark and oppressed the people are.”
Smith said that many of the people of East Asia view religion as superstitious, resistant to anything that is not physical. In the absence of spiritual faith, man-made idols take precedence.
Smith said that watching people worship a man-made idol was “truly a sobering sight.”
Despite the darkness present in East Asia, light still exists, Smith said.
“The Gospel is spreading, for the lost are hungry for hope,” Smith said. “To be able to be used by God to plant seeds, yet also rejoice with and encourage the local believers, was a great joy and blessing.”
Many students also faced challenges while on the mission field, Carothers said. After talking with the students, Carothers said many expressed that the language barrier was difficult and just being away from home made everything more
difficult.
Overall, he said, the challenges “stretched them … and gave them a global understanding of the gospel and the church.”
Despite the culture and language barriers, Carothers said students learned they are not much different from the college students to whom they ministered.
In fact, the Union students had more in common with the students in Asia than they had differences.
Russell recalls a highlight of her trip, when she and a few girls from the university went to visit a nearby city.
Russell said that she and the girls enjoyed the beauty of the city while “talking, laughing and even crying together.”
“Our whole time was filled with a natural flow of conversation,” Russell said.
“It was beautiful to see how God orchestrated such a fun day to be filled with so many opportunities for sharing truth.”
Carothers said the goal of all GO Trips is to invest in the students from Union who will be serving and to make sure that they have a practical, solid understanding of the gospel.
The goals are even more important on the longer, eight-week GO Trips, such as the Central and East Asia trips, Carothers said.
Carothers also noted that every student on each team had the opportunity to share the gospel and foster true friendships, forming bonds that can continue to flourish even though the new friends are now oceans apart.
Russell was able to foster these deep friendships.
“I loved each of the dear girls I was friends with so much that it was completely natural for the truth to be shared in almost every conversation,” she said.
GET INVOLVED
GO Week will be held Sept. 16-20 and will kick off with a special Monday chapel featuring speaker J. Ryan West, held at 10 a.m. Sept. 16. in G.M. Savage Memorial Chapel. This year, 13 trips will be offered during the winter, spring and summer
breaks. The early bird application deadline is Sept. 18, and the final application deadline is Sept. 23. To learn more visit uu.edu/events/go or stop by the Office of University Ministries in the Student Union building.
