JASON KIM

Hello, my name is Jason Kim and I was blessed with the opportunity to go on missions this summer and experience how God has been moving within Ecuador. During this past school year, the two biggest things I was constantly being reminded of were the urgency of the Gospel and how God’s love is so much greater than I could even imagine. That being said, my decision to go on STSM didn’t stem from a huge calling or a profound encounter. Although I grew up in the church, it wasn’t until my freshman year of college that I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. With the newfound joy from my assurance of salvation alongside the knowledge of God’s grace for all his children, I have been and continue to be compelled with a desire to be intentional and draw near to God’s heart. So when the opportunity to sign up for STSM came around, it didn’t require much pondering as it felt like the natural thing to do.

Coming into Ecuador, I had all these expectations about the struggles we would face, my own idea of how God would move, and how He would radically transform/use me. But once we arrived, I very soon realized that our trip was going to be quite different from what I had originally imagined. Instead of the uncomfortable living situation I was prepared for, we had our own beds along with staff who made our beds every day. Instead of having a packed day of ministry, we only had three hours of VBS each day and had a lot of downtime as a result. As the repetitive cycle of the days went on, I found myself getting complacent within the comfort that we had. But during our second week, I got hit with a wave of altitude sickness and experienced headaches, nausea, and a loss in appetite. Although I was physically unable to be a part of our ministry, God still used the two days I was stuck in bed to humble my heart and remind me of the reason I was there, to serve Him. My prayers shifted from being centered around God using me, to a prayer of surrender before the Lord. I was once again reminded that God doesn’t need me in order to carry out His will but it is through His grace alone that He invites us to join and experience His goodness. 

Another lesson that I learned was that God is an all-knowing God and to have faith in his perfect plan. Right before we were about to head out to our last church to do VBS at, we found out that Pastor Armando had been hospitalized and that we wouldn’t be able to do ministry that day. Naturally, we were a little lost initially on what to do but we decided to go do village outreach and pray over people. Even though it wasn’t what we originally had planned, God was still clearly moving during this time. One family in particular stood out to me, they gratefully invited us into their home where we could see a thoroughly used Bible and we were able to pray over their family and their health. They shared that we were the first ones to have prayed over their home and were incredibly blessed. But we were equally as blessed as we were able to see that it was no coincidence that God brought us here and that he truly has a plan for everything. Thankfully we were able to go to the church the next day as the Pastor had recovered. We waited and waited but none of the kids ended up showing up. As a result, we got to hear Pastor Armando’s powerful testimony of his faithfulness, pray over a couple of families in the neighborhood, and perform our praises in the city. While I was a little nervous at first, it was honestly such a blessing to praise so shamelessly before the Lord. I realized that we aren’t doing these things just for the kids or the people of Ecuador but really to give God the praise that he deserves. 

While this mission trip was nothing like I imagined when I first signed up for STSM, I was truly blessed by the ways God moved and revealed himself to me. Through the vast amount of downtime that we had, I was able to learn how to seek after and simply rest in God’s presence. As fruitful as all these retreats and mission trips are, God isn’t simply an emotion to be sought after. It is truly in our alone time that we are able to establish our foundation and grow in our walks with God. This trip showed me that God has a perfect plan and the only thing he requires of us is to have faith and remain obedient to Him.