SARANG MIN

When I first joined KCM, I counted myself out of STSM. To me, KCM was no more than a means to keep myself accountable amidst a Christian community. A place where I could meet people who would redirect me to Christ. I felt that missions was for a certain group of people, and I never considered myself to be a part of that group. In my second year of college, however, I decided to serve in KCM, and I was placed in missions committee. Given my role on servant team, I became very involved with different aspects of missions and ultimately, the main purpose of our ministry: to send students out into the nations to spread the gospel. As I helped prepare for campus Missions Report Nights, fundraised for future STSM trainees, and found myself in more intentional conversations about missions, my heart for missions grew. In our weekly committee meetings, we would read the following verse together as a reminder of the purpose of our work. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20. As I repeatedly read this verse, I understood that God commanded all believers to partake in the Great Commission, which led me to go on STSM. 

Though there were many things that I learned on this trip, I wanted to emphasize these two things: God is capable of using anyone for His work and He truly loves the nations and its people. Throughout the month I spent in India, I was able to really transform these lessons from head knowledge to heart knowledge.

God showed me that He places us where we need to be and equips us to be used for His kingdom work. At one of our Sunday trainings, I remember filling out a card that asks about what skills I had to offer on the mission field. Do you have dance experience? No. Do you play instruments? No. As I checked “No” in each box, I felt pretty useless, and began to doubt my decision to go on STSM. Throughout prep week and intensive, I grew increasingly frustrated with myself at how slow I was to pick up dances, how difficult I found it to smile during performances, and my reluctance to make myself a “fool for Christ” in the skits. However, during a VBS session at St. Paul school in Berekai, God showed me that He equipped me with the joy of knowing Jesus Christ, and the overflow of love from God. Because Berekai is a rural and relatively underprivileged area, the students knew little to no English, and given we had no translators, we were left to do ministry relying on just body language and expressions. For me, this was a nightmare. With limited space, we decided to rotate groups of people to be up on stage, and unfortunately my turn came around. I was so worried about how to not look angry while dancing, but when we began playing the VBS songs, God filled me with so much joy and love for the children who stared at us and all I hoped for was that they would see God’s love for them through me. As I danced, I became aware of the dumb smile on my face and realized that I was worried for nothing because God had been filling my heart with what is necessary to equip me for this trip.

God also showed me His love for the nations and its people. Only 2% of the population in India is Christian. Other religions are overwhelmingly prominent, especially Hinduism, which is deeply embedded into their culture and lives. When we traveled to Varanasi, a city considered holy by Hindu belief, we witnessed a lot of brokenness, misdirected worship, and religious fervor for false gods. On our tour of the city, we watched a fire festival that was meant to be a ritual dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva. I remember how judgmental I was of them in my head, and how it slowly turned into an unexplainable sadness and hopelessness for the many people who seemed to mindlessly worship these gods. As these thoughts ran through my head, I was reminded of the teachers, HMs, professors, seminarians, and pastors we had met at St. Paul school, AECS, and at the IEC Trust churches. They were sharing the gospel to the students, praying for their people, passionate in their love for God, and faithfully serving Him in India. God reminded me that He was present and actively working in India, despite how broken it may appear in our eyes. Though these people have become so distant from Him, He still loves them and desires for them to be with Him.

Though I have now returned home and settled back into my routine, I want to approach things differently: with a firm belief that God will equip me and use me for His kingdom in ways that I may not see myself doing well. Even if that may involve me putting myself in uncomfortable situations, I hope to be able to continue to rely on Him for guidance.