A few months ago, I got asked to write 300 words on the different places I had gone on mission trips or partner visits, as I would phrase it now, and how it had transformed me. I literally laughed out loud. “There is no way I can do that in 300 words.” I truly wanted to point them to my blog, because I’ve written so many stories here.

But since that moment, the Spirit has kept it at the back of my mind. Pondering, what had I learned from all of the crazy places I felt led to go?

I have always had a deep love for cultures and language. When my family went to Disney World when I was nine, it was Epcot that made the impression. Not princesses or rides or food. It was the countries and the tiny taste I could get of being somewhere that was not the United States.

After I chose to start following Jesus in college, I was given the opportunity to discern if I would go to China with our Intervarsity chapter at Drake University and the chapter at Central College in Pella, Iowa. I will never forget my friends sitting on the couch in my dorm room demanding I go to the information meeting.

Before going to China in the summer of 2001, I wrote in my journal, “God, I’m a city girl. I have no idea if I can hack this. I have no idea if I can handle traveling in other countries, but I feel like you are calling me into other cultures and languages for you.”

Little did I know where God would continue leading me to over the next eighteen years. China led to Russia that led to Liberia that led to Guatemala that led to Haiti, and then Russia, Guatemala and Haiti filled my years from 2016-2019.

China was where God allowed me to learn that I could live well in living conditions I’d never experienced before and that it is all about relationships when it comes to the Kingdom of God. The stories I have from there come up in group conversations when I least expect it. Yan Ruting, my beloved roommate that summer, and her family who cooked homemade dumplings for us on the weekends. Vivian, the young follower of Jesus in the underground church who knocked on my dorm room door on one of the days I was recovering from brushing my teeth in the sink water. My love for all things dumplings, hot pot and chopsticks whenever I can. Learning some mandarin was definitely an experience, I can still remember how to say “I love ice cream.” Digging to the bottom of the refrigerator at the convenience store for the Orange Fanta that was just frozen enough to be super refreshing in the desert climate. Crazy stories about what happens when you eat watermelon for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or as I asked my nephew last night when he ran off to the bathroom “Is it 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 or 5?” He literally stopped in the door and said incredulously, “FIVE?!?!?! What is THAT?!?!” I replied, “Fire butt.” Much laughter ensued.

Before China, I’d had the example that the Gospel must be shared with everyone, whether they wanted it or not, and that they had to immediately choose to follow Jesus then on to the next. That always felt gross to me, and after a summer in China, I knew that feeling was the Holy Spirit in me turning me away from damaging relationships I had and moving me into an understanding that relationships are the currency of the Kingdom. There is no Kingdom of God without relationships, and people will respond to Jesus in their life when they are ready. It is on us to tell stories that point people to God, but their commitment to Jesus is theirs to choose, not ours to force it.

I had never before lived out “Love God and love your neighbor,” like I did while in China with the deep love that developed for our Chinese friends.

I also knew, without a doubt, after my summer in China, that the pull I felt in my soul to be sent to other countries as a follower of Jesus was real, and if I ignored it, it would be like not being able to breathe. It was then in a conversation in the Spirit that I committed to always saying ‘yes,’ when I felt called.

Leaving our Chinese roommates behind felt like the Acts 20 coming to life when Paul left the Ephesian elders. Our relationships had grown so strong, and the Holy Spirit had united us so poignantly that it felt like we were ripping ourselves away from them.

This barely scratches the surfaces on China being the beginning of the beautiful chaos that God has created my life to be.

I’m sharing this now, because all the people I know from so many places around the world have greatly influenced my passion for immigrants and refugees. It would be very blind of me to care so deeply for my friends around the world, and then not care for those that look like them in our own country. The stories of many refugees are being told by Della Lamb as my friend, Ryan, walks across Missouri to bring awareness and raise funds for Della Lamb and I get to join him on Monday!

China was the first “yes,” the first step in a life of beautiful chaos, and then came Russia from 2003 to 2019 where I traveled to visit my friends living in an orphanage, sometimes twice a year. But that is a story for another day.