Reflecting Back on my Call to Missions

It’s been well over a month since I got on the airplane in Washington D.C. and took the voyage to Tanzania. I have to say that I didn’t really know what to expect when I got here and I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to be doing. I mean don’t get me wrong; I knew I was going to be doing work that involved journalism and writing, but I didn’t have that clear sense of what I was going to be doing like I had on every other mission trip I went on. What I did know and still do is that God was calling me here. It was just one of those things that I knew God was calling me to do. Some of you reading this blog may know that I’ve always had a love for missions. I’ve been on so many mission trips and they have all impacted me in some way. Last summer I went on a two and a half week mission trip to Haiti where I stayed with a Haitian host family and taught English in the schools. Haiti left a huge impact on me and because of the trip; I began to start thinking seriously about being a missionary after college. What does being a long-term missionary actually mean though?

This past year while I was at Urbana Student Missions Conference, I had the opportunity to commit to missions after college. I had this feeling that I was supposed to be a missionary, but I had no idea how my talents and skills could fit in with missions. Despite the questions that I had, I really felt like God was calling me to missions, and it’s something that I prayed about constantly while I was at Urbana. While I didn’t know how my skills could tie in with missions, God did.                           

While I was walking through the Exhibition Hall at Urbana, I was a bit overwhelmed. Being in a room full of a bunch of different mission organizations was cool, but there were just so many of them and I had no idea where to start. I honestly didn’t think I was going to find any answers to my questions in there because there was just too much going on. However, when I was about to leave, something caught my attention. I saw a booth with a big banner that said “Africa and Media.” So I started talking to the people at the booth, and it turns out that it was Pamoja Ministries! I had a pretty cool conversation with this guy named Jacob Mills (one of the missionaries and the Director of Ministries at Pamoja) and he told my about the ministry and how they are “discipling cultures through media.” He told me that Pamoja needed people with journalism skills to volunteer, and that journalism was a huge need in the mission field. I knew right then and there that God was calling me to serve with Pamoja over the summer. It was an unmistakable feeling. So I decided to listen to God’s call, and here I am, in the beautiful country of Tanzania serving with Pamoja Ministries. I really do feel that I’m doing what God wants me to do at this time, and I feel like there is a purpose for why I’m here.

Volunteering with Pamoja has shown me that my skills in journalism and writing really can benefit the Kingdom. Now I know that there is a need for these skills in the Kingdom, and I feel like God is calling me to help with that in some way. I think that God opened the door for me to serve with Pamoja to show me that I can benefit the Kingdom by using these skills. I’m not saying that God is specifically calling me to serve with Pamoja long-term after I graduate from college, nor am I saying that He isn’t, but I do think that God is calling me to make a difference using my skills somehow. I feel called to be a long-term missionary after college; I pretty much know that, but I’m not exactly sure what that means for me. It doesn’t necessarily mean that God is calling me to serve overseas in a place like Tanzania or Haiti either. Although there is much need in these places, God obviously doesn’t call everyone there. All I know right now is that God wants me to use what He gave me to benefit his Kingdom, whether that is in Roanoke, Virginia, or Arusha, Tanzania. It’s something that I need to pray about and look to God for the answer.

Right now, I feel like I’d rather serve somewhere overseas after I graduate than serve in America, but I want my priority to be what God wants for me. What I’m trying to say is, it really doesn’t matter what I want to do, it’s about what God wants me to do. It’s definitely something that I need to pray and ask God about. I know that God is calling me to be a missionary, but then again, He is calling us all to be missionaries in some way. Remember the Great Commission? Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Those are some pretty powerful words. And they carry some heavy meaning in them. God is calling us all to serve! I’m not special in that I feel called to missions; we should all feel called to missions in some way because we are! We were made for Him to benefit His Kingdom. I don’t really know what the future holds for me, but I do know that God has it under control. I just have to listen to Him. 

Life at Pamoja!

Life at Pamoja Ministries is awesome to say the least. This place really feels like home to me, and I can’t believe that I’ve already been here over a month. I really do love it here and I feel like I fit in. Pamoja is like one big family and everyone on base is very close. It can be kind of scary to be so far away from home sometimes, but Pamoja has really made it easy for me and I feel right at home. One aspect that I love about Pamoja is the community between everyone on base. The word “pamoja” itself is Swahili for the word “together” and that’s exactly what we are here. We’re all together and we’re here for each other.

Speaking of the word “pamoja,” we like to do a lot of really cool stuff together. On Sundays, we all usually go to a church called Arusha Vineyard Church. Vineyard is an English speaking church that a lot of missionaries from the surrounding area attend and it’s a really good service. I even got to play the drums as a part of the worship team this past Sunday! It was such an awesome experience and I was so happy that I had to opportunity to offer my talent to help lead worship at Vineyard. Another thing that we do together is pray. Every Wednesday, we meet for about an hour to just pray and talk. It’s such an awesome experience to just see how God answers prayers and how God heals. God has already answered so many prayers since I’ve been here and I’ve really been able to see and understand the power of prayer much better since I’ve been here. That kind of thing really makes me happy to be a volunteer with Pamoja. I know that God is doing some awesome things here.

We also watch a lot of movies here at Pamoja. Sometimes, some of us volunteers like to go to the movie theater to see a movie and get something to eat. We actually went out a couple of weeks ago to see the movie Man of Steel. We enjoyed the movie, and afterwards we had dinner at the outdoor food court and listened to music and played cards. It was really fun to just hang out with each other. We also like to watch movies on base. Every Friday night is movie night at Pamoja and we like to watch pretty much anything, from action movies to Bollywood.

Another thing that we like to do is barbecue. We like it so much that we had two different Fourth of July celebrations! I definitely didn’t complain, though, because those burgers were good! A week before that, we had a lamb roast, which was also pretty delicious as well. Needless to say, we definitely know how to have a good time here at Pamoja.  

Speaking of a good time, there’s this rock climbing wall on one of the office buildings at Pamoja. A couple of days ago, some of the volunteers went to climb it, and they asked me if I wanted to, but since I’m afraid of heights, I said no. Even though I said I didn’t want to do it, I secretly really did, I was just nervous. After watching some of the volunteers actually make it to the top, it eased my mind a bit, but I was still pretty uneasy about the idea of doing it myself. I had just about made up my mind that I wasn’t going to climb it until Jeremy asked me if I wanted to have a go. I quickly said “No, I’ll be okay,” and then Jeremy said “Come on, Matt, just give it a try.” I guess that was all of the inspiration I actually needed to try it because I did it, with a little peer pressure to help me along. And I even made it all the way to the top! It may not sound like that much of a big deal, but I was pretty proud of myself for conquering my fear of heights.

I also really enjoy the conversations that we have with each other on base. I’ve had some pretty awesome conversations with just about everyone on base and some of them are so fulfilling and inspiring, while others are just funny and entertaining. Either way, the people at Pamoja make for some great conversations. The volunteers usually have dinner at Sig and Joy’s (the founders of Pamoja) house every Wednesday night, which leads to some pretty awesome and deep conversations. Sig is one of the wisest, most knowledgeable and spiritual people I’ve met, but my favorite trait about him is his willingness to listen. It’s really easy to get into a deep and meaningful conversation with Sig, but he’s always willing to hear you out and really listen to what you’re saying. It definitely makes it easy to talk to him and I like that.

I definitely feel like I was called to serve with Pamoja this summer, and I haven’t regretted one second of it. I really enjoy working here and being around all of the people at Pamoja. God has definitely blessed me and is continuing to bless me, and I’m so thankful for that. Life at Pamoja is so awesome and I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.