Tricia B\u00f8lle\u00a0of the St. Francis Xavier Lay Missionary Society writes:<\/p>\n
How to Not be a Missionary<\/strong><\/p>\n
A few more years ago than I care to think about, I graduated from Stanford University with a degree that put Asia in my path.\u00a0 At the time, I had a couple good job offers to move back East \u2013 something I was very tempted to do.\u00a0 Yet my experience as a grad student in China and the great need that I saw there among other college students and young adults kept daring to pull me back to Asia.\u00a0 I had gotten this crazy idea in my head that if I went back to Asia, I could help address the need that I saw there \u2013 psychological, emotional, spiritual, sometimes just offering hope and helping people find their way \u2013 and really make a difference in people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t long before I started an educational nonprofit to do just that.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t a missionary.\u00a0 On my last few dimes, I would head over to Asia, where I\u2019d spend most of my time giving presentations and workshops helping college students and young adults discover their purpose in life, learn to deal with struggles and hardship, find hope in the midst of despair, and be a source of encouragement and support, offering help where I could.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t a missionary.<\/p>\n
In going to church I found spiritual sustenance, but found I wasn\u2019t connecting at the level I wanted with the local people.\u00a0 So I started going to Mass in the local language.\u00a0 Suddenly, I was meeting people regularly who began to open up their lives to me and share their faith with me as I would with them.\u00a0 And somewhere along the line, the Holy Spirit would give me the words I needed to offer them strength, hope and wisdom.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t a missionary.<\/p>\n
Not long after I started going to Asia, the people I met around me would start inviting me into their homes and their Bible studies and to meals with them and their friends at their favorite local restaurants where we\u2019d talk long into the night about faith and life and where God is leading each of us, before racing to make it home on the last bus or train.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t a missionary.<\/p>\n
Pretty soon, people and pastors were asking me to get more involved in teaching and leading activities in faith formation and in learning important life skills.\u00a0 I even began fielding requests to travel into the countryside to address other great needs there with education and training.\u00a0 Almost always on a shoestring budget or lack thereof.\u00a0 I know what it\u2019s like to beg for $1.50 in a foreign tongue just to catch a bus to town and to sleep on a cold cement floor in the middle of winter completely jetlagged after having just come off a plane all because of some greater calling God was leading me to in a foreign culture.\u00a0 But I wasn\u2019t a missionary.<\/p>\n
As a Catholic, Christian missionaries came in three types:\u00a0 priests, sisters and Protestants.\u00a0 So I wasn\u2019t a missionary.\u00a0 Missionaries stand on street corners or soap boxes with a Bible in one hand and a megaphone or sheaf of pamphlets in the other.\u00a0 So I wasn\u2019t a missionary.\u00a0 In some of the places I went in Asia, saying the name of God wasn\u2019t even an option.\u00a0 So I wasn\u2019t a missionary.\u00a0 I\u2019m just a person God called to Asia to share the hope and love of Jesus Christ with all those I meet in whichever way the Holy Spirit provides.\u00a0 So I\u2019m just Tricia, a young woman who has opened herself up to God\u2019s will for her life\u2026 to be a foreign lay missionary in Asia.<\/p>\n
As Christians, we are all called by Jesus to be missionaries of the Gospel.\u00a0 What kind of missionary are you?<\/p>\n
Tricia B\u00f8lle is the founder of the St. Francis Xavier Lay Missionary Society, dedicated to the formation, sending and support of Catholic lay missionaries to share the love of Jesus Christ with others in Asia.\u00a0 To support this ministry or learn how to become involved, please visit <\/em>www.laymissionary.org<\/em><\/a> or contact Tricia at <\/em>tricia@laymissionary.org<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 Thanks and God bless!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She also adds:<\/p>\n
Interested in Missions to Hong Kong and Asia?<\/strong><\/p>\n
Do you feel God calling you to serve as a lay missionary in Asia?\u00a0 Are you interested in the challenge of living in a diverse foreign culture to share the beauty of your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ, and to touch others\u2019 lives in a profound and meaningful way?<\/p>\n
The St. Francis Xavier Lay Missionary Society is currently recruiting Catholic laity who are interested in serving as lay missionaries for a year in Hong Kong and Asia through a diverse ministry of evangelization, faith formation and social justice.<\/p>\n
Our upcoming mission in Hong Kong and Asia begins in Fall 2015.\u00a0 Summer formation program begins June 19th.\u00a0 Apply online at: \u00a0www.laymissionary.org\/apply<\/a>\u00a0or contact Tricia at:\u00a0(650) 260-3799<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0tricia@laymissionary.org<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If I were single, I would leap at this romantic and adventurous opportunity. \u00a0If you can do it, go for it!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tricia B\u00f8lle\u00a0of the St. Francis Xavier Lay Missionary Society writes: How to Not be a Missionary A few more years ago than I care to think about, I graduated from Stanford University with a degree that put Asia in my path.\u00a0 At the time, I had a couple good job offers to move back East […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-92043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-new-evangelization"],"yoast_head":"\n
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