T-Minus 4 Months
Written by Michael Babienco on Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Four months. It's increasingly hard to believe that most everything I've gotten used to in the last three years working (8 years if you include time as a student prior to work) at Southern Adventist University will be changing in just a few more months. On July 22, Lord willing, I'll be headed to training with Adventist Frontier Missions (AFM) for my time as a short term missionary in Cambodia. Training runs for four intense weeks, and then I head out to Cambodia as soon as possible after that point once my fundraising is complete, my visa is ready, and AFM says "GO!"
One might be tempted to think that this means things are becoming less busy during this transition. It isn't so! In the next four months, I'll be:
- Continuing to work full time at my job at Southern Adventist University until May 31. After that point, I may or may not work part time.
- Participating in a good number of performances and church services, including the Collegedale Brass Choir, Master Chorale (a choir), the Southern Adventist University Wind Symphony, the Southern Adventist University Symphony Orchestra, and a trombone choir that also runs with several Southern Adventist University employees and friends. Oh, and the brass group that plays for graduation!
- Packing up my apartment, cleaning it up, and figuring out where all my stuff is going to be stored while I'm overseas and in training
- Attending a few weddings and participating in or help with various extracurricular activities
- Learning to ride a bike so that I don't totally kill myself on the motorbikes of Cambodia
- Continuing to manage the Collegedale SDA Church library and work towards finding a replacement
- Planning lectures and assignments for a one-credit-hour course for the School of Computing entitled 'Software Development Tools'
- Finishing various side projects including an audio book and a website
- Spending time with others in an attempt to relax
- Speaking at at least one church about foreign missions (hopefully more if I get the chance)
- Continuing to build my support team by contacting and meeting various folks to raise the $12,500 I need to go to Cambodia through AFM (as well as gain as many as possible to pray for the project while I'm gone)
- Eating and sleeping at some point
- Trying not to die
It's a lot, but there's nothing on that list that is impossible. As busy as I am, I have to remind myself nearly every day that this is where God is leading and that everything will somehow be taken care of by the time training begins.
So how are things going personally? Overall, pretty well! It's been exciting to see others get excited about missions and about supporting the project in one way or another. The most difficult part of the experience thus far is the thought of leaving all of the wonderful people and places I've gotten to know in Collegedale, Tennessee. When you see someone genuinely look sad when you tell them that you're moving away, it hurts. One of my favorite weekly activities is gathering in a local home on Friday nights to eat soup, eat copious amounts of challah bread, and sing hymns. To think of not being able to experience that each week is quite the sad thought. However, I am doing my best to try to keep my chin up and keep moving forward. God has been leading, and I'm trying to follow!
I'm sure there are things you'd like to know that I'm forgetting to mention. If that's the case, please contact me!
Things to Pray About
If you're willing, here are some things to pray about!
- That I somehow manage my time carefully enough to get everything done
- That the school in Cambodia that I'll be going to meets its building deadlines (there's a video here of the new school!)
- That I'm successful in building a support team and raising enough funds to get to Cambodia in the first place
- That the rest of my time working at Southern goes smoothly and the transition from me to my replacement goes well
Thanks! :)
Info on Support Team Building
So just what is this support team that I keep mentioning? In this case, the support team is a group of people who are engaged in the success of an AFM project through their prayers, emotional support (a little encouragement goes a long way!), monetary giving, and anything else that helps me as I work towards going to Cambodia.
The benefits of joining the support team are numerous and include things like:
- Emails from me on a regular (hopefully monthly at least) basis regarding how things are going in the field (if I don't have your email address -- please send it my way!)
- The chance to be involved in foreign missions without ever leaving the comfort of your own neighborhood
- The opportunity to learn more about foreign missions through the experiences I share and that you hear about in any personal investigations you perform
- Helping to hasten Christ's return by helping the whole world to hear the Gospel
- The blessings of giving of your time (e.g. prayers) and resources towards God's work
- Seeing me smile with glee and excitement as I thank you with utter thankfulness for participating in this grand adventure
There's been a few people that have asked me what all the fundraising is for and what exactly it covers. A common misconception is that I'm raising funds to be collected monthly. This is not the case. The fundraising dollars are a one-time fee that covers the entire year. AFM career missionaries have monthly monetary needs, but since I'm going as a short-term missionary, I won't need those. The fundraising that I'm doing basically covers training and all the expenses for my year of time in the field. In more detail, it covers:
- Transportation to/from training and the field
- Travel expenses
- Room, board at training and training materials
- Personality testing
- Stipend (some money to use for food and basic living while in the field; this is not a stipend)
- Rent
- Social security
- Documentation (visa, etc.)
- Medical insurance
- Immunizations
- Miscellaneous costs (unforeseen expenses)
If you are willing to join my support team, please let me know! I'd love to talk to you further about the opportunities in foreign missions. If you are willing to donate from your finances towards spreading the gospel to the people of Cambodia, please click here to support my participation in the AFM Pnong project. (Even $5 helps -- really!) If you'd just like to get in contact with me to chat about this or ask me some other question, please contact me. I'm also looking to get to know others who YOU might know who may be interested in supporting foreign missions. If that's the case, please send me their contact info via the contact page. If none of those apply to you, that's OK! Great to have you here on my website, and thanks for your interest in foreign missions.
Thank you for reading! :)
Interesting Links and Resources
- As I've been continuing through the missions process, I've really enjoyed reading mission stories on adventistmission.org. They post something new nearly every day!
- You can see a video of the Pnong school dedication (where I'll be teaching this fall, Lord willing!) by clicking on this link.
- The video series I Want This City, which was part of the inspiration that led me to participate in missions, can be viewed for free on YouTube by clicking here.
- You can continue to learn more about my mission endeavors on this website and/or on my AFM page.