Obeying My Calling by Savannah

Obeying My Calling by Savannah - November 2017 Scholarship Essay

I have been called to serve in the missions field, and have been blessed with a few missions trips to reflect on already! I aspire to begin my Discipleship Training School (DTS) starting the fall after I graduate high school, located in Tijuana, Mexico, on the Youth With A Mission base. In order to attend my calling, the bare minimum for schooling is $3,500. By studying abroad, the credits I will earn from this schooling are transferable to any Christian College I may attend in the future.
After graduating from Sough Albany High School this 2017/18 school year, I aspire to further my schooling with the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) organization, specifically on the Tijuana, Mexico base. YWAM is an Evangelical, non-profit Christian organization based all over the world. After I complete a five month school program on the Tijuana base, as said before, all credits earned are transferable to any Christian college in the world, and I will also be eligible to join staff on any YWAM base in the globe.
The scholarship you may provide will help me with Discipleship Training through a three month Photo Story Telling class where I learn how to use my photography and storytelling to advocate on behalf of others and to use social media as a tool for His kingdom. Then I will be sent to another country on outreach for two more months to put into action of what you may help me learn. $3,190 covers food and board on campus in Tijuana for the full three months spent on base, as well as the cost of the learning portion. $3,500 covers the outreach phase of my schooling. All together, I am needing $6,690 to obey my calling.
I have spent years focusing on missions in my own hometown by attending serve weeks hosted by my hometown church, where I have spent a full week bettering my community by attending to volunteer organizations for the local homeless community by sorting and organizing a clothes closet and help with yard maintenance. Also, I’ve helped sort through and organize cans of food at the local Linn Benton Food Share in my hometown, Albany, Oregon.
I have also had the opportunity to attend two semi-local, one-week youth conferences. One where I studied how to live my life more like Jesus called Reverb. Another, called Lead The Cause, where I studied how to bring Jesus into any casual conversation, in hopes of planting the seed of Christ into anyone’s life. Lead The Cause is also where I heard my calling to become a missionary.
I have also taken a few mission trips to Mexico. I spent a week in San Vicente, Mexico living and working on an orphanage, Rancho Santa Marta, where I learned to mix and pour concrete for a house that was being built for special needs residents. Just this last summer, I lived in Tijuana, Mexico, on the YWAM base I plan to school at, for one month as a Mission Builder, where I spent my time cooking and cleaning in the kitchen for hundreds of people on base, maintaining cleanliness around base, and attending to any visitors. While in Tijuana, I was blessed with many local ministry opportunities! I spent my extra time praying for and talking to the homeless where I had the opportunity to hand out Spanish Christian Bibles. I also got to serve food in a local homeless shelter, talk to and pray with men at a local men’s rehabilitation center and cook and serve at a local orphanage.
With your help, I will be able to learn and better my communication and leadership skills while in the missions field, as well as learn how to support myself and keep others in the loop of my travels and endeavors through my passion; photography.