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Consider Summer Missions
A profitable way to spend your summer.
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Being a summer missionary can be a rewarding experience, if you know what to expect. What do you do with your summer vacations? Do you work in a factory and come back to school pale but rich? Do you work as a lifeguard at a pool and come back tanned but not rich? Do you return to school wishing you had done something significant? There is a way to invest your summer directly for the Lord—like Rick, who helped to build a hospital in Africa; like Ruth, who taught Viennese children "Jesus Loves Me"; like Bob, who visited house-to-house among Mormons in Utah; like Jackie, who got "dish pan hands" in a German camp; and like Tom, who painted a Christian bookstore in Italy. They joined hundreds of other students in a new and growing program: summer missionary apprenticeships. Differing from short-term programs which place skilled people on the field for one or two years, summer apprenticeship programs place college young people in home and foreign mission work for two weeks to three months during their summer vacations. Enthusiastically received by missionaries and participating students, summer missions programs offer practical application of classroom theory to any student interested in missions, not just to those with a sure call to lifetime missionary service. Students interested in other professions or those not yet sure of God's will for their lives can become more intelligent supporters of mission work. If you know how to type, lead a song, hand out a tract, or hammer a nail, you could be used on a summer mission project. Even if you can't speak a foreign language, you can go to another country as a support missionary (one who doesn't work directly with the people). There are also possibilities of working through an interpreter or helping in an English-speaking ministry on the home field. As a missionary apprentice, you can take part in such on-the-field projects as construction, neighborhood canvassing, special clinics, and clerical work. You can free the full-time missionary for activities which require his special abilities by doing routine household and maintenance tasks. Often you are not only a boost to the work, but can encourage the worker who may serve alone for much of the year. For someone abroad, your news of home is fresh and provides pleasant conversation. And the stimulation of your eagerness lingers after your stay. Interested? Start praying as you investigate the following opportunities. Finding a Place to ServeYou will need to know where you can serve and whether to go alone, with a church or school team, or with a mission board under its special summer ministries. For most people, service with a mission board is the best choice. A board offers the advantages of placement where your skills and interests lie, some orientation before you go, and the security of an organization backing your efforts. Some mission programs also encompass team ministries as well as individual opportunities for service. And with larger mission boards, there is a wide range of countries where you could be placed. |        
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