Bethany White
Starting Date: August 2011
Home State: Maryland
Prayer Requests:
- That I won’t get discouraged
- That I remain focused in my studies
- That the Lord will give me His spiritual wisdom and understanding
along with His discernment. (Colossians 1:9-12)
- That I will understand God’s word and all that the Lord has to say to me.
- That the Lord shows me what steps to take each day.
- That everything I do would lead me closer to the will God has for me.
- Please pray all of the above for the rest of the student body as well.
- Please pray for my future mission field, Brazil, the country that
the Lord has placed on my heart. Pray that the Lord would send more
laborers into His harvest there. (Matthew 9:38)
Testimony: When I was 5 years old I accepted Christ into my heart, but I had only ever lived a nominal Christian lifestyle, until I turned 14. The year I turned 14 my father passed away. His death was sudden and unexpected and shook every aspect of my life. The moment it took for my earthly father to die and the moment the floor of my life fell out from under me was the moment my Heavenly Father stepped in. I had never felt God so close to me than at that moment, because it was at that moment that God became my foundation; it was at that moment that God became, not only my Lord, but my dad.
In 2009, I went on my first team with Teen Missions to Ireland. That was where God started cultivating in my heart a love for missions. When I got home from my first team, I immediately wanted to go back. I then signed up for the 2010 team going to Brazil that summer. The the summer of 2010 sealed the love I had begun to have in missions. God had placed on my heart a burden for the lost in Brazil and I had been praying for God to show me what to do next. On the last night of debrief in Florida, during the “bridging the gap” ceremony, I heard Bob Bland challenge all of us there by asking what we wanted to do for a living. He asked us whether we wanted to make money or make a difference in the world. I knew for sure that I wanted to be a missionary, but I wasn’t sure if God wanted me to “bridge the gap.” I then opened my Bible and it fell open to a verse I had marked while in Brazil. It was Ezekiel 22:30, “I
looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” I took that as God’s blunt answer to me to “bridge the gap.” So I did and right after that I received I pamphlet about BMW and knew God was telling me my next step on where to go. Now I’m here and I couldn’t ask for a better training ground for becoming a missionary. It’s difficult for sure, but I know God is right along side me helping me. For when I am weak, He is strong.
