Teens put school on hold for missionary work
Four Niagara teens are putting their post-secondary education on hold for a year to help others.
They are all about to turn 18, all are from Niagara-on-the-Lake and all attended Eden High School in St. Catharines.
Maddie Neufeld is looking at September as the start of a new adventure. She is joining Canadian Mennonite University’s Outtatown program and will travel across the country visiting bible camps for four months before heading to South Africa in January, where she will spend another four months going into small communities to provide aid.
Although she doesn’t know exactly how she will be asked to help, past groups of students have built a new roof on a school, gone grocery shopping for a family in need, purchased medication and painted an orphanage, she says.
Although the visits will include a component of Christian awareness, her chief goal is to provide practical assistance.
“I just know we will help in any way we can,” she says. “That’s what I want to do. I want to provide something that is needed before introducing Christianity. This is an outreach program to jump in and help out.”
All four students will pay travel expenses, and in Maddie’s case, she will have to raise money to help pay for aid, in addition to travel costs, room and board.
“I’ve always known since I was a kid that I wanted to do this,” she says. “I’d go to church and listen to people talk about their mission work, and I’d see how much it changed them. This has been my dream.”
As a high school student, Maddie travelled to Cuba on a missionary trip.
“We went from one small community to another and never saw a beach,” she says. “But I did see how little people have there, yet how willing they are to share, and how happy they are. I came back a different person, with a different mentality. I saw the world through a new set of eyes. I learned not to take things for granted.”
Cousins Ty Reschke and Braden Reschke are both going to travel with a group called Youth with a Mission, a non-profit Christian organization with more than 1,100 ministry locations in 180 countries which train about 25,000 short-term mission volunteers annually.
Ty has chosen to go to France for three months this fall, to study the Bible and learn how to help others, before heading to Africa and the Middle East in January. He expects he will be put to work where needed, and also “to spread a message of peace and God’s love for them as valuable individuals.”
He had planned to study electrical engineering at Mohawk College in September, but turned down his acceptance to the program to take this opportunity.
His sister had taken a similar trip with the mission group, and her positive feedback helped him make his decision.
Braden will begin in Switzerland in January with three months of “learning to serve the Lord in other parts of the world.”
He then will head to Asia or Africa to spread the word about God’s love, while also providing whatever kind of aid it required.
“I wanted to take a year off to do this — it’s something I feel I was called to do.”
He’s very excited for what he be- lieves will be an adventure of a lifetime, putting his plan to study engineering on hold for a year. “I’m so ready to do this,” he says. Hudson Neufeld, Maddie’s cousin, will leave in October for six months to volunteer on a medical ship.
He will receive medical and Bible training in Australia, also with Youth with a Mission, before boarding the ship to provide care to people in Papua, New Guinea, and in Indonesia.
The hardest part of his decision was declining an acceptance to Lambton College in Sarnia, where he planned to take a four-year course that includes firefighting and paramedics.
He, too, had done some missionary work while in high school, working at an orphanage in Thailand. It was a great experience, he says.
“I feel like I’ve chosen a path that will help me when I get home. In the meantime I get to take a year off to travel, help people, receive some medical training and get good life experience. Once I wrote it all down, the benefits definitely outweighed the difficulty of declining my acceptance.”
When he returns, he hopes to be accepted at Lambton for September 2018.
The teens and their families are organizing a garage and bake sale fundraiser Aug. 19, starting 8 a.m. at the Virgil fire hall on Concession 6 to help them on their journey. To donate to their missions, or to donate garage sale items, email jana@ beauchapeau.com.