Hi! My name is Eden and I’m a goer. I grew up in a Christian home and loved Jesus my whole life. And from a young age I was able to travel the world on tour with my family because my dad is a professional Christian musician. Because of this, I loved travel, people, ministry, and culture from a young age. By the time I was eleven, I had personally committed my life to the Lord! Within that same year I attended a school science camp where the Lord spoke to me the clearest he ever had before and told me I would be a global missionary. Honestly, no one was surprised when I came home and said I would be a missionary, because I already loved people and the nations so much. From that point on I had a clear purpose and vision for my life and was intentional about preparing well for the field. Throughout middle school and high school I went on missions trips, did trainings, read books, and met with missionaries. And through all of that my heart grew for the nations as I understood more and more the heart of the father for His people. Fast forward to my senior year of high school: I am graduated and eagerly expecting that I will finally be able to go onto the mission field. However, God made it clear to me that I was supposed to go to Biola University and study Bible for a season of preparation instead. And praise God that I found the humility to obey Him. During my first semester at Biola, I got to attend the Urbana 22 Conference, where God broke my heart for the Unreached and told me I would eventually go to the nations long term. With this small amount of clarity, I felt encouraged as I headed into college and into the season of preparation. By my senior year of college, I understood why God kept me from going to the nations full time at 18 and had me at Biola for four years. I was incredibly thankful for the depth of understanding, the friendships, and the revelations of Him that all were fostered at Biola. And, it was also becoming increasingly clear that my season at Biola, and perhaps even in America, was done. Halfway through my final semester, I knew that the next step for me would be going onto the mission field full time.
That is where GoCorps comes in! During that final semester, I was part of a Global Discernment Cohort, led by a GoCorps staff member, that focused on talking honestly about missions with college students. During this cohort, I began to realize that a mid term placement was the best next option for me. One day, I was grabbing coffee with that same GoCorps staff member just for fun and halfway through the conversation she paused and said “I can’t stop thinking about this one placement for you.” And to be honest, I was not interested at all, because I didn’t want to do ministry in a city (it was in a city) and I didn’t have a heart for the religious group it was with. But I promised I would pray about it. And so I told God he would have to make it very clear if was supposed to do it and then I didn’t think about it again for weeks. That is, until I was attending a missions conference at my school and in a single moment God completely broke my heart for that religious group I previously didn’t care for. And so I finished my GoCorps application and in my placement meeting God had a sense of humor and although I am not in the placement she originally suggested, I will in fact be in a city and with that religious group.
God then confirmed that I was making the right choice at every turn. It seemed like every person I talked to knew about or knew missionaries in this tiny, unreached country. He is so kind and faithful, and walking in obedience opens our eyes to that. And now here I am! Having just finished GoWeek (an incredible, sweet, once in a life time opportunity by the way), and stepping into full time support raising. I am filled up, flayed open, and eager to see how God is going to use me and teach me in this next season.