Please tell us how your heart has been changed by SST. We know that for many of you, SST changed your vision for your future life please share your story to encourage others. Here is mine: Yesterday at 3:30 AM I was awakened from my sleep with a call from my soul. This year, as in all years, we challenged my students to discard security and risk for the butterfly within them. I am that kind of person, when I was desperate for money to support my childrens education which cost me my entire salary ($70 K), but instead Ann and I left our jobs to follow our hearts. That has been our vision for 14 years. Yet when we lost Messiah last month, the school from which we have received more than 120 students over the past 13 years, I was tempted to say, This will be our last year. But last night I was awaken by God or a bigger vision, that said, Will you let this one decision destroy what you are doing for so many? I remembered a student whom we inspired to follow her dream of being a drama teacher. She changed schools because she could not afford Westmont and found a scholarship at the University of Redlands and did drama around the world. Right now this LA school teacher is in Brazil after traveling to Hawaii this summer. Another student married and she and her husband have been traveling all over the world and in her spare time earned an MD degree and she wants to live in the bush and attend to the needs of poor people. A third student lives in Sudan and distribute food with a machine gun to fight off the rebels who would destroy his ministry to tribal people. A fourth student worked in Study Abroad after college. Got involved in the environmental movement and married a man who was an outdoor adventurer. Last year he died in an avalanche in Colorado. She is trying to put her life together in her grief but is still pursuing her dreams. A fifth student has lived in Thailand (and in Korea) for the past five years teaching English and is now a business woman working in an Asian food industry promoting and selling healthy organic foods throughout the world. A sixth student began running marathons and has even run in Boston. She began pursuing this dream after being a young mother with many other responsibilities on her life. All of these students were on our SST program in 2003, and there are many more in that group who have followed their hearts. There are many other students who have caught a vision and have followed their hearts. Am I so stupid to let this one small set back destroy our vision and passion? Then I thought about all of you and how encouraging you have been to us over the years. We are challenged to continue to press on for the joy of serving God and Gods children. Our passion is to change the vision of American students and serve the poorest of the poor (the disabled in Thailand). Only death or personal disability will stop that vision. We already have 10 students signed up for 2015, and we will continue to press on into the future. We need to be world changers at a time when so many want to destroy our world. When so many only want comfort for themselves. We cannot let this vision die. Thanks for your continued encouragement to continue to push on was we risk for the butterfly within. Much gratitude for your loyalty and support. If you know of students who would like to join us in 2015, have them contact me. Ajarn Mike
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 20:23:11 +0000
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