My Journey to the Mission Field
The first time I told anyone seriously that I wanted to become a missionary was in 2014. I was just 17, and it was the end of a three-month stay in East Asia with my aunt and uncle who were working there at the time. I sat with my aunt in a Baskin-Robbins and I told her that I thought maybe God was calling me into ministry.
I had grown a lot during those months. Understandably, I struggled with culture shock from the adjustment to a new country, from living with my aunt and uncle and cousins, and from adjusting to the home culture that I was surprised to learn was much different than my own. I had practiced English conversation with college students, endured a few marriage proposals, and discovered a love for the city and the people within it. I enjoyed my time there but was awakened for the first time to the heartbreaking fact that much of the world is filled with people who have never heard the gospel.
That heartbreak followed me back home to Minnesota where practically since the day I got home I began pursuing a life of missions in Asia. Although my heart was filled with compassion, I had no clear direction. I started filling out a few applications for missions organizations, but I would get to the sections about education and experience and realize I had nothing much besides a high school education, a summer job as work experience, and no real training in ministry.
I had friends with similar interests in cross-cultural missions who joined organizations that specialize in ministry opportunities for young adults, but I would watch them burn out or become dissatisfied with the ministry’s goals. I knew that if I wanted to be a healthy, career-long missionary I would need to try a different strategy. So I started looking for some kind of quality Christian education program that would improve my knowledge and skills, even if it wasn’t specifically focused on international missions.
Growing up like many LB kids of the midwest I spent a week every summer at Inspiration Point and had heard of the CheckPoint program which they were running at that time. Its focus was perfect for me, encouraging and teaching the next generation of church members and leaders and giving them a space to practice those skills. Confident that the teaching I would receive would be the quality that I desired, I applied and was accepted into a group of nine young adults and we spent the next year studying Scripture, hospitality, and service. That program fit my needs perfectly. The year ended and I left with tools that I continue to use often. Skills like how to run and program various ministries, how to read and understand Scripture, how to care for people well, and even how to get a tough stain out of a carpet.
My (now) husband, Paul, completed CheckPoint the year before me. As we began dating and eventually got married, we found a common leading toward ministry. Although he did not initially feel drawn to international missions, he did have a strong desire to attend seminary and was open to the idea of being a missionary some day. So we, like many before us, packed up and moved to Fergus Falls, MN, and Paul started seminary. At the end of our first year it was announced that there would be a vision trip to Japan.
Paul came home excited to tell me about this upcoming trip. It would take place in October of 2019, he would be gone for ten days, and we had just enough money to cover the cost. He talked about how this was his chance to get a better understanding of my desire toward ministry in Asia. We scraped together our money and soon enough October rolled around. I stayed home to care for our four-month-old son and had a lot of time to think. Up to this point I had my sights set on returning to the area I had stayed with my Aunt and Uncle in East Asia, but as Paul traveled around sending me photos and updates, I began to feel my heart shift and soften for the people of Japan. By the time Paul got home we were both separately entirely convinced that we wanted to become missionaries in Japan. I picked him up from the airport, our baby asleep in the back seat, and we came to realize that this moment, similar to my time in that Baskin-Robbins, would be a time that we can point back to and set as a defining moment in our call into missions.
There were many more obstacles that would arise from that day till finally boarding our flight to Japan. But here I am, still convinced that being a missionary is the best job I could ask for. Still heartbroken for those who have yet to hear the gospel. Still so excited for what God has in store for the people of Japan.
Alexa Fraser is a missionary in Japan with her husband Paul and their children.