Shawna Jerch
Go To Nations Missionary to Thailand
2014 Graduate of Christ For The Nations

When I started my Missions Major at Christ For The Nations Institute, I still had a romanticized view of missions. I thought I would just hop on over to the other side of the world after graduation and start changing lives on my own. I remember that plan was turned upside down the day Jesse Landis, the Missions Major Director at the time, suggested I join the Timothy Internship Program with Go To Nations. I said a hesitant yes, and began the journey that would transform the way I viewed missions and my effectiveness to see God move in the nations.

I’ve been living in Thailand for two years now and I am in the process of seeing a church planted in a village where there are no Christians. In my village I’ve seen a man have a vision of Jesus and throw out all his Buddhist idols. I have seen 30 kids, many from broken families, continually encounter the love of the Father. I’ve walked with a woman who knew nothing of Jesus but through discipleship she is learning who she is in Christ. I’ve seen a grandmother in tears as she realized the sacrifice that Jesus made for her life. I’ve heard the villagers say that there is more of a sense of community in the village since we have been there. 

I can say that what God has in mind for us, isn’t generally what we have in mind for ourselves. I joined a family the day I joined Go To Nations, a generational ministry so much bigger then myself. Through the training, I learned how to establish a ministry but also how to continue to grow and steward my own spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Now what seemed so impossible and far-fetched, is within arms reach. A naive girl, who very possibly would have returned home burnt out and frustrated, is going for long-term fruit in a long-term ministry in Thailand, then in Nepal, and the surrounding nations. And I believe I will see nations changed.