This is the fifth in a series of blogs written by alumni of the Student.Go program.  This year Student.Go is celebrating 10 years of providing summer and semester missions service opportunities for college and graduate students in locations all over the world.

This blog is written by written by Missy Ward, a McAfee School of Theology student who served through Student.Go in Fremont, CA during the summers of 2008 and 2009, and in Uganda Fall 2010 and Summer 2011.

My life was forever changed in the summer of 2008. I spent 2.5 months as an ESL tutor to female refugees from Afghanistan through Student.Go. This internship opportunity allowed me to serve alongside CBF field personnel who were passionate about Jesus.  My eyes were opened to what a holistic ministry that is engaged with biblical principles of social justice looks like.

Over the last few years, Student.Go has continued to be a integral part of my life as I have finished college and attended seminary. I have had the privilege of working with refugee ministries in California and Uganda with CBF field personnel who are share a similar passion and calling. Over the last four years, these placements have stretched me beyond my culture, beyond my comfort zones and beyond myself- allowing me to understand at a deeper level what it means to truly engage in God’s work ministering to the least of these, marginalized and most neglected.

These experiences have allowed me to do what I now know is the work of my heart.  I have experienced the blessing of living life with and alongside people who others would not talk to because of their ethnicity, language, religion, socioeconomic income, etc. I have had the privilege of being at the bedside of my ESL students right after they gave birth to their baby, of dancing with students as they celebrated their holiday, of holding students hands as they shared difficult and unimaginable experiences of war, loss and trauma in their country and of seeing a student, who had never had the opportunity to attend school before, shout with joy “ Today is Tuesday!”

 These are just a few of the hundreds of experiences that have shown me the transformative power of God’s love and healing. They have and will continue to edify my spirit, heart and mind as I  finish seminary and enter the mission field in the near future.

Missy Ward and friend in Uganda