HSU Student Travels to Thailand on Go Now Summer Missions Trip

Grace Mitchell taught English and shared gospel during mission to Bangkok

June 28, 2016 Linnea Kirgan

(Abilene, Texas) Grace Mitchell rode an elephant on her birthday during her trip to Thailand, but it was the day-to-day activities of her Go Now Missions trip that really moved her.

Mitchell was part of a Go Now trip to Bangkok from May 24 to June 14. Mitchell, who wants to be a missionary and teach English overseas, said the trip fulfilled both of those goals. She said she also had heard from others about Thailand’s polite and friendly people, who are approximately 95 percent Buddhist.

“Everything just pointed toward this trip,” she said, “It was awesome”

One thing she had to get used to upon her arrival to Bangkok was the city’s density – 8 million people live there.

“I’m a small town girl; Abilene is a big town for me,” said the resident of Pecos, Texas, which has 8,000 residents.

Mitchell taught at an English day camp held at a local university, teaching mostly college-age students, as well as at the local Baptist Student Center. She and her fellow missionaries, who were from other Texas colleges, would often have lunch with the Thai students and even travel with them on the weekends.

“We would practice English with them using Bible stories,” said Mitchell, a sophomore majoring in English Education.

On the weekends, Mitchell had the opportunity to explore the area. She visited a floating market, Buddhist temples, and even had a chance to ride an elephant.

She said she talked with people every day about their beliefs and shared her beliefs.

“I shared the gospel more on this trip than I had done in my entire life. Multiple times a day,” she said, adding that the trip made her think more about how she can share the gospel at home.

Mitchell said she was encouraged to learn after she returned to the US that a Thai student that she’d had been meeting with during the trip decided to attend one of the Baptist churches one recent Sunday.

“I also learned that God is so much bigger than me or my team or my trip,” she said. “God works long before we come somewhere and continues to work after we leave.”

She said she would encourage other students interested in missions to look at the Go Now organization. She is also considering future mission trips. Thailand was Mitchell’s third mission trip. Her first two were to Romania and Brazil. She said she realized that the focus on mission trips is not where she goes, but who she meets.

“One thing I learned is ‘God calls us to people, not to places,’” she said.

John Hunt, director of Baptist Student Ministry at HSU, said the University has a strong history in participating in the Go Now Missions program. Students who travel on Go Now missions are often much more service oriented when they return home, he said, adding that international missions help students see more clearly the needs in their own communities.

“It’s been a transformative experience for every student who has been on a Go Now mission,” he said. Another HSU student, Ryann Starnes, participated in a Go Now mission trip over Christmas 2015.

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