There has been so much joy accepting the call to missions — joy that comes from the simplicity of the little things. From hearing a missionary’s first testimony, praying with people in the mission field, cracking a fresh joke with the Sisters, or jumping off cliffs into a blue hole of 80ft of water (safe cliffs approved by state parks with lifeguards of course…).
All my life I wondered if I was ever doing enough for Christ. Missions has been the healing grace for me because Christ has shown me that I have always been worthy of His love, a love I didn’t have to work for to earn. I now know that it is in the simple moments of life that Christ shows his powerful, almighty presence.
So over the past few months, I have decided to take a 2 year commitment to fulfill this dream of mine. I dreamed that college students could see their worth and the innate value that Christ has given them. I dreamed that I could provide college students with the means to serve the poor, and for the poor to receive authentic love and joy through authentic encounters.
As many of you who are reading this know, I have been leading mission trips to New Mexico over the past two years with Hunter Mansour. Last year, we took in our friend Kaitlin Davis and expanded our mission to the ends of abandoned villages in Alaska to minister to the poor. An overwhelming amount of support, love, and growth bore College Missions Company, a legitimate 501c3 non-profit dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor in America.
I am serving the company for the next two years as the Director of College Missions Company to oversee financials, root our mission locally, and expand our mission across the country. I came into this position for two main reasons:
1. I saw a need for college students wishing to do better with their life and not finding a means of doing so. Whether financially held back or sadly held back by their families, I had a burning desire to eliminate the excuses presented to me, and open mission trips that anyone could afford (and if not, provide scholarships), and attend safely.
2. I met a man on the Navajo reservation on our first trip who sold all he had to take care of his dying father-in-law. He and his family of two children had no running water or electricity. When I met him with my fellow missionaries, he thanked God countless times for sending us to pray with him and his family. Hunter and I asked ourselves, “what is holding us back from coming back to simply pray and support our brothers and sisters in need?”
Mission is an everyday call we must accept each time we wake up. We must continuously accept this call, even when we run out of coffee in the morning or when we realize that we watched every episode of our favorite Netflix series the night before. This calling can actually hurt at times because within the suffering, is a pruning of the heart to grow that much closer to depend solely on Christ’s love and mercy. As Director, I have come to know the dependence on Christ through my imperfectness and my flawed ideologies. However, I am constantly reminded that Christ calls each of us through our mess as He did with Peter, even when he denied him three times, and Christ still called on him to carry the Catholic Church! That is the message the CMC hopes to bring, that as College students, we are broken people, who serve broken people. The poor are no different than us. So what is holding us back from spreading love?
I ask for continued prayer and support for our mission.
Sincerely,
Janson
