By Kayla Lutes, Features Editor
The Deese Asbury Initiative Grant Program is an opportunity for Asbury students to explore a call to missions. The Grant offers up to $10,000 for service projects related to students’ majors. This year, five students were selected for the grant and used it to impact others all over the world.
On Oct. 10, seniors Anna Corbitt, Hossana Miranda and Kayla Sheeran, and junior Joshua Fritz will share about the ways they used the initiative grant. Their presentations will take place at 7 p.m. in the student center.
The fifth student who was awarded the grant, Lisa Troyer, graduated in May and is currently using the grant working with inner-city children and youth in San Jose, Costa Rica. After earning degrees in social work and adventure leadership, Troyer is applying the knowledge and skills she gained at Asbury abroad.
“I am able to use and share the knowledge, skills and experience I acquired through my four years at Asbury,” Troyer said. “It is a beautiful balance of sharing my past experience and knowledge while daily growing my knowledge and experience.”
For Miranda, applying for the grant in itself was an act of faith. “Last year, I felt that God was calling me to serve Him through volunteering and missions, but I wasn’t sure what that meant [for me],” Miranda said. “The possibility of applying for the initiative grant came up and I decided to give it a try. I knew that if God really wanted me to serve him, He would be faithful in providing the means for it as well.”
God proved faithful in his prompting, and Miranda was awarded the grant in order to work with an organization called Remember Nhu in Thailand. This organization works to prevent child sex slavery.
Sheeran joined an organization called Josiah Venture in Serbia as a mission intern. She joined a team who put on English camps and used teaching English as a tool to share the gospel.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “It is a beautiful balance of sharing my past experience and knowledge while daily growing my knowledge and experience.”[/perfectpullquote]
Sheeran said, “God helped me to expand my comfort zone, and he really gave me a passion for missions and sharing the gospel. He helped me to see the joy of seeing lives changed and seeing hearts shaped by the power of God’s truth.”
Director of International Programs, Esther Jadhav, believes that this kind of growth fits within the purpose of the grant. “The heart of the program is for students to explore if working in an overseas context is something the student will be interested in,” she said. “The chance to really explore how your major will look on the field is a powerful opportunity.”
Corbitt, an accounting major, was glad to serve as a mission intern in Honduras and show that “God can use someone like an accounting major in a missions setting.”
Fritz described his experience working in Peru, translating for and aiding other mission teams as they worked with five different boys’ homes, as “life changing.”
“I didn’t want to come back,” Fritz said. “[But] I learned that the Holy Spirit is not just in one area, he’s everywhere. He’s not just working in Peru; he’s working in the United Sates. That’s something that impacted my life over the summer.”
For students who are thinking of applying for the initiative grant, the first step would be to attend the presentations of the four students who have returned from their trips. They will share their experiences of applying for the grant and putting the grant to use. Another step would be to contact Jadhav and visit: www.asbury.edu/student-life/service-opportunities/asbury-initiative.
“I think applying is a step of faith, even if it does take time,” Sheeran said. “Even if you don’t end up getting it, it helps you think about why you’re doing it, what your purpose is and what experiences may qualify you for the grant.”
