It took a week at a Christian sleepaway FCA Sports Camp and eleven-year-old Hannah Kao was hooked.

Not wanting to go alone, Hannah’s friend convinced her that they could room together and have a great time. When Hannah heard that it was sports and hanging with her best friend, she readily agreed. She remembers that week as an amazing and transformative experience. Even as a child, it was as if a light bulb turned on, and it was the first time that she saw that sports could be used as a platform to share her faith. This was the spark that pointed her toward full-time ministry.

In the years following that camp, Hannah’s spark grew. She served as an FCA Huddle leader at her middle and high schools and volunteered with her church’s youth group. Attending FCA Camps throughout her school years and volunteering at local Power Camps and Kutztown Camp, she went on to be an intern for the Mid-Atlantic Region. All the while, she could see that God was preparing her for vocational ministry.

On June 1, 2011, she joined Montgomery County, Maryland, as the Area Representative for more than twenty schools. She came on staff because she understood the investment FCA had made in her, and she wanted to invest in others the way they had done for her. FCA had changed her life.

In 2015, Hannah and her husband Ed were excited to travel to Thailand to participate in the East Asia International Capacity Conference. As a follow-up to that conference, a southeast Asia country director invited her to do some training for the country’s top leaders. Hannah shared that she expected them to be adults, but what surprised her the most about the leaders was that they were all college kids and young adults. She was moved when she saw that they were so on fire for Christ and had a deep desire to share the Gospel in their country.

Their worship and singing in their native language stirred her heart and deeply resonated within her. Having been born and raised in this same country, Hannah’s mother did not hear about Jesus there. When she came to the United States to attend university, another international student shared Christ, and she gave her life to Him. Hannah feels for the lost people of this area yet feels incredibly grateful.

This was a pivotal experience in Hannah’s life. When she and Ed returned home, she felt the Lord saying they needed to do more. Neither felt called to move nor did they know what that meant. But they knew that staying in her Area Representative role was not enough. Through conversations with her supervisors, she accepted the opportunity to take on her current role, Assistant Regional International Coordinator to Southeast Asia, helping the Mid-Atlantic staff get connected and engaged to pray, give and go with the Southeast Asia staff.

Over the last few years, God has been teaching Hannah patience and flexibility. Organization and preparation are her sweet spots, but she knows that is not always how God works, so she has been working on being adaptable–especially as they geared up for the Global Impact internship for the next generation of leaders. Another thing God is teaching Hannah is to be ready to say yes to whatever He asks of her.