By Mayah Schundelmeier

My name is Mayah Schundelmier and I grew up in Columbus, Indiana. I am a senior volleyball player at Huntington University in Huntington, Ind. and am majoring in journalism. Each student at Huntington is required to complete an internship before graduation. I knew that journalism was what God called me to major in. Throughout my time in college, however, the Lord has led my heart to fall in love with sports ministry. As I grew deeper into this love and my relationship with the Lord, I began to see my priorities shift in light of what I wanted my internship to be.

I began to feel a conflict in my heart. I started to question whether I wanted my internship to help me learn how to “make it” in journalism or further God’s Kingdom. I did not have any idea what I wanted to do or where to look for an internship. I began to pray, “I don’t want to learn how to make it in journalism. I want an internship that is something I’m passionate about, but even more than that, brings glory to You. Will You please bring something like that to me?”

It wasn’t long after that when my mentor presented me with the Global Impact Internship with FCA. It was something that instantly sparked my interest because it combined traveling and sports ministry. As I continued to pray, the Lord began making everything fall into place. After going through the interview process, I was accepted to go to the Northern Europe location. I knew this was exactly what the Lord had been preparing me for and He made it happen in the most beautiful way. God shows up when we seek Him. He would continue to instill this truth in me throughout my time during the internship

The first three days of our internship were spent in Kansas City, Missouri for training.  During this time all the U.S. interns met before being sent to their locations. These three days set the tone for the trip. The majority of us didn’t know each other personally, being saved by Christ and doing life with Him created a love and respect for one another that was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

I was introduced to the concept of “life on mission,” as well as the reality that this next month is not a mission trip, but an internship. Upon returning home from Global Impact, we would be expected not only to continue living on mission but also put into practice the things we learned while abroad. While at first this intimidated me, the Lord quickly changed my heart posture through our training, stretching and preparing me, and then we were off!

Not too long after arriving in Germany, the Lord revealed to me two things that He was going to teach me during my time abroad: 1) How to be truly loved and seen by Him, and 2) How to be fully vulnerable with and accept love from the body of Christ. While God was doing this inner work, I was also able to witness the outer work he was doing through me and the rest of my team to touch those we encountered. Throughout our time in Germany and Poland, we led evangelism training, ran a soccer and basketball camp, went through All-Ability training, visited Auschwitz and got to build relationships with some amazing people we met along the way. It was surreal experiencing God’s heart in a different country.

During our All-Ability training, we learned different ways to witness to those with cognitive mental impairments and present biblical teachings in ways that are easier for them to grasp. This part of training touched my heart in a different way than I had ever experienced. Knowing God’s heart is for everyone, we are to learn ways to serve our brothers in sister in Christ wherever they are. Two of our campers for basketball camp had mental disabilities. Being able to see the way that each person on my team intentionally applied what we learned to show the love of Christ to these boys was such a beautiful thing. It was also amazing seeing all the campers respond after hearing the Gospel from the beginning of camp to the end. During both our basketball and soccer camps, we would break off into Huddles before camp ended each day. We would present the Gospel to the campers and teach them about Jesus. With each passing day of camp, you could see campers growing more curious about God. By the end of camp, kids made decisions to give their lives to Christ or express a longing to learn more about Him.

Despite all these amazing things we were able to do, whether physically exhausted from a long day of camp or mentally exhausted from a long day of training there were times I felt as if I had nothing left to give. But that’s the beauty of living with the Lord—when you feel as if you have nothing left to give, that’s when He shows up and gives you more than you need. I saw this happen over and over during our time abroad. And even more than that, we are able to do immeasurably more when we sought the Lord for guidance.

God worked through our tiredness to bring about His purpose at camps. By the end of each camp, there was a response from campers to want to learn more about Christ and even trust Him with their lives. The Lord’s hand was at work from before we arrived for this internship and has not stopped working since returning home. While being abroad, I was able to see people who have never heard the Gospel. Seeing this caused a deep conviction in my heart. How many times do many of us hear the Gospel in America and our hearts remain unchanged? Seeing the way children’s faces lit up at hearing there is a God who loves them and wants a relationship with them has caused me to take the relationship I have with him more seriously.

While this was an incredible experience, life on mission can be done in more ways than traveling to spread the Gospel. Life on mission is doing life with Christ and showing His love to others in our day-to-day lives. God’s heart is that we spread His Good News to all people of all nations, so let’s start where we are and see where God takes us.

Learn more about FCA’s Global Impact internship and if you or someone you know is interested, pray how God might be leading you and reach out to your local staff.

-FCA-

Photos courtesy of Mayah Schundelmier and Huntington University Athletics