The Legacy of Friendship

When I joined the team at SEAPC seven years ago, I was a young twenty-something woman who had spent very limited time in missions.

New to the world of missions and all the sacrifices made in order to reach the lost with the Gospel news of Jesus Christ, I was so excited to join my first ever Friends Around the Table event in Oaxaca, Mexico in September of 2014. Friends Around the Table started in 2003 in Chiang Mai, Thailand with a very small group of individuals sitting around just one table as an opportunity to gather friends and partners in ministry from around the nations in one place to share what the Lord had done in the past year, and hear from Him about what the next year would hold. In the years to follow, it grew and expanded to include additional friends around several more tables.

Having no idea what to expect, I packed way too much for that five-day stay and barely could lift my carry-on suitcase. Landing in Mexico alongside a group of five Cambodian interns who were spending time with us in the United States was just as you would expect it to be: chaotic. After convincing the very nice customs agent that they would each definitely be allowed back into the USA at the end of our trip, we made it through and on to the hotel we went.

My first drive through the city of Oaxaca was at night. It was so beautiful to see the stone streets in the dim of the streetlights and just slightly alarming to pass a jeep full of police officers with giant guns in hand. Getting to sleep that first night was difficult with all the anticipation about what was to come, as I would be meeting friends from SEAPC from around the globe the next morning. I hardly had words knowing these incredible brothers and sisters in Christ were taking a break from bringing the Gospel truth to those who needed it most.

The next morning at breakfast I quickly scurried to a table with friendly faces who I already knew, namely my dear friend Rudi who was sitting with a woman who had brown hair, looked to be about the age of my grandmother, and had a very welcoming smile. Her name was Pastor Carol Missik. Little did I know that I was sitting down to breakfast with a woman who would impact my life in ways I never thought possible.

The rest of the week was incredible, as I got to hear from each of our friends about what God was doing in the nations they serve. I worshiped with these new friends both in English and in Spanish (well, the best I could), we prayed over each nation as a large group, and friends began to prophesy about what the Lord would do in the coming months. That week is still the very best week I’ve had while on the team here at SEAPC.

I will never forget the testimonies of our God, the prayer walking and miracles witnessed on those cobblestone streets, the amazing food and fellowship with new friends. After that week came to an end and I was settled back home in Pittsburgh, I was so excited to continue to get to know Pastor Carol and what God was doing through her. She was called to Mexico — her heart belonged to the people of that nation. She walked and prayed in every single state from Yucatan to Guadalajara to Monterrey. This mighty woman of God took trip after trip all over this beautiful country walking and praying and bringing the Word to everyone within the sound of her voice. I had the pleasure of helping to serve the SEAPC affiliates in the area of finance so I got to know her well as we communicated and coordinated her flights to and from Mexico and gathered the resource to use on each trip.

Operation Capital City, her ministry in Mexico, was her calling from the Lord and she fully embraced it and gave it to the Lord. Phone calls with Pastor Carol were always the highlight of my week and I made sure to always allow for time to ask her to pray and prophesy over me. She was like the third grandmother I never knew I needed, but the Lord certainly knew I did. As time passed and she aged with grace and beauty, the trips became a little further apart and cancer reared its ugly head. Pastor Carol took on cancer the same way she took on the enemy: with the word of God in hand and the Holy Spirit surrounding her. Every moment I spent with her she reminded me to “dance in the river” with her as she believed God for His will upon her life. Cancer may have taken her from this earth but she is dancing in the river of life with the King of Kings today and I will forever be impacted by life she lived and the prayers she prayed.

In the years since my first Friends Around the Table, my role on the SEAPC team has changed and shifted and today I have the great honor of being the one to plan and prepare for our Friends gatherings. We have heard from the Lord and in this year and the years going forward we will hold four Friends gatherings a year regionally around the globe. That sounds like a ton of work doesn’t it? It sure is, but I couldn’t be more excited to be planning the first one of the year—in Mexico! Isn’t it amazing how God often brings things full circle?

This year we have collectively heard from the Lord that we are to GO: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20)

The Great Commission is not one we take lightly and we are excited to come together and be drawn in to be filled up and sent out. We will GO! There has been a hole in my heart since the day Pastor Carol went to be with Jesus and I can feel it being filled with her love and presence as I dive into the details of this exciting event. While she won’t be with us in our physical bodies, I look forward with confidence that she will be dancing in the river with us as we worship our King together in the nation that held her heart.