Amanda Sappington – Psychology

By Shanley Knox

Senior psychology major Amanda Sappington’s internship with Christian Healing Ministries opened her eyes to the practical ways she could use her psychology degree for missions.

“I see missions as basically spreading the love of Christ to others, and I usually see that as a relational thing,” Sappington said. “My dream is to integrate the more traditional counseling styles I have learned with healing ministry.”

She has heard stories about her parents’ healing ministry in Indonesia since she was a little girl. Eventually, she applied to spend her summer working with Christian Healing Ministries in order to discover how her psychology degree might enable her to follow in their footsteps.

While serving as a prayer minister in several inner healing prayer sessions at C.H.M., Sappington said she began to discover how her major had prepared her to show people Christ as healer and deliverer.

“A lot of what we would do was maybe ask a person why they had come in, what they wanted prayer for, and then really just spend a lot of time being quiet and waiting to hear from the Lord what he wanted to do,” Sappington said. “What was really neat for me was that we used a lot of the things I had learned in psychology, such as basic listening skills. You see a lot of how dysfunction in the family or relationships is affecting people. You see a lot of things you would see as a counselor.”

Sappington said that her internship took her experience with emotional healing far beyond anything she learned in her psychology classes. While her psychology classes taught her how to help people to cope with their dysfunctions, healing prayer was a way for her to help them get beyond those boundaries. However, she said her counseling knowledge from Biola helped her to know how to approach the people she was praying for and caring about.

She defined healing prayer as an invitation for the Lord to come in and work in the broken places in a person’s life. She said that the process towards praying for their specific issues related a lot to counseling. Similar to a typical counseling session, a person would come, usually with something specific, and it would be the responsibility of the prayer ministers to discover what the root of their issue was.

“The Lord would usually lead us through the layers of what the actual wound or lie or hurt was, and that was usually what he really wanted to free them from, was this deep wounding,” Sappington said. “A lot of things pile on and really get out of control, when there’s something there underneath. It’s not necessarily the obvious issue or problem, but maybe the root of it.”

Sappington is currently researching graduate schools for marriage and family therapy, but said that her dream is to integrate traditional counseling with healing ministry. She said she believes knowledge of counseling and psychology brings knowledge into a healing ministry, which can help people to better cope and heal.

“We live in a fallen world, so everyone is going to have issues and problems in life, and psychology is great because it helps people to learn that they can exist and live and not be crushed by that,” Sappington said. “But it’s the Lord that’s really going to bring healing and freedom. Somehow the Lord does it, and you see people freed from years of horrible abuse, or rejection, or low self-esteem, and things like that. It’s so powerful to see the transformation, because it’s only through the Lord’s power that that can happen.”

Shanley Knox – Journalism

By Caitlin Ryan

Shanley Knox, a senior journalism major, is not only carrying out her God-given gift as a writer through missions, but is dipping her toes in much deeper waters.

Her overwhelming love for writing is matched with a heart of compassion for those who cannot care for themselves.

“I don’t even think of it as missions,” Knox said. “I think it’s what we are called to do all the time. As believers, the Bible and everything Jesus said makes it so clear to me that we are responsible to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves and to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. As a Christian, that is where my passion is supposed to be. He has given me the gift of communicating, specifically for those who can’t. There has always been a passion in me to do that … for as long as I can remember.”

Though she has worked with multiple organizations, including Three Angels Children’s Release in Port au Prince, Haiti, and Amani Baby Cottage in Uganda, it was her time in Hati when she was 18 that has made the most impact on Knox’s life. Initially going into the mission expecting only to work with the children, a woman from the organization read Knox’s work and asked her to write for Three Angels.

“Haiti meant the most,” Knox said. “They were different, but Haiti was really where I realized I wanted to write and do journalism because I could make a difference in individual people’s lives.”

Writing mainly for the school in Haiti, Knox created articles for the organization’s Web site and newsletter, wrote profiles on all the staff and updates about the children for their parents, and kept up blogs for the company. With her powerful words, Knox was able to tell inspirational stories about newly united families that were sent out to donors.
“I got to watch people decide to sponsor children because of my writing about them,” Knox said. “My parents decided to adopt because of my writing. I want to do this because I can change people’s lives.”

Despite all the help she brought to the organization’s editing process, working in missions has changed Knox’s view on life, as well.

“I did all these things by myself; hopped on a plane and went,” Knox explained. “It was all for me to know who I am and what my calling is. No matter where I am or what I am doing, I have the same passion and goals because the experiences I’ve had and things I’ve seen are so deeply engrained in my mind and heart. I constantly know that I have a responsibility to go back. In a small way it has changed my view of God. It’s made me see his heart in ways that I didn’t know.”

This summer Knox will be going to Bombo, Uganda, to work for Align Ministries with social media such as their Web site and Twitter account. In the long run, Knox said she wants to end up continuing on this path that God has set her on.

“I would love to write for my whole life and to keep traveling,” she said. “Not traveling for the sake of traveling, but to give a voice to those who don’t have one. I am in the center of God’s plan when I’m doing that. … It is something I have to do. I wouldn’t feel whole if I wasn’t doing it. ”

Alex Sparks – Nursing

By Harmony Wheeler

As her sister checked in and out of the hospital, a younger Alex Sparks witnessed the loving care of nurses. Today, Sparks uses the skills she learned from her experience as a level two nursing major working on the mission field.

“I think I want to go rural,” Sparks said. “Maybe go overseas to Africa. I always wanted to go to Africa, and I love working with families in desperate need for healthcare. The little African baby just kills me.”

Sparks’ own “baby” sister has been in and out of the hospital with static encephalopathy, or the swelling of the brain, since birth.

“That’s how I was exposed to nurses and it got me really interested in the occupation,” Sparks said. “The way they took care of patients. The doctors were cold, but the nurses cared for the whole person. And it’s an exciting job, not a behind-the-desk job.”

Watching nurses take care of her sister inspired Sparks to study nursing at Biola so she could give equal care to those who need it.

So far, Sparks has succeeded in her goals. She will graduate in 2011 having worked with homeless in Mexico and Rwanda, and she plans to return to Rwanda one day.

Sparks goes to Mexico every summer to help put on a health clinic at a church near the city of Cerro Azul. She and others hand out vitamins and things that are common for Americans, but not so common for Mexico’s poor.

The people who come for help can’t afford medications, so she offers medications and other resources, Sparks said, sometimes pointing them to other places they can go for help.

On the home front, Sparks goes to downtown Santa Ana on regular rotation to work at a clinic for the homeless.

“It’s really cool. Unlike Mexico and Rwanda, there isn’t a language barrier,” she said. “I’m able to offer spiritual care, prayer, encouragement, more resources.”

Sparks traveled to Rwanda with a Biola professor and Saddleback Church last year to work at a hospital for two weeks. She worked in the wings, offering resources, advice and help to nurses who worked at the hospital.

“The people hired are few and limited,” she said. “They burn out. One hadn’t had vacation in 10 years. And I couldn’t recognize their equipment, it was so outdated.”
In Rwanda, Sparks dealt with people suffering from posttraumatic stress as a result of the genocide that happened there years ago.

“One patient had a chest pain, and we couldn’t find anything wrong,” Sparks said. “He kept complaining.”

She said the man continued complaining until they put an I.V. in him. As soon as they took the I.V. away he would start complaining again.

Sparks said she enjoyed helping these people, and wants to return to Rwanda soon.

“I can’t wait to go back,” Sparks said. “People there rely so much on the medical system. It turns into a big ordeal when they can’t get what they want. In Rwanda, people rely on family, faith and greater joy in smaller pleasures. I can see they joy in their faces. They don’t understand why we’d come.”

Maggie Hazen – Art

By Kelsey Osterman

There was undeniable sparkle in Maggie Hazen’s eyes as she explained her experiences in India. The junior art major interned with the Dalit Freedom Network during the summer of 2008, training women to make quality clothing and teaching art to slum children. The relationships formed during the tutoring also allowed her to share the gospel.

Hazen first realized her desire to combine missions and art during her freshman year at Biola, yet she did not know how to connect her two passions in a useful way. Hazen admitted that it’s still a struggle to join the characteristically individual practice of art with the people-oriented nature of missions. But she refused let that dichotomy stop her from spreading the love of Jesus.

“How do we link the two?” Hazen said. “By taking art and centering it around community; making it tangible to the community.”

Because India is still bound by the caste system, the Dalits, or “untouchables,” are an oppressed people group throughout the country. Hazen endeavored to use art to teach the Dalits they are and can be more than trash pickers. But Hazen’s methods were not always welcome.

“We had an Indian guy come up to us and say, ‘Why are you teaching them art? They need to learn their letters,’” she said. “But if you teach kids art, it promotes innovative thinking.”

Hazen said she believes teaching art to Dalit children will allow them to generate new forms of employment in order to elevate their income and value as determined by their society. But the life-changing artistic skills are only vessels for the Gospel.

“Teaching them art, that’s only a bridge,” Hazen said. “It’s really good because it’s teaching them thinking skills. But art is also very interactive. I was teaching them art, but I was able to communicate the love of God.”

At the end of her internship, Hazen dreamed of creating an arts facility for the Dalits where they could learn dancing, painting, sculpture and music. But Hazen was not sure if this would ever become a reality.

Hazen said she feels a strong calling to preach the gospel to many nations, doing gritty, intense evangelism. Although she cannot see the big picture, Hazen said she believes God will use her art somewhere in her ministry.

“There’s not one set pattern that has been paved, especially for art in missions. But it can be done,” she said. “You just have to use your own way of thinking and listen to God’s Spirit. I’ll do art, but first of all I want to do the stuff that Jesus told me I could do.”

Hannah Sharr – Education

By Keliah Vidal

The summer is a great time to relax and go overseas on a cruise or perhaps the coveted European tour. Biola student and education major Hannah Sharr decided to go overseas, but for quite the opposite reason. The summer after her first year at Biola, she traveled to South Korea to volunteer at the Suwon Central Christian Academy.

She got in touch with the Headmaster through a family friend who had, interestingly enough, served in the Army with him. The financial part worked out perfectly.

“I didn’t really have to raise funds. The school found housing for me and I paid for my flight on my own,” Sharr said.

Her most impacting experience happened right away. “It was culture shock,” she said. Though she is of Korean ethnicity, she was not familiar with the country or its culture. She also did not speak Korean, so she experienced the language barrier. Thankfully, the family that housed her was very hospitable, friendly and helped her learn Korean.

Sharr was in South Korea for two and a half months. There, she taught fifth and sixth graders, graded their papers and assignments and supported other teachers employed at the school. She also became involved in the church affiliated with the school.

Now she is a senior and getting ready to graduate in May. With her experiences in South Korea, Sharr plans to continue to serve in the mission field using her degree in education.

“This was an experience I will never trade. Right now, I’m not sure where, but if the Lord wants me to go somewhere, I will go.”

She recalls and shares what a close friend told her as she contemplated going overseas for the first time: “God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the call.”

Daniel Cedeño – Political science

By Amy Ortega

Sophomore Daniel Cedeño is majoring in Political Science and has a heart for missions.

Cedeño’s past missions trips include various expeditions to Mexico during summer while he was in high school and his most recent: Egypt.

In Rosarito, Mexico, he helped collect school supplies and distribute them amongst the villages in the mountains in order to help the less fortunate. At Biola, he joined SMU’s Team Egypt, which went to the country in January 2010. Cedeño decided to join the Mexico trips because he had a passion to do something outside of his area and has always been excited about serving.

When it came to joining a team for interterm, he knew he wanted to serve overseas, and when he saw that there was a team going to Egypt, Cedeño knew he wanted to go.

“You don’t hear too many missions going to Egypt, and I wanted to take a cool picture by the pyramids,” Cedeño said.

Cedeño plans on integrating his major into missions by possibly working in a U.S. Embassy someday, doing community development work or working with humanitarian organizations.

Above all, he has a servant heart and wishes to reach out to the most unheard of countries; the places where hardly any missionaries have touched.

“It isn’t fair that entire countries are going to go to hell because they haven’t been reached out to,” Cedeño said.