The Voice in my Heart

As sudden as my trip to Mongolia was, I had known for some time that I was supposed to go there.

When I was probably around ten years old, I started reading a children's series authored by the great Frank E. Peretti. In those books, a brave missionary/archeologist explored mysteries and Biblical events with his two teenage kids. It was probably around then that I became a bit obsessed with the adventurous world of a missionary. Admittedly I was also briefly interested in becoming an archeologist but once I found out how much schooling they had to receive I thought being a missionary sounded easier. (I do still collect rocks and fossils though.) I was excited to learn about other countries in my world studies class because any of these interesting countries could be the one I go to one day. I remember the day I learned about Mongolia and how my heart was immediately taken with them. People who loved horses! Sign ten-year-old me up! I loved horses too and I loved God so being a missionary would obviously be a breeze.

As I got older I consumed more and more content about missionaries. My favorite missionary individual was Gladys Aylward, the first female missionary to China. Oh, how I admired her! Her story brought me to tears and I must have read it ten or more times. It was in this book that I was introduced to the harder aspects of being a female missionary. Other cultures wouldn't have the same rights or views on women as America did and it could be more dangerous to me. To a now twelve-year-old Abbie, this was all very troubling. But by then I'd gone through some big medical problems and I knew God protected me through those so He would definitely protect me in Mongolia. I was sure back then that any day I'd receive a letter or a call to go to Mongolia and I made sure to let everyone who asked know that I would most certainly be going. At this point I knew it in my chest; one day I too would be a missionary!