How did I end up doing MATUL?

Before I get into all the details of things that have happened in the last month or so in preparing for MATUL, I'll provide some background as to how I ended up selecting the MATUL program. It's kind of a long story. I'll try to keep it brief...ish.

Let's backtrack to last summer. I went on the Global Urban Trek to Kolkata, India and it really changed my perspective on a lot of things. The Global Urban Trek is a 6 week long missions trip organized through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and it immerses college students in slum communities in order to provide students with a better understanding of God's heart for the urban poor as they serve at ministry sites and live alongside the urban poor. It's hard to encapsulate my time in Kolkata in a few sentences, but I can definitely say that it has been the singular, most life-changing event to date (this is of course after coming to Christ and all, but you knew that). A few of the many things that God revealed to me during the Trek include: how privileged I am to live the life I'm living, how few material things we really need to be joyful when we have Jesus, and how much He loves his people and wants them to know that there is hope despite their difficult situation. 

Hanging out with some kiddies at my ministry site. Not sure why the
 little boy in blue always looked angry ahaha.

At the end of the Global Urban Trek, students are asked to commit to at least two years living alongside and serving the urban poor. I knew this going into the trip, and wrestled with this potential commitment throughout the trip. God didn't provide me with a resounding "yes" or "no" and I felt like I should feel compelled to serve for the 2 years after seeing all the devastating poverty, but ended up not saying "yes" during our debriefing time at the end of the trip. 

Let's jump to December 2012. I attended a triennial InterVarsity missions conference called Urbana; it's a huge conference held in St. Louis, Missouri that draws ~15-20,000 college students from all over the United States, Canada, and beyond. Hundreds of Christian organizations table at the conference and there's workshops, speakers, worship, and all kinds of good stuff. I didn't have any particular expectations or goals for the conference, but wanted to be open to any opportunities that I might come across or be interested in as I didn't have any post-college plans as of yet. I attended seminars in my Urban Poverty track and listened to the large-session speakers talk about sacrifice and how worthy Jesus is of all of our affections and trust. I was really convicted by what some of the speakers had said and ended up committing on the last night of the conference to doing at least 2 years of cross-cultural missions (in particular, among the urban poor). I thought, "Why not? What is this life if it's not lived fully for God? Two years in comparison to the rest of my life doesn't seem that long." At the same time, a little voice in the back of my head was like, "What did you just get yourself into?!" 

My friend Shayne and I got to pack World Vision medical kits at Urbana because we were part of the Urban Poverty track. In total, about 16,000 kits were assembled and packed to be sent to areas that have high populations with HIV/AIDS. It was pretty awesome.

As I returned to Santa Barbara for school for Winter quarter, I browsed through the handouts and pamphlets of various missions organizations like Salvation Army, Servant Partners, OMF International, etc. and did research as to what organization(s) aligned with my personal interests and if they offered long-term opportunities that I'd be interested in. After much prayer and discussion with close friends, I ended up selecting MATUL. Interestingly, the same friend who had told me to consider the Global Urban Trek (instead of a different missions trip I was considering) had mentioned that I should look into MATUL and so I did.  I honestly hadn't seriously considered the program before, even after talking to the man who tabled at Urbana for it; he wasn't very convincing and didn't know too much about the program aside from what the brochures said. MATUL just seemed like a great fit for me- I love learning in a structured setting and the service and ministry aspect of the program seemed really great. Being able to learn and love & serve people with all the cool things I'd be learning? Perfect. 

And so in March I applied for the program. I wrote the essays, got the letters of recommendation, and submitted the application. About a month or so later, I had the online interview for the program and then I was accepted! So...that's most of the important details and happenings that have resulted in my decision to do MATUL. Now you know. (: