Youth Mission Chorale Witness: Laura Engelhardt

[During June and July, 1998, the General Board of Global Ministries led a group of 21 students from United Methodist-related colleges and universities in singing global choral music in the Baltic States and Russia. The participants wrote statements commenting on their experiences. Following is one such statement.]

Two women talking in church. In six weeks, I learned more about the history of World War II, the Baltic States, and the Methodist Church than I had in 15 years of public and private education. . . .When I witnessed Christians in Russia worshiping in a library--and those in Lithuania in a building with dirt floors and a small wooden table for an altar, I realized my religious freedom and it gave me a greater appreciation of all I have in my home congregation.

. . . .Since my home congregation consists largely of elderly individuals, it was good to see young Methodists, each at a different "stage" in their spiritual life--but all striving to live for God's glory. I felt privileged to be among college students who represented high ideals, morals, and values in the name of the Lord and the Methodist Church. I have been spiritually renewed and have a desire to give everything I have--time, talent, and money! I am so thankful that GBGM believes in the power of music and sees the universal bond that it provides.

. . .I now realize how far the Methodist tradition expands and where it is trying to grow. I have seen God's love in the eyes of a young boy in prison, in a United Methodist missionary in a foreign country, and a white-haired Methodist woman in Estonia. And I realize how much more God wants me to see through His eyes. This seed has planted a great desire to pursue mission work in my life.