Becoming a Missionary to the Dominican Republic

Contributor: Greyson Neumayer

When I started the CC Plus Odyssey Leadership Program, I was an anxious, fearful, and insecure incoming college student. Growing up, I was homeschooled from preschool to 12th grade. When I graduated high school, I found myself asking the question, “What is my next step?” 

Hearing The Call

When I was about seven, I felt called to international missions. I remember looking at a section in a Bible study handbook that discussed missionaries. At that moment, I felt the call of the Holy Spirit to international missions. However, I was hesitant to accept the call.

As I grew older, this calling became more and more clear. When I was thirteen, I went on my first mission trip to Canada. During that trip, I felt the Lord call me again and I was changed forever.

Throughout high school, I took advantage of other mission trip opportunities with my peers. In my senior year, I had the opportunity to go on my first overseas mission trip to the Dominican Republic with my high school group. During this trip, visited a town called Jaracoba, and served in a ministry known as microfinance. This ministry focuses on helping people in the community build financial literacy and learn how to manage their money well. This trip exposed me to the Dominican Republic and its culture.

After my first mission trip and taking advantage of other various mission trip opportunities, I had the dream of becoming a missionary. As my high school journey ended, I knew that God had confirmed that the dream of becoming a missionary was His plan for my life. 

The inlet in Canada where my first mission trip took place

My CC Journey

As a homeschool student, I participated in my local Classical Conversations community in Tualatin, OR. Originally starting in a community in San Diego, CA, I worked my way through every year of Foundations up to Essentials and participated in Memory Master. After Essentials, I proceeded to participate in the Challenge program and graduated out of Challenge IV. 

As I was deciding what I would do for my Freshman Year, Odyssey Leadership piqued my interest because of the travel aspect. With my calling to missions and my desire to see the world and the United States, this seemed like the perfect fit. 

But There Was a Problem.

As much as I loved and dreamed of traveling, the idea of traveling by myself terrified me, let alone the idea of navigating an airport or serving as a missionary one day.  How was I going to spread God’s kingdom if I could not even fly in my home nation by myself? 

There Was Only One Option: To Face My Fear And Do It. 

Odyssey Leadership was the next step of faith I needed to be faithful to the calling God placed on my heart. As I challenged my fear and participated in the program, I loved exploring the United States, making new friends, and engaging in conversations that challenged and shaped me. As a class, we read through books such as Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey and The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis and studied the Parables of Jesus.

One aspect of Odyssey that grew me was learning how to disagree well. During the program, we often had conversations about various topics where we disagreed with one another. From theology to the different ways we see and experience God, to what our favorite movies were, we all had disagreements with one another. While I am still working on this skill, Odyssey stretched me to grow myself out of my comfort zone.

At the time, I did not see this, but God was doing something during that Odyssey year: He was preparing me to be the missionary He had called me to be.

With every challenge, flight, conversation, and reading, God was disciplining me to become the person He was calling me to become. At the end of my Odyssey year, I announced I would be participating in a program that would allow me to live eight months in the Dominican Republic. 

Starting the Program

The program I am doing is the Global Bridge program, organized by Students International. When starting the program, I was given the opportunity to choose a ministry to work in for the year. I could choose between a couple of sports sites, a couple of health clinics, or a construction site. I chose the construction site. This site’s mission is to build cement water filters for people in need.

Odyssey gave me the freedom to expand myself and learn how to be more independent. Global Bridge took this to the next level. I learned how to shop for food, balance working at the ministry site and school work, engage in group activities, and learn how to live outside my own house for an extended period of time. I learned how to navigate and discipline myself to have a deeper relationship with God while navigating culture shock well. 

The cement water filter construction facility at the ministry site in the Dominican Republic

Looking Back

Now as a missionary, with a potential opportunity to live for an additional eight months in the Dominican Republic, I see how God has shaped me during Odyssey and continues to do so to this very day. Every day He is shaping me and growing me deeper and deeper into the calling before me: To go, and make disciples of all nations. 

All authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. - Matthew 28:19-20; NIV