Undaunted by the recent missionary murders in Iraq, students from LSU and other Southeastern Conference schools are willing to face obstacles to spread the word of God around the world this summer.
The students will represent the International Mission Board organization in South Africa and surrounding countries and in Australia and Central America.
According to the IMB Web site, the main goal of the IMB, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, is to present the gospel and establish church congregations throughout the world. In 2000, 30,000 missionaries participated in the IMB program.
However, missionary work is not always met with enthusiasm.
According to a Baptist Press article, unidentified assailants with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades attacked five missionaries who were in a car in eastern Mosul, Iraq March 15. Three of the missionaries died at the scene, and one died on the way to a military support hospital in Baghdad. The survivor was airlifted to a hospital in Germany in critical condition.
Despite these incidents, students remain determined to continue their religious journeys by ministering in countries around the world.
“Following Christ isn’t always an easy path,” Zane Kirby, an undecided freshman going to South Africa, said. “I’m anxious to see how we work when we go out of our comfort zone.”
Steve Masters, the LSU Baptist Collegiate Ministry adviser, said students from four SEC schools — the University of Tennessee, Mississippi State University, the University of Alabama, and LSU, as well as a fellow Louisiana college, McNeese State University — are participating in the trip to Africa.
Masters said it is dangerous to be in these countries and missionaries are sometimes killed, but these countries need the help and missionaries should go, but should use good judgment.
“The missionaries who were killed in Iraq were long-term missionaries,” Masters said. “The students will be there short-term, just for the summer.”
LSU missionaries will visit Johannesburg to give presentations and skits at schools about dangers of drugs, alcohol and AIDS. They also will give testimonies and spread the Gospel to the children.
Other missionaries will be going to Pretoria to visit AIDS victims. The students are hosted by missionaries at their missions.
Marketing sophomore Becky Whitney said that although some of her family members have expressed concern about her trip, God is calling her to this mission trip.
“I want to start a non-profit organization so people can volunteer and go around the world to be missionaries,” Whitney said.
Whitney said that the potential danger does not dampen her spirit of service.
Whitney said the students will stay in large groups for safety and will not go to downtown Johannesburg. Johannesburg is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, but, like New Orleans, visitors can avoid dangerous situations by being careful.
“I can’t be scared, or I would not be able to work at my fullest potential,” said Emily Barras, an animal science freshman going to South Africa. “I know that this is where God wants me to be.”
Students will be participating in similar ministries in Australia and Guatemala.
Mass communication sophomore Josh Britton will be ministering in Tasmania, an island near Australia. The IMB works closely with its international missionaries to ensure their safety, Britton said.
Missionary guides oversee the work of the student missionaries, and countries are ranked in categories of security– “ones” being the least dangerous and “threes” being the most dangerous.
In category three countries, where missionaries are not welcome, missionaries use code words in e-mails and phone calls because the government monitors their activity.
Many of the missionaries have been in the same community for a long time and have built up a trust with the community around them, Britton said. They do not want to lose the trust of the government and be sent home after having accomplished so much in that community.
Elementary education sophomore Jennifer Williams said that she is not worried about going to Guatemala because she will be working with the people in the community. Williams said Guatemala has had problems with tourists, but she does not know if missionaries have had problems.
IMB is taking measures to improve the security of the missionaries.
The IMB Web site’s field personnel directory service currently is being suspended because of “heightened security concerns.”