Last summer, in June 2024, I took a trip to Koper, Slovenia, to help run an English camp. It was my first time out of the States and my first experience on the mission field. Though the trip was only two and a half weeks long, it changed my life forever.

It was at that camp that I first learned about Josiah Venture (JV) and their summer internship program. When I returned home, I began looking into the program. After several disappointing emails, I found out that the internship in Slovenia was no longer happening. Crushed, I started to look into other mission opportunities.
That fall, I applied to (and was accepted into) a nine-month internship program in California through a different organization. I was so sure this was what God had for me. I even sent out support letters and paid the first down payment. However, one day later, I received an email from JV announcing that the Slovenia internship was, in fact, happening, and they asked if I was still interested.

After a moment of shock and a lot of prayer, I knew I needed to withdraw from the California program and go back to Europe.

I knew I would need to raise support, and I was nervous about the response I might get—especially since I had just sent out support letters for California. I hesitated to contact people. The fear of rejection held me back from fully trusting God with the support-raising process. I struggled to ask for help and to admit I was scared. Three months went by, and I had barely sent out ten letters.

In February 2025, I had my first Zoom call with my fellow interns and our leaders. We started to open up about our fears and the challenges we faced with fundraising. Hearing my teammates share their hearts, and receiving Godly advice from our leaders, deeply encouraged me.

I began to surrender my fears to the Lord and trust him with every letter and text I sent. I learned not to say people’s “no” for them; I even made some uncomfortable calls to those who had already donated to the California internship.

I still wasn’t completely comfortable asking for financial help. It felt like I was asking people to give their money to me.

As spring rolled around, I was drowning in anxiety. There were only a couple of months left, and I had raised only a third of the needed funds.

My best friend and teammate set up a meeting for us with our pastor and his wife, who had served as missionaries in Uganda for five years. We asked them questions and answered theirs in return. They walked us through different ways to overcome the awkwardness of asking for support.

Though we talked for hours over multiple occasions, I will never forget one thing our pastor said:

“When you ask people to donate their money to missions, you aren’t asking them to give it to you. You’re inviting them to be a part of what God is doing.”

That moment changed everything. It made so much sense. I realized I had been making it all about me and what I was doing, instead of about God and what he was doing in Slovenia.
From then on, my anxiety and fear began to fade. My boldness grew. I no longer felt like I was begging people to support me; I was enthusiastically inviting them to join in what God was doing through this mission.

I discovered that meeting with people in person made a huge difference when it came to asking them to give. I also learned the importance of continuing to follow up, even if someone didn’t respond the first time.

Follow up, follow up, follow up. It’s the most important part of building a strong support team!

It wasn’t until two weeks before the final due date that I had raised all the necessary funds.  Looking back, I wouldn’t have changed that circumstance for the world. The growth I experienced throughout the fundraising process and the community I built were invaluable. The waiting was worth far more than having been a little less stressed before my trip.

I’m beyond grateful for the maturity and shift in perspective that support raising gave me—none of which I would have experienced if the Lord had not placed JV, the summer internship, and Slovenia on my heart.

If you’re thinking about interning or doing missions, be prepared to grow more than you could ever imagine. Don’t skip the hard parts. They have the potential to be the most formative moments you’ll ever experience. The community you build during support raising will be the people who are praying for you while you are gone.