Mark Hertweck always
supported mission work. He learned about missions; he prayed
about missions. He just never really wanted to go on one.
“I didn’t want to step outside my comfort zone,”
he said.
That all changed in the summer of 2000, when Hertweck, then
30, was given the opportunity to travel overseas with a group
traveling to Ethiopia on a discovery project organized by the
International Mission Board.
At the time, Hertweck was working as the director of the Baptist
campus ministry at the University of Utah and was one of 15
collegiate ministers to have an opportunity to visit different
North African and Middle Eastern countries.
The group learned about the land, people and culture of Ethiopia
while on the trip, and the information they gathered showed
them what they could do to help when they brought groups back
on later trips.
“That’s when God began to work in my life,”
Hertweck said, “to completely change my perspective about
missions.”
He called his first experience overseas life- changing and said
it made him realize that the world was not just a “little
bubble.” He also said he realized just how good life is
here in the United States and how much people take for granted
the simple things in life.
“You assume everyone has food, clothes, a job,”
he said.
He saw things he never imagined he would see: extreme poverty,
death by HIV and AIDS, and some cases of leprosy — something
many only hear of in the Bible.
He also saw some other things he did not expect to see, like
a herd of camels.
While on the mission, Hertweck met a missionary couple, John
and Kay McNally of Broken Arrow, Okla., with whom he developed
a friendship. And he went back several more times to Ethiopia,
bringing teams of people.
Other missions included a trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where
he participated in medical missions.This year, because of his
past relationship with the McNallys, he got the chance to go
back to Ethiopia from Oct. 6-21. It was his fifth trip.
His group stayed in Addis Ababa, which translates to New Flower,
the capital and home to about 6 million people. The mission
members worked with the Oromo people group, one of many people
groups in Ethiopia that have their own ethnicity, language and
culture within the larger population.
“They are one of the largest unreached people groups in
Africa,” Hertweck said.
The predominant religions in Ethiopia are Ethiopian Orthodox
and Muslim, each making up close to half of the population.
There are very few Evangelical Christians.
The Oromo Project allowed the 14-member team to do a number
of different things, from women’s ministry to construction.
The construction team helped build houses, painted a classroom
and repaired roads.They also hauled rocks from the riverbed
to build a new classroom.
Children’s ministry was another important part of the
trip. Hertweck spoke at several youth meetings and did a three-day
program called “True Love Waits” at one of the schools.
Towards the end of the trip, Hertweck’s team went to a
village south of Addis Ababa.
“I felt like I was five miles south of the middle of nowhere,”
he said.
In the village, the team met with a group of people who had
started a church, which Hertweck described as “about as
big as a walk-in closet.”
Singing and praying knee-to-knee and shoulder-to-shoulder with
the villagers, the team heard a testimony from a young man.
He told of his life in the Muslim religion, as the son of a
Muslim Sheikh. When he later decided to become a Christian,
his father not only disowned him but threatened to kill him.
His best friend also disagreed with his choice but eventually
converted as well.
It is a story that Hertweck said sticks out in his mind.
“He remained faithful to what God called him to do,”
he said. “He wasn’t afraid of dying for his faith.”
Hertweck said the story taught him how real persecution is and
how some must deal with it every day, though they still remain
full of passion and joy.
“There’s so much we can learn from them,”
he said.
The experience also made him realize that people often worry
about the little things, even though they don’t really
mean a lot in the long run. He was amazed at the way these people
live their life, though they are in one of the poorest countries
in the world.
“They are poor and they know they are,” he said.
“And they are still content with their life.”
The people they met wanted the team to have a positive experience,
and Hertweck said they were very proud of their country. Even
though their needs were great, they still wanted to be good
hosts.
“They would give you the shirt off their back, even if
it was the only one they owned,” he said.
While he enjoyed the mission work he did, Hertweck said there
were many things he had to learn and get used to while overseas.
He had to learn to be sensitive to cultural and language differences.
For example, the “OK” sign in America does not translate
the same in Ethiopia.
Though the team would sometimes make mistakes, Hertweck said
they were overlooked and understood.
“They were very forgiving and gracious,” he said.
Five trips are not enough for Hertweck. He said as long as God
provides him with the opportunities and means to go, he will
try to do overseas missions as long as he can.
“It’s important to be willing to answer that call,”
he said.
Not only has he developed a passion for his missions, he has
tried to share his experience with others and said he would
love to bring other people back with him.
“Everyone should go overseas once in their life,”
he said, “and see the world from a different perspective.”
