From Kansas to Kenedougou ... And Back Again
Donna Kampen Entz

In high school I was the kid who managed to smoke a cigar only once... and get caught by my boarding school staff on the very first try! I got into enough other minor troubles that my counselors encouraged me to start over somewhere else, where my "potential could be realized." So instead of going to college, I signed up for an assignment with my church's Voluntary Service program. There I worked with the various minority groups, but was also involved in the Jesus movement and other renewal movements. Unit members with whom I lived prayed as though their spiritual lives were important, and as I reconnected with God, I really made a new start. I felt a deep desire for other people to understand what wsa happening to me and what it was that had made such a difference in my life.

Soon after, I found myself recruiting young adults for possible service assignments overseas. It was during this time that I realized I could no longer resist the challenge of overseas service.