Grogan is a rising junior at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, considered the largest evangelical Christian university in the world. He joined 15 other students to travel to Nepal, a trip organized through the school´s mission office, Light Ministries. It was the first time that the university had ever organized a trip to Nepal, whose two main religions are Hinduism and Buddhism.
"Our purpose in going to Nepal was to share with the Nepali people the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ," Grogan said. "I went because it was an opportunity to reach people with the gospel that have never had the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus Christ before."
After 19 hours on airplanes, the group arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal´s capital. The group divided into two mission teams. One team stayed in or around Kathmandu, doing home stays with both Hindu and Christian families as well as working in orphanages and organizing outreach opportunities in the slums.
The other team´s duty was to reach some of the cities and villages located in western Nepal. Grogan and six other students departed on this venture that Grogan calls "the hardest thing I´ve ever had to do."
To reach the outermost villages, Grogan and the rest of his group were required to hike through the mountains. They first hiked to a village located in a valley called Hat, where they stayed two days.
The trying times came when it was time to hike out of Hat. The majority of the trip out was uphill. During the first day alone, the group hiked nearly 25 miles in 12 hours while carrying about 40 pounds on their backs. In a three-day period, the group hiked roughly 75 miles, all in 100-plus degree weather. Hiking at altitudes from about 3,000 to 8,000 feet also increased the difficulty.
"The only way I made it through was prayer," Grogan said. "I relied on God´s faithfulness to give me strength through the Holy Spirit. I only made it by His grace."
While in Hat, Grogan and the rest of the students were given the opportunity to hand out copies of the Gospel of John as well as some other pamphlets and tracts translated into Nepali. They distributed these to about 500 students who were taking exams that day.
"It was a very cool experience, because the kids were just coming up to us and asking us for the books. We couldn´t hand them out fast enough," Grogan said.
After returning to America, Grogan knows that his faith and trust in God has grown exponentially. He now trusts God completely to provide even the most basic essentials for life and realizes the power of prayer more than ever before.
Grogan´s major at Liberty University is Intercultural Studies, a program to prepare people for Christian mission work outside of the United States. Intercultural Studies majors are given the opportunity to complete a semester abroad. Grogan hopes to use that opportunity to do more mission work in Asia.
But Grogan knows that being in a different country is not required for missions work.
"I try to live a life that is a testimony to how Christ has changed my life," Grogan said. "I try to build relationships with people to where I can witness to them effectively and make them disciples for Christ."
However, Grogan hopes to communicate that missions is something everyone should want to do and that it isn´t reserved for those who are "called" by God.
"I wouldn´t say that I felt ´called´ into missions. You do not need a special call," Grogan said. "I just realized that the needs in the unreached places of the world are so great that I would be wasting my life if I did not go and tell those people about Jesus Christ."
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