World Missions

Mission; Interview with Jordan Riley by the Derby Informer

It was an act of obedience from a calling in his faith.

Having just heard of ACTION, a six-week (June 23-Aug. 3) discipleship training and cross-cultural mission program through MB Mission, Jordan Riley asked his parents if he could travel with a team for the summer program.

Riley, a 2016 Derby High School graduate, had never traveled on an airplane nor had he ever done a missions trip with his church.

Needing to raise roughly $3,000-$4,500 for the trip, finances weren’t going to be easy to find. However, his decision to participate was met by full funds in the final weeks ahead of ACTION training.

Riley saw his willingness and obedience to serve met with full funding on his first cross-cultural missions trip.

His first adventure? A four-week assignment serving alongside MB missionaries in Peru.

“Any time we see someone who’s willing to be stretched beyond what they think they can do, it’s really special,” MB Mission Midwest Mobilizer Stephen Humber said. “You know they’re going to experience something new they really like.”

For the Derby High School graduate, the trip represented a straightening in his faith.

“At the time I was walking on the line in my faith and going back and forth,” Riley said. “The trip really helped me stay on one side.”

In the mission field

Stepping off the plane into a foreign country brought a mixed bag of emotions for Riley.

Hearing almost nothing but Spanish, he said it was just the first taste of what was in store in South America.

Riley and his group spent time in Trujillo and Piura, Peru, alongside multiple long-term missionaries.

It only took one visit to an impoverished home for Riley to see the living conditions of many of the Peruvian people. No shower, no bathtub and sand floors painted irremovable photos in Riley’s memory.

“Growing up, my mom and dad bought a messed up house and were fixing it up,” Riley said. “It was a really bad house and I never liked it, to be honest. Just seeing that, I’d think, ‘they’d love to live in my house.’ It changed my point of view on things.”

Riley was grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside the missionaries and build relationships with the people in the community and churches.

“Being there felt like family,” the Derby graduate said. Click to Read More at the Derby Informer