Portrait of a Servant Leader
Emily Arnold
Hometown: Elizabethton , TN
Class: Sophomore
Major: English & Education
Sometimes in one's life God places so many deliberate signs right in our paths that it is as if He is saying, “Do this,” or “go in My Name.” Even if one wanted to run from God's calling, such as Jonah, God has already placed people and circumstances in our lives that point in His direction.
Emily Arnold is a bright young woman from Milligan College who went on a life changing mission trip to Hungary. While she traveled abroad in the summer of 2007, many people and events had come into her life for many years previously that all would have an eventual impact on her future trip to Hungary.
 Emily worked at the Christian Camp Ta-Pa-Win-Go in Watauga, Tennessee for six consecutive summers before entering college. One summer, Emily met fellow staff member, Audrey Keys, who had recently returned from teaching high school English in Hungary for a year. As Audrey and Emily became closer, Audrey related her experience and encouraged Emily to think about teaching in Hungary also since Emily wanted to be an English teacher. When camp ended that summer, Emily returned to school and put the idea of teaching in Hungary in the back of her mind. However, two years later, Emily once again met Audrey at camp and the idea of teaching English in Hungary became more persistent.
“It was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to go.”
As God works in mysterious ways, later that fall Emily was simply reading the bulletin at her church, Heritage Baptist, and saw an advertisement for a mission trip to Hungary. At that point, she knew God was calling her to Hungary. Emily spent the remainder of the year preparing for her mission trip, and in July of 2007, she flew to Hungary to teach English for three weeks.
Emily and five others from Heritage Baptist Church stayed at a Bible college in Hungary which serves as a Christian camp in the summers. Hungary was under Communism for so long that Christianity is not popular, thus while the camp is Christian based, it offers English lessons and sports camps as more of an incentive to have children attend. While the children are at the various camps, the Gospel is then presented.
 Children attend the Christian camp for one week and Emily taught English for two different weeks of camp. The first week consisted of ten beginners who were mainly in the second and third grade. As the children are still at a young age, most of them could only say “hi” in English, therefore, Emily had to start with the extreme basics. Through a translator, Emily taught the children basic kindergarten lessons such as the ABC'S, the days of the week, and numbers.
Emily also strived to integrate her faith into the lessons she taught the children so they could learn about Christianity. The younger children had heard of the Bible but they did not know any details or about Jesus. Even with a language barrier, Emily strived to tell them of Jesus and what He did.
In addition to their English or sports classes, the children would also have two chapels a day. The chapel services consisted of worship and a message. The first three days of camp the counselors would not even discuss faith. Instead, they would talk about creation and bring God into it slowly. In Hungary, atheism and evolution is still taught today, therefore the counselors had to start from the very beginning and bring Jesus into the picture slowly.
“We tried to make a clear, simple presentation of what salvation is.”
As the week of camps came to a close the counselors would talk individually with the children and answer questions about Christianity. At the end of camp, the counselors would offer a decision time and many children came forward. At the end of Emily's first week of camp, seven out of her ten campers made a decision for Christ. A total of forty young children became Christians that week.
“It was so exciting for me.”
 Emily taught all high school girls during her second week of camp in Hungary. The high school girls were more difficult to teach than the younger children because they were slightly less cooperative and more resilient. The older girls all had a slight grasp on English therefore Emily focused on more discussion and dialogue. They told Emily what they wanted to be as they grew up and what jobs they were interested in.
Emily also discussed her faith with the older girls on a more deep and personal level and taught them Christianity and salvation by reading basic Bible stories in English. Most of the girls had never heard the stories before and were very interested and asked lots of questions. When the decision time came at the end of the week for the high school group, twenty-five young adults went forward to give their lives to Jesus.
“I just wanted to stay there and develop the relationships I had made with them because if someone was there with them everyday to build them up, there would be so much more potential than can be made in one week. Ninety percent of the kids who made decisions will receive no support whatsoever from their families.”
Emily's weeks she spent in Hungary not only sharpened her skills as an English teacher, but they confirmed her calling.
“God is calling me to teach English. I received so much experience working with children in a teaching position. In teaching, you can make of it what you choose. As a Christian I can develop relationships with the students and they will see Christ in my life, and I will be able so share with them. I am so open to sharing.”
Emily's mission trip was supported by the Institute for Servant Leadership, a spiritual program at Milligan College , helping students to discover their call in servant leadership and to discern their own vocation path through leadership, service, and faith.
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