This August, two Virginia Synod young adults – Carolina Bowen (College, Salem) and Tim Hoffstaetter (Faith, Suffolk) will join 23 other passionate young adults in a year of international service with the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program. Tim and Carolina will soon begin their transformative journeys, engaging with and immersing themselves in communities globally and growing both spiritually and personally.
The Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program empowers young adults, aged 21-35, to make a meaningful impact by serving in Argentina and Uruguay, Cambodia, Central Europe, Mexico, Senegal, and the United Kingdom. These young leaders will live in accompaniment as their host communities and our partner churches address challenges in education, health care and community development.
Keep reading to hear Carolina and Tim share their stories of being called to serve as YAGMs and preparing to leave for Cambodia (where they will both serve). We invite you to support them in prayer and financially.
Carolina writes:
“I have known about the YAGM program for a while. Some amazing people from this synod are alumni. After hearing their stories, I was inspired but never thought it would actually work out for me. Last summer, YAGM began to grow into a real possibility for me after college as I leaned into exploring my call to ministry. The way YAGM works is that volunteers are assigned a country. After interviewing for the UK and Cambodia, I was hoping to be placed in the UK, a place I have been before and speaks a language I am familiar with. Well, the Holy Spirit had other ideas. Now, I am looking forward to spending a year in Cambodia and experiencing a culture I had almost no idea about a year ago. I expect to be working with the Lutheran Church in Cambodia’s City Church and Rainbow Hostel in the captiol, Phnom Penh. This hostel is for youth who need a place to stay in Phnom Penh as they further their education. This collaboration between the church and hostel also provides English classes and Sunday school programs. I will also be working with a traveling music ministry. I just finished my degree in Music Education at Valparaiso University, so I am especially looking forward to what that ministry could look like.
“My faith has been indelibly shaped by the ministries of this synod from youth events to Caroline Furnace. I am so thankful for your support in prayers and encouragement as we work together to share God’s love with the world.
“I am so thankful for a God that challenges me to get outside of my comfort zone and a church that provides us with ways to put our faith into action.”
Tim writes:
“The main reasons I wanted to participate in YAGM is I wanted to learn how to help our global companions, how to serve the church in different ways, and to create new and long lasting connections with other communities. I have always wanted to help people but don’t know how to help everyone and YAGM gives me another avenue to help more people and in communities I am not familiar with. This process has also helped me realize just how many ways there are to serve the church and I am excited to serve both the ELCA and the Lutheran Cambodian Church (LCC).“I have found out my placement and a small idea of what I’ll be doing! I will be working at the Rainbow Hostel which is basically a dorm building for the university in Phnom Penh, I will be helping out the students living there by being a resource for them and helping with the church activities held there. I will also be working at the Kandal outreach center where I will be helping with youth activities. The outreach center is just outside of the capital too.”

Both Carolina and Tim are still fundraising for their year. If you are able to support this ministry of the church and our year of service financially, they would greatly appreciate it. You can give online by going to www.elca.org/yagm/give and selecting both their names or either one from the dropdown menu.

Please keep them in your prayers as they continue their preparations over the coming weeks!