The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program invites ELCA young adults ages 21-29 into a transformative, year-long journey in international service. This year, Virginia has three new missionaries from our Synod that have been called overseas.
According to the YAGM website, the current YAGM country programs include: Argentina/Uruguay, Cambodia, Central Europe (Hungary), Jerusalem/West Bank, Madagascar, Mexico, Rwanda, Southern Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Each of these Young adults are asked for raise funds before they leave for their year of service. To find out how you can support our Virginia YAGMs, go online here.
Keep reading below to meet Alyssa, Mycah, and Haley, three incredible women who will be sent out this year to Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Cambodia. As they prepare and serve, remember them in your prayers.
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Alyssa Kaplan has been a member of First Lutheran Church in Norfolk for her entire life. In May she graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Political Science, and this summer she is serving on Senior Staff at Lutheridge Camp in Arden, NC.
In August Alyssa will begin her year of service in Mexico with Young Adults in Global Mission. Throughout her life she says, “I’ve felt called to journey with and experience different cultures and traditions to broaden my understanding of the world and Christs work in it. I’m thrilled to be embarking on this year of service and can’t wait to journey with the people of my community, sharing God’s love with one another and those whom we serve.”
Mycah McNett is a recent graduate of James Madison University where she received her Bachelors of Science in Biology, and is now looking forward to spending the next year in service to the ELCA as a Missionary in Manchester, England. She heard about the Young Adults in Global Mission program when an alumnus of the program came to her church to talk about her experience, and was inspired by her to apply for YAGM after her graduation from college four years later. Growing up in Washington State, she was an active member of her home church congregation and attended Lutheran summer camps for eight years as a young girl. After moving to Virginia, it was important to her and her family to find a new church to settle into and make this new place feel like home. She is most excited to go into her next year as a young adult serving as a missionary to share the love and comfort that she finds in her relationship with God with the people she will be living with in the United Kingdom.
Haley Toresdahl a recent graduate of Roanoke College in Salem, VA where she studied political science with a minor in religious studies and a pre-law concentration. Throughout her time at Roanoke, Haley was committed to social justice and service with a large focus on hunger alleviation initiatives. After her year of service she plans to attend graduate school and begin a career in public policy and advocacy.
Haley is a native of West Des Moines, Iowa and a member of Windsor Heights Lutheran Church in Windsor Heights, Iowa. This coming year, she will serve in Cambodia as part of the inaugural YAGM country program. While in Cambodia Haley will work with an organization called Life With Dignity in the Kampong Speu province on a variety of different development projects in local villages. In addition, she will teach English at a local school to grades 4-6.
This was the perfect opportunity for Haley to spend a year serving the world after graduation. She said, “I am going to Cambodia to serve in the spirit of accompaniment and mutuality with the hopes of returning with strengthened faith, a broader, informed worldview and understanding of my place in the world, and the ability to connect my experience to congregations in the U.S. I am incredibly excited for the opportunity to serve in Cambodia and thankful for the opportunity from the ELCA YAGM program.”
