NEWS FROM THE FRONT: Bible Quizzer on a Missions Trip

"News from the Front" will be a periodic feature over the summer, reporting on former Bible Quizzers now working in ministry, either full-time or short-term.  We'll always try to include how their career as a quizzer prepared them for their work.  If you have a story about your missions trip, or a former Bible Quizzer, please e-mail the coaches!

Mari - also known as "Fishy" and "Quirky" was a Bible Quizzer with the Trumbull Quiz Team for many years and this summer is working with the organization "Mercy Ships" for a short-term missions trip.  Here is her report.

All staff on this ship are volunteer Christians with differing amounts of Bible knowledge.  But all are very honest and open about their faith. We, as a missionary team, represent 4 different countries: England, the Netherlands, Swizerland, and the United States of America. It is amazing to meet and talk with people from countries you only usually hear about in a very secular missionaries-need-to-go-there, sense. The discussions we have range from why we got to this point of wanting to help out on the Ship. . .  to what Jesus and the Bible means to us, specifically. 

There are about 31 different countries represented (again all Christians) in the whole staff aboard this ship. What is so amazing is the African Christians aboard - who are helping from different African countries -  praising God with you. 

Last night, I was having a conversation with a man from South Africa. We got into a discussion about the earth and all the creatures in it. I was so grateful for the knowledge and memory I had stowed away years ago from Quiz Team!  I was quoting scripture and talking to him about all that I knew of Science from not only my teachers, but also from the Bible. I remember thinking as I was talking about how this was a prime example of my years of memorizing for a tournament years ago is still benifiting my life today. Many other conversations with older more knowlegable people still make me proud because I can hold my own among them. All thanks to those years of studying and listening to my coaches. I could never have guessed how far reaching an impact Quiz Team would always have on my life and sometimes maybe most of the time I do not realize all of it, but when I actually catch myself quoting or arguing using long-lost scripture verses, it is a wonderful realization every time.   

This is truly a remarkable experience and I am looking forward to the weeks ahead, but I also encourage any other young quizzers to never just view the studying as a chore, but as a gateway into so many amazing realizations of yourselves.