NRHEG grad off on six-month mission

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HOPING TO HELP — 2014 NRHEG graduate Hannah Lundberg will depart July 1 on a six-month mission to Australia and, hopefully, Nepal. (Star Eagle photo by Troy Thompson)


By TROY THOMPSON

Contributing Writer

Hannah Lundberg has always known what she’s wanted to do in life. Even as a young child, her mother says she was destined for a life of service. But it wasn’t until a few short months ago that she became aware of how she was going to do it, and that she would soon be doing it on the other side of the globe.

The 2014 NRHEG graduate has never traveled beyond the relative confines of the Midwest — her lengthiest excursion being a few inner-city missions in Chicago — but come July 1, the 19-year-old will embark on a six-month journey that will see her spend time in Australia and (hopefully) Nepal to combat the seedy underbelly of human trafficking.

 “I’m nervous,” says Lundberg. “I’ve never been out the of Midwest, never flown, and now my first flight will last about 36 hours. It’s going to be a big change. I feel blessed and humbled. Not many people get the opportunity to do something like this.”

For Lundberg, that opportunity arose on the suggestion of her local pastor from Vibrant Life Assembly Church in Ellendale. Lundberg was attending North Central University in Minneapolis, studying missionary work, but recently began to feel something pulling her in a different direction than college.

When her pastor suggested she take some time off and look in to an organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM), she noticed a mission trip that had been calling her for some time.

“When I was a sophomore, I had a dream,” says Lundberg. “I was in a house filled with teenage girls. They were pretty, but looked miserable. A man walked in and they all became afraid. Then the man took one of them and the girl was badly beaten. I woke up crying.”

Distraught from her dream, Lundberg got out of bed and went to turn on the television. She says the first thing she saw was a news report about a girl that had been killed.

“She was a victim of human trafficking,” says Lundberg, “and she looked just like the girl in my dream.”

It was then that Lundberg knew what mission she wanted to be involved in, but it wasn’t until she saw the opportunity with YWAM earlier this year that the how connected.

“It fit me perfectly,” she says.

According to the U.S. Department of State, there were more than 20 million human trafficking victims worldwide in 2014. Most victims are teenage girls, forced into a life of “modern slavery” and peddled into lives of labor or sexual exploitation.

In Nepal, the problem has been especially troublesome, with victims subjected to hard labor in stone-breaking and agricultural industries, as well as domestic servitude and the commercial sex trade.

It is in Nepal where Lundberg hopes to ultimately make a difference.

The first leg of her journey will take her to Perth, Australia. There, she will spend three months in training for her eventual mission.

“They teach us to work with the victims,” she says, “what to say to them, how to get involved and build relationships with the police, and how to identify actual traffickers.”

From there, she will spend the next three months immersed in helping rescued victims, many of whom have seen unfathomable abuse.

“I’ll be working hands on with women and children who have been rescued, helping them cope,” she says. “I’ll also be involved in talking with others about how they can help prevent it.”

Though Lundberg could be assigned to a number of different countries during her second three months, she feels like Nepal will be her ultimate destination.

“It’s where I feel I’m being led to,” she says, “especially now due to the recent earthquakes. There are a lot of people that are especially vulnerable there now.”

Though the mission trip is only scheduled for six months, Lundberg has a feeling she’ll be helping others for quite a while longer.

“I was always told when I was younger to find a career that’s more like a hobby you love rather than work,” she says. “That way, it never feels like you’re going to work.”

What’s Lundberg’s hobby?

“My hobby is to make someone smile everyday and feel loved,” she says.

Making the mission trip possible hasn’t been easy, though, and Lundberg has gone to great lengths to help raise the more than $10,000 needed to support her efforts.

After returning home from college, she began working full-time at Wenger in Owatonna, as well as picking up any odd job or project someone would offer.

She also started a GoFundMe page (Help Send Hannah to Nepal!), where she has raised $1,000 from donors. In addition to her work schedule, she’s also been spending time writing letters to friends, relatives and others, explaining her mission and asking for support.

“I’ve probably written at least 200 so far,” she says of the ongoing campaign.

But for Lundberg, all of the effort is worth every second, every mile, and every ounce of effort.

“I see people who are oppressed, bullied and poor,” she says, “and I want to stand up for them. If I can make just one person know that it is God with them, that He is the one doing all the work, then it’s all worth it. I don’t care if I’m remembered, I’m fine in the shadows. If other people can be helped by God’s light, I’ll be happy.”