Marysville woman raising funds to spend 11 months ministering abroad

MARYSVILLE — It was the mission trip that called her. Amy Davis knew she was signing up to visit 11 countries in 11 months. But she had no idea that meant she would be living out of a backpack, sleeping in a tent. By the time she learned of the outdoor accommodations, she was already set on doing the World Race in 2015.

Davis, 27, of Marysville’s nondenominational 92nd Street Church of Christ, is working to raise $16,243 for her mission. The trip that takes her through the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania.

The substitute teacher for the Marysville School District had planned a career as a marine biologist after finishing her master’s degree in environmental science and education at Oregon State University. But when she saw the trip online, she knew she wanted to do it.

“I guess it was a leap of faith,” she said. “I was feeling a strong calling that God was changing my focus to mission work and ministry.”

She never envisioned volunteering to go without a shower or to sleep in the jungle with snakes and spiders.

“There is a dirty part of being a missionary,” she said. “I’ve been in some bad situations and I know I’ll be in worse. You just have to focus on why you’re there.”

Davis is no stranger to sharing her faith abroad. She went on her first mission to Africa in 2012. She said she pulled herself out of a deep depression and started raising the $3,500 needed to make the two-week trip. In a month, she had gathered enough donations and was on her way to Kenya.

At first, Davis was struck by the poverty as she drove into a Kisumu slum on muddy, rutted roads with raw sewage running alongside. She saw people wearing life’s hardship on their faces, cooking and doing laundry outside. She arrived at a school to observe classes and serve meals in the kitchen.

“The kids come running up to you and want to touch you,” she said. “It’s amazing the welcoming in what we’d think of as a sad, poor, helpless place.”

She also visited sick people and ministered to them. She said she was overwhelmed to see the conditions in which those with terminal illnesses were suffering. Many were lying on mats instead of mattresses.

“It’s like what you see on National Geographic,” she said. “You don’t understand until that person is lying under you, barely breathing, just asking you to pray. It brings it to life.”

Many of the parents she met would feed their children before themselves. Often they would go without eating, making their medications less effective, she said. She encountered families being forced out of their homes because they did not have what would amount to $20 for rent.

Still, she was inspired by the strong spirituality of the people she met.

“I’ve seen true faith,” Davis said. “When you see people who have absolutely nothing, living in horrible circumstances, to see their faith and their hope changed my whole outlook.”

Davis has since gone on missions to Nicaragua and Kenya. She visited her sponsor daughter, Lydia, 14, and adopted another, Stacy, 5. She gave Lydia the shoes she was wearing because the girl didn’t have any.

“I don’t see it as a sacrifice,” Davis said. “I see it as something we’re supposed to do.”

In her travels, Davis said, she has also had unsettling experiences, such as the time a man offered a fellow missionary a cow in trade for Davis. She tells of once talking with a man who, she later learned, had come to power in a Kenyan village by winning a battle fought with machetes.

“I shook hands with a mass murderer,” she said.

On her upcoming World Race mission, Davis could end up doing any type of service work that is needed.

She is required by the program, organized by Georgia-based Adventures in Missions, to document her experiences on her blog.

Davis hopes to minister to people who have been caught in human and sex trafficking. She said she believes her own experiences have prepared her for that work.

“I know how dangerous it is but I believe there’s a greater purpose,” she said. “It’s not for everyone, but for some reason I think God has chosen me and is leading me to do something I never thought I’d be able to do.”

Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports

To support Davis

Send a check made out to Adventures in Missions to the 92nd Street Church of Christ at 4226 92nd St. NE, Marysville, WA 98270, with Amy Davis in the memo field.

On her blog, click the “support me” tab at amydavis.theworldrace.org

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.