“Camp La Vida opened my eyes to the possibility of missions,” Grace McGuire said.

McGuire grew up in a SCBaptist church in Irmo, SC, and attended Camp La Vida each summer growing up. “They took us girls here for either the mom-daughter camp or the week-long camp. Every summer throughout elementary school, I would come here. And it’s funny because I’d always get so homesick and I was afraid of everything,” she laughed. 

But through missions education at Camp La Vida, a desire began to grow. Camp La Vida hosts over 1,200 girls of all ages each summer. One primary function of the camp is teaching participants about real missionaries by meeting them, learning from them, and hearing about other cultures.“Learning about missionaries and God’s heart for the nations and hearing the stories that God was doing all around the world—it just kind of opened my eyes to mission work,” she said.“Every summer my mom said I would come back and be like, ‘Yeah, I want to do missions.’” 

Missions Calling

That calling resurfaced later in high school, when her family adopted her brother. “He had to get open-heart surgery done while he was living with a couple that were medical missionaries,” McGuire said. “They were using their medicine to help kids there that were in need and share the good news.” McGuire felt a connection and realized she could combine her desire to be a nurse with her calling to missions.  

After college, she served as a missionary in North Africa. McGuire served medically in underserved communities and often shared the Gospel, but responses were challenging. “It always ended with, ‘Jesus is not who you say he is.’ That is disheartening to hear over and over again from friends and people that you love,” she said. 

Still, she pressed on. “The Lord reminded me we’re just called to plant the seeds where we are,” she said. Now preparing for seminary, McGuire is eager to return long-term. “I want people to know the joy of the Lord and the life that is found in him,” she said. 

To others considering missions, McGuire offered this encouragement: “If you wait until you’re perfect to go, you’ll never go…Jesus uses broken people.”