When Steve and Kelli Prevatte were first approached by their daughter, Anna, about the idea of her spending nine months abroad on missions, they were unsure.
Anna wanted to spend a gap year as a missionary over seas between high school and college, spending three months in Ecuador, three in India and three in Africa.
“At first we were very apprehensive about that,” Kelli said. “Then she told us that she would have to raise almost $14,000 on her own to be able to go. … We were very skeptical that she would be able to do that. So we kind of thought it was not going to happen. God surprised us, and the money just — she was working hard, meeting with people, talking about her trip. She sold T-shirts and did fundraiser kind of things and the money came in. We began to really understand that this was where God was calling her.”
“It wasn’t a passing theme, a passing whim of a teenager,” Steve added. “It was a real — she really wanted to do this and she didn’t let it go until she did. I’m really glad that she’s there.”
It was early during Anna’s senior year in high school that she brought the idea to her parents.
“She never wavered that this was what she wanted to do,” Kelli said. “... My biggest concern was safety. She’s an 18-year-old girl going out across the world. My mother said to me, ‘Kelli, you know the safest place for Anna to be is in the center of God’s will.’ So how do you argue with that? She was right, and God has provided safety and protection for her and for her team. It’s been a great experience.”
At the end of April, Steve and Kelli got the chance to see what life is like for their daughter over seas when they were invited to take part in a week-long parents vision trip in Livingstone, Zambia.
“End of January, first of February, was when we actually got — because we had to be invited to go,” Kelli said. “Not just anybody could go. We had to be invited by our daughter. So at the end of January, first of February, we got the official invitation to participate in what is called a parent vision trip. It’s where we are able to go over and spend that week on the mission field.”
Steve, associate pastor for congregational care at the Community Church at Tellico Village, was met with full support of his church when a special offering was taken on Easter Sunday to send the two to Africa.
Upon arrival, the couple was met with several surprises, one being that the area they were staying in was not how they often pictured Africa might be.
“The area was surprisingly urban,” Steve said. “For us, it was like any other town. There were paved roads and cars and markets and shops. People were remarkably friendly and welcoming to strangers.”
“... It’s a third world country. There weren’t incredible luxuries, but we had indoor plumbing and hot water,” Kelli added.
The way people welcomed the couple was also something that was a surprise.
“The people were so welcoming for us, and when they met you they treated you like royalty,” Steve said. “Compare that to how we treat people in the states who are strangers. We view them as suspicious, and there it was the opposite. They were so welcoming and would treat you like God has brought you into their life. They would take a moment and talk to you and wanted to find out why you were there and how you were doing, what is God doing in your life.
“It was really eye opening for us. We had a lot of people who would ask us if we felt in danger while we were gone and those types of things,” he added. “It was not that at all. It was very welcoming and very comforting to be there. It felt very safe. I don’t worry about my daughter being there. She’s still there. She’ll return home June 30. … But I don’t worry about her because I know the people there are taking care of her. God is taking care of her. They’re doing a great thing there.”
For Steve, that experience provided a lesson he could bring back home.
“I think I was reminded of the concept of divine appointment with someone, meaning that God places them in your life for a reason,” he said. “While we may think of it as a hassle or an inconvenience for something to not be on our calendars and planned, where God brings somebody in your life for that day, for that reason and you miss it if you’re not paying attention.
“That’s probably the biggest lesson I was reminded of while being there is they were so kind and welcoming to us, and how many times do we skip over people because they’re not on our calendar or our schedule and we miss it? God is trying to get our attention through those people and we miss it,” Steve added.
Kelli saw the way the people of Zambia connect with one another while on the trip, something that reminded her of the importance of others.
“I think, for me, a big part was not being afraid to build relationships with people, to make that a priority,” she said. “How important it is to invest in other people and what’s going on in their lives. Just taking the time to do that. A lot of times we get too busy in our own stuff.”
In Zambia, the locals that Steve and Kelli encountered showed them that time is not as important as it is deemed in the United States.
Church services would begin when members arrived and end when they were ready to wrap things up.
They also encountered a more relaxed view of time when helping with a children’s day camp run by Anna and one of her friends that brought in children from local orphanages and the community.
“I was really impressed with our daughter,” Steve said. “... Lunch was supposed to come at noon and they have 300 kids there. Some of them were babies and they were hungry. They’re operating on African time, which was ‘ish.’ … So it was almost 2 o’clock when lunch got there. Our kids, it didn’t bother them at all. It made them scramble a little bit, but they stepped up.
“They improvised and they had activities that they did and planned with the students, the kids,” he said. “They made it work. I took away from that, that there’s a whole generation of young people who are part of the church of tomorrow that I feel very confident in. People kind of downplay the youth of today … but we’re in good hands. I was really impressed with our kids.”
The trip as a whole helped Steve and Kelli see their daughter in a different light.
“It was eye opening for us,” Steve said. “She left this teenager, and now she is coming back to us this mature, young women who is passionate for God. It’s really remarkable to see her transformation.”
Both Steve and Kelli were amazed by the work being done in Zambia, a country hit hard by HIV and AIDS.
“The missionary there is Sanderson Sundie,” Steve said. “He’s a great pastor and a great mentor for my daughter that’s there. He’s doing great work with the orphanage that’s there and helping to show God’s love to the people of Zambia. It’s really neat to see because they’ve really struggled with the HIV/AIDS epidemic — or pandemic is how they refer to it there. The HIV/AIDS pandemic that has existed there has really ravished their country in so many ways, but they’re there helping to raise these children that don’t have parents. It’s really pretty special to see them loving all these kids and showing them God’s love.”
The work is a reminder of God’s reach and impact, Kelli said.
“We live in this bubble here in the United States and forget that God is doing great things all over the world,” she said. “He’s not just here with us. He’s doing great things all over the world. It’s exciting.”
