Road trips through the Western Highlands Conference this basketball season haven’t had quite the same feel for Polk County’s Sarah Phipps and Ashley Kropp. Trekking halfway around the world might have something to do with that.
Phipps and Kropp, along with classmate Madison Siegfried, spent part of June and July working as missionary interns in Japan. The trio made the journey to live and work with Kropp’s grandparents, Richard and Janice Kropp, longtime missionaries in the country with First Alliance Church before retiring earlier this month.
With that retirement pending, the summer offered the last opportunity for Ashley Kropp to make the trip to Japan, where her father also lived for many years, to serve alongside her grandparents. That led to the decision to attempt the trek.
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“My grandparents always wanted their grandchildren to go there, to experience what they’ve experienced there,” Kropp said.
“It was the last chance to go, so we prayed about it and decided to try to raise the funds,” Phipps said. “God provided all the money, so that was our answer. He gave us around $10,000 for the trip.”
With funding secured, the trio left Polk County shortly after the end of the 2012-2013 school year, bound for Sengendai, located about an hour south of Tokyo. The trip began with Kropp’s first airplane flight and included a mad dash through the airport in Atlanta to make a flight and some lost baggage before the threesome arrived in Sengendai.
Once there, as part of their internship, Kropp and Phipps worked in a small cafe run by the church and assisted with English and children’s classes.
“My grandmother and a friend started the cafe, which brings in people and gives them a chance to learn about Jesus,” Kropp said. “We helped with the cafe.”
“There were three classes we helped with, Baby English, Kids Club and Friends Club,” Phipps said. Baby English offers a chance for preschool kids to learn English, while Kids and Friends Clubs brought different groups together in a setting Phipps compared to an American Sunday school. “We would go with (Kropp’s) grandmother and have a chance to work in the cafe and help run the three classes.
“I feel that God has placed in my heart a desire to bring the gospel to the Asian people. Being there a month, we really got to know a lot of people and build strong relationships with them.”
Thos interpersonal connections were the highlight of the trip for both Phipps and Kropp, who interacted with numerous mothers and children through the three classes.
“The Japanese people were so inviting,” Kropp said. “They always wanted to take us places. It was just nice to see how loving and caring they were. Everyone gave us gifts every time they saw us.”
But perhaps one of the best gifts of all, at least for Phipps, was seeing how Kropp’s grandparents relied so much on their faith in their daily existence. A missionary’s life is far from a lucrative one, and observing the daily routine for the Kropps gave Phipps a new perspective on her life as well.
“I’m thankful for learning how much they live on their faith,” Phipps said. “They don’t know how much money they’re going to get, so her grandmother and grandfather don’t know if they’re going to have food the next month. But that doesn’t matter to them.
“I like having my life planned out, and I learned you can’t always have that.”
The journey was the third overseas mission trip for Phipps, who on the court currently leads all Western North Carolina girls basketball players in rebounding. She previously traveled to China and Serbia on church-sponsored trips and sees it as a calling.
“I think God has given me a passion,” Phipps said. “It’s so amazing when you think about it. I don’t think everyone has to believe, but I think everybody deserves a chance to know God. For me, Jesus is the most amazing thing in my life. I don’t want to hold that back from the rest of the world.”
From the Japanese diet – “We ate fish every day. I loved it,” Kropp said – to becoming better friends – “It feels she’s more like my sister now,” Phipps said – the two Polk County juniors say the trip was definitely a rewarding experince and well worth forgoing part of summer vacation.
“So many people have said, we can’t believe you’re giving up your whole summer,” Phipps said. “I can’t imagine another way to spend the summer. It was incredible.”
