Leading an
By Meredith Fulda,
Missionary in Taiwan,
One Mission Society
She invested in my life and cared
deeply about me.
I remember times when she challenged me, and moments when she
just sat and hugged me as I cried. She
was the one who eventually put an OMS
application in my hands and told me that
I should pray and see if God was calling
me to serve overseas after graduation.
She was right by my side as I discerned
where God was calling and through every
step of the process thereafter. I can say
without a doubt it was because of all those
prayer times, evenings spent studying the
Word, and chats together over coffee that
the Lord used Rachel to not only reveal
his calling on my life but also to draw me
closer to hi m.
As I served as a short termer in Spain and
at the OMS World Headquarters, Rachel
I had
never met a
missionary before. As I walked into the
Asbury University OMS Student Center for
the first time my freshman year, I saw missionaries face-to-face and heard their stories firsthand. It was there, in that place, at
the Friday night meetings, where I heard
from real people about what God was doing around the world. I learned how I could
specifically pray for their ministries and
for the people in the countries where they
served. The OMS Student Center was also
where I met a missionary who poured into
me and taught me what it meant to surrender my life to the Lord. That missionary
was Rachel Coleman.
Rachel, along with her husband Randy,
directed the Student Center during my time
at Asbury University. The Colemans loved
and encouraged every student that came
to the center to hear missionaries share
or for Bible study. Rachel went above
and beyond for me, taking time every
week to meet with me one-on-one, to
talk and pray about what direction the
Lord might be leading me in the future.
30
d Loving
Coming Full Circle
never
stopped
discipling me and asking the tough questions. She even took groups from Asbury to
Spain two consecutive years when I served
there. What a blessing to have the woman
who helped me get to the field come serve
alongside me in the ministry there.
My husband Jeremy and I now serve as
career missionaries in Taiwan. Our daughter,
Maddox, was born here last November. As I
think back to the journey God took me on to
get our family to this place, at this time, it is
even more evident how Rachel’s powerful
testimony impacted my life. What started
as a sweet woman mentoring a young college girl turned into my heart being opened
and my life being changed.
31
Our days in campus ministry at
Asbury were a “coming full circle”
for me. In the early 1980s, “Aunt
Margaret” Brabon was my mentor
through the OMS Student Center
ministry. She taught me about
passionate intercession, challenged me to respond to God’s
call, connected me with OMS,
and laughed and cried with me
through the “growing pains” of
the college years.
—Rachel Coleman,
Theological Education Team,
One Mission Society
photos page 30, top: Rachel and Meredith together
at Meredith’s wedding bottom: Meredith, as a
short termer in Spain, with her Spanish family
photos page 31, middle: Jeremy and Meredith as
career missionaries in Taiwan, with daugther Maddox
top: OMS missionary Margaret Brabon, in the
Asbury OMS Student Center in the early 1990s