Ministry Focus
Mahala was approved as a Missionary Candidate with Missions Door in August 2023 to serve with Campus Ambassadors at Oregon State University. She experienced what it's like to feel lost in college and what it means to have strong Christian peers walk alongside her, showing the love of Christ through their words and actions. Mahala's focus is to establish Christian community on campus where students can feel safe to come ask questions, learn who Christ is, grow in relationship with Christ, and be built up as disciples of Jesus making His name known! Her hope is that students who come to know Christ will go into the church and experience the community as the body and Christ as the head.
Mahala loves the outdoors and partaking in activities ranging from hiking in the mountains to playing sand volleyball. She also enjoys a game/movie night with friends! On her own she enjoys painting or reading with a show going in the background.
Faith Story
Mahala was raised in a Christian home which split around middle school. From then on, she struggled with balancing her identity as a Christian and her identity rooted in the world. Upon starting college, with her newfound freedom to make choices for herself, she decided she didn't want or need God anymore. She found the world more appealing. This led to a lifestyle that drove her down a dark hole of depression and anxiety. She felt empty and alone. In the middle of winter term in her sophomore year, she had hit rock bottom and saw that the world would not provide love or fulfillment. She turned to this college ministry that had pursued her throughout her college experience. The students in this ministry lived by example which pointed Mahala to Christ and His sacrificial love for her! She found she would only find the love she craved in Christ Jesus! These students continued to walk alongside her, showing grace and patience, raising her up in the ways of a follower of Christ. This eventually resulted in her becoming a student leader for the ministry! Two years after graduating college and figuring out life, college ministry continued to be a desire in her heart as she knew there were many more students like herself that needed to be reached with the Gospel. After praying about what that would look like to pursue, God opened the door to Campus Ambassadors at Oregon State University. Now she gets to walk alongside other students who feel lost like she did and point them to the one who saves and transforms!
Education
Mahala obtained her B.S. in Psychology at Oregon State University and is currently working on her MA in Christian Leadership online through Grand Canyon University.
WAYS TO SUPPORT
Mahala by making a financial donation using a Credit Card or by Direct Debit (ACH).
Learn more about where this ministry happens
In colorful communities and along scenic highways, diverse people and landscapes span coast to coast
Iconic American traditions include Thanksgiving dinner, jazz music and the Super Bowl. They meld with eclectic examples of multicultural heritage: numerous local Chinatowns, family-owned taquerias and even cowboy boots, which originated among the nomadic Huns of eastern Europe.
The nation's landscape shows just as many contrasts — sandy beaches and rocky coastlines, open plains and vast deserts, rugged mountains and winding canyons, and abundant rivers and lakes.
The ideals of life and liberty that founded the United States have made the country one of the world's most prosperous, though not without dark chapters and present troubles. Crime, discrimination and ethics violations make regular headlines, and many people live below the national poverty level.
Families view education as essential to the pursuit of happiness, if not also a path to wealth and power for the most ambitious. Yet Americans also demonstrate a charitable spirit of generosity toward neighbors and nations in need.
Freedom of religion grants opportunity for all faiths, but Christianity holds particular influence in country's history and daily life.
Your participation with Missions Door supports ministry in the United States among college students, including many international students, in collaboration local churches. It also enables social outreach, church planting and leadership development in a wide variety of communities — among Native Americans and other cultural groups, and in urban and suburban settings where growing and changing demographics create new opportunities for the Gospel.
Cultural Snapshot
Aside from the Native American, Native Hawaiian and Native Alaskan populations, nearly all Americans and their ancestors immigrated to the United States.
Faith Fact
In a 2013 survey, 56% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives” — a larger number than any other wealthy nation.
Country Profile
Population: 320 million
Major Religions: 47% Protestant, 23% unaffiliated, 21% Catholic, 6% other
Languages: 82% English, 11% Spanish, various others
Literacy: 99%
Poverty: 16%
Ministry service area:
Campus Ambassadors
Ministry location:
Oregon, United States