meghan menchhofer.

Taylor University Fort Wayne has developed who I am and given me confidence in that. I have been given opportunities that people only dream of. One of those opportunities was interning at Mission Waco and Church Under the Bridge in Waco, Texas. I worked with homeless people, drug-addicts, ex-cons, murderers, and kids in gangs.  

In Fall of 2007, I meet a friend of TUFW at his lake house for a leadership retreat. I told him my passion for helping people and my experiences in Texas. This man told me about a mission he supported in India. I found myself packing my bags for India this summer. While there, I worked in the orphanage, taught school, worked with abused women, victims of rape, sumani relief victims, local and international adoption. I also worked beside four other TUFW students and one alumni during my time in India. I am also going to South Korea in January.

This year, I moved off-campus to live with the Burmese refugees, hoping to make an impact on them. I help the children with their English and homework whenever I can. I’m learning so much about their culture and getting to know their families. I have the kids over every Sunday. We have played with toys, baked cakes and decorated Christmas trees.  I’m building relationships every day.

Fort Wayne has the second largest population of Burmese people outside of Burma. Therefore, the opportunity to impact those of other cultures is dominant in Fort Wayne. It makes more of a difference to actually live among people that you befriend and serve, rather than just going in, doing ministry once or twice a week, and then leaving. You build relationships, trust, and consistency. It is almost impossible to establish over such a short time. This is the basis for incarnational ministry and TUFW has sparked a new passion for this in me.

TUFW is a firm thing that people can depend on in Fort Wayne. It is full of people who are willing to get their hands dirty by taking a risk and doing things that no one else wanted to do. It isn’t just another church or group Christians saying they’re going to do things and it not get accomplished. People actually live out their faith, rather than just talking about it. They proclaim it.