Kharis SOCM

For as long as she can remember, Kharis believed God planted a specific dream in her heart about her future.

“Ever since I was little, I loved children and babies and wanted to serve the Lord as a missionary,” Kharis reflected.

As a senior in high school, Kharis began researching colleges that could help her turn that dream into reality. When she discovered Moody Bible Institute and its Children and Family Ministry program, she fell in love with the school and immediately applied.

The challenge for Kharis was clearing the daunting obstacles standing in the way of her dream. Being born and raised in Quito, Ecuador, Kharis would need a visa to the US, and her working-class family didn’t think it could afford to send her to Moody.

But God answered Kharis’s prayer for a successful visa application, and she and her parents were thrilled to learn that her entire tuition was covered by generous donors to Moody’s education ministry.

“It’s amazing how God opened so many doors for me,” Kharis said, “and how Moody provided everything I needed for me to be here. It was God’s plan.”

Today Kharis is a junior on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Children and Family Ministry in 2023.

“It's so exciting to see what God is doing in my life,” she said. “I am learning so many new skills to be able to work with children and their families. It's so beautiful to see how God created children, and it's also sad to see the brokenness in this world. But because of that, we need so many missionaries. Children need to hear the gospel.”

Through the Bible-focused education and ministry training she is receiving at Moody, Kharis believes God has infused her with a passion to Make Hope Known in orphanages after she graduates.

“I want to work with orphan kids,” Kharis said. “God really has given me a heart for them and to show them love because they've been through so much trauma. I really want to be able to let them know that they have a Heavenly Father that loves them.”

Moody students like Kharis know this world desperately needs hope. That’s why they’ve chosen the theme Make Hope Known for Giving Day 2022. The training they receive today equips them to bring Christ’s hope to others for decades to come. As a nonprofit education ministry, our mission is made possible through the generosity of financial partners like you. Please consider making a gift of any amount that enables training the next generation to Make Hope Known to everyone, everywhere.