Since 1921, senior Angela Morse’s family has been an active part of the mission field, ministering in Asia with the Lisu tribe.
Morse grew up in Thailand on the mission field along with her six siblings and learned the common language of Thai as a young girl.
“When I grew older, I realized I had a real burden for the Thai people,” Morse said. “I was at a mission conference when we were on furlough one year, and I felt the Lord calling me back to Thailand to work.”
Once Morse returned to Thailand she found herself involved in children’s ministry where she taught drama classes, crafts and spent time loving on the Thai people.
“I also got involved in working at home for girls whose parents are in prison, and the girls are at risk for trafficking,” Morse said. “I began teaching English lessons, piano and hand crafts to the girls there. I would send the products the girls were making back to The States with friends for them to sell and raise money and awareness for the girls’ home.”
After working in Thailand for four years, Morse found herself having trouble renewing her VISA and began looking into options.
“I knew I could get a VISA with our mission organization with a Bachelor’s degree,” Morse said. “I looked around online and JBU really caught my attention. I like the aspect of the huge international and MK population.”
Morse said the more she looked into attending JBU, something clicked and when all of her needs to be able to attend the school were met, she knew it was the Lord’s plan to get her Bachelor’s degree at JBU.
She enrolled for classes and began her journey at JBU in the spring of 2011.
Morse is studying to earn her degree as a Cinema and Graphic Design double major, where she hopes to take her set of skills back to the mission field.
“My dream would be to be able to use my degree in Thailand to help missionaries with design, newsletters, videos and branding to strengthen who they are visually,” Morse said.
Morse would also like to be able to use her skills to create documentaries for the topics and issues that tug at her own heart.
“Another ultimate dream of mine would be to create more awareness for child trafficking,” Morse said. “I would love to be able to create a documentary of trafficking from a child’s perspective.”
Morse says that her experience here at JBU has really aided in showing her what it is truly like to do the work she is passionate about in the work place. Morse feels as though it is important for her to bring this aspect of ministry to the surface.
“A lot of the time, we go straight to the mission field and forget about the communication side of things,” Morse said. “I think it is important to be able to communicate your ideas and projects effectively.”
Morse is one of a few MK’s from Thailand that currently attend JBU. Senior Sarah Garrison has been family friends with the Morse family for about nine years now.
Garrison adds that having Morse and the other MK’s from Thailand around campus helps make her feel a little less homesick, because they make frequent trips to Thai City and practice their Thai linguistic skills together.
“Angela is one of those people who whole heartedly believes that if you are going to do something, you might as well do it fantastically,” Garrison said. “Her ‘go-getter’ attitude on life has been a particular inspiration for me.”
Morse says that she would describe her time at JBU in a nutshell as “family, missions and team work.”
“You feel like you’re part of a family here, a team,” Morse said. “You have that home away from home feeling, JBU does a great job at making MK’s feel like they are at home here.”