On a trip to South Africa last year, where she is originally from, Stephanie Shover said that she and her husband, Luke, saw a need for theological education literacy, so they prayed for missionaries to be called to address those needs.

“God was like, I want you guys to go, so we’re back in Williamsport, raising our support to go to South Africa,” Shover said.

During the time she and her husband have to raise support for their sojourn in the foreign mission field, Stephanie is working at a local mission, Sojourner Truth Ministries.

“Sojourner’s is more than just a soup kitchen,” Shover said.

“We get people from all walks of life, and new needs present themselves every day,” she said, adding that it is important to be proactive in meeting those needs.

She shared about a woman who came to Sojourner who had been unemployed for seven years. What she really needed, Shover said, was help applying for a job.

“I just said, I’ll help you fill out the job application.That meant so much to her because she doesn’t have a job coach currently. So it’s using the skills as new needs arise here with our people, and then, of course, helping (Pastor) Angelique with marketing, grant writing, fundraising, but also helping the spiritual needs of our people that come in,” Shover said.

Since she was in her teens, Shover has felt the call to work in the mission field.

“From the time I was 14 years old, I felt a strong call to love God and love others, and I just knew right then that there wasn’t anything else I wanted to do with my life other than to serve other image bearers of Christ, whether that is their physical or their spiritual. As a Christian, I believe it’s both, so serving their spiritual needs as well as physical needs,” she said.

“I’m in the process of writing my dissertation for my PhD, and hopefully that the topic is around poverty and how parents in poverty struggle with education, and how education can break generational poverty. So I’m hoping to take that knowledge to South Africa to work with low income people there, as well as our families here in Williamsport,” Shover said.

Both Shover and her husband are originally from South Africa, although he has been serving locally and in the Lock Haven area as a pastor. She said she feels that they have the advantage of being familiar with the culture they’re going to be serving.

“I feel like when people go to a different culture, they take time learning that culture. I think it’s important to understand people, to love them well. Just like in any relationship, to truly love a person, you have to truly understand them. And I think wherever we are, to learn the culture, like coming to Williamsport, I had to learn the different culture,” she said.

She shared that her husband’s first church locally was in Waterville, a more rural area.

“We loved them, and they loved us. When my daughter was born, they bought our whole nursery, the people in the church just loved us. And so I think it is good to understand the culture and then to have the skills to serve them,” she said.

“I think sometimes when people go on short term mission trips…sometimes if you go with skills you don’t have, that can do more harm. So really preparing and it’s the same here at Sojourner’s – having a skill set to serve them, not just just with good intentions, but really learning what’s best for them and learning how to serve them,” she added.

Part of Shover’s job during her time at Sojourner’s is speaking at events to inform people about the issue of food insecurity and how they are addressing that.

“We serve a nutritious, hot meal, and we don’t ask questions. Anyone who comes through the doors, regardless of who they are and where they come from, they’re welcome to sit at the table and eat a meal with us,” she said.

“I think there’s dignity in that, like where we create a family style environment, we create a warm atmosphere so people don’t feel embarrassed to come into a soup kitchen. We try to give them dignity in that sense. And I think that’s important to not just provide the meal to them, the physical meal, but also give them the dignity and then providing a meal,” she added.

If the financial support comes together, the Shovers, including their two children, will be heading to South Africa next month to begin their mission work.

Of her time at Sojourner’s, Shover said that she is amazed at how much the ministry does with the small team of workers.

“It’s incredible and it’s been very eye-opening for me,” she said.

“So often you see people that say they’re Christians, but they don’t really live out their faith, but here you see it,” she added.