A Mission Mindset: Alex Partkya

 An advertisement in Insight magazine led Partyka to 1994’s Ultimate Workout teen mission project—and the small town of Tlacotopec, Mexico, south of Mexico City. At that point in life, he says, “I didn’t have a lot of friends—a few friends from school, but nothing special. And no spiritual friends. I just remember in that two-week period coming home feeling like I had 20 new best friends. And just the spiritual deepness of it, the spiritual closeness. I remember feeling depressed for a while [afterward], missing all these people and the experiences we’d had.”  

  Partyka returned to the Ultimate Workout three years later as a staff member, leading out in construction, as participants helped build churches. After that, however, he spent most of 15 years away from the church.  

 “There’s not something specific that I would say helped bring me back,” Partyka says. “But things like doing mission work at a young age—any experiences like that where [you are] developing your relationship with God and with others—those things stick with you down the road.”  

 Now working in health care, Partyka finds his mission experiences invaluable. “I deal with people every day who are going through something. Having that mission mindset gives you compassion for people. We may not always understand what’s going on in someone’s life, but I can show them God’s love and that somebody cares.”