“I'm discovering that God's will for my life is totally different than I thought,” shares Agnieszka. “A few years ago, I reached a point where I knew there was meaning in my life, but I was really struggling with it.” Now Agnieszka is preparing to travel to South Korea for a two-year commitment serving as part of an OM project with North Korean defectors.

Agnieszka grew up in a Christian family, the daughter of local Christian leaders. She began to follow Jesus from an early age, but this did not mean her life was without challenges. “When I was a teenager, my grandmother passed away. This was the first moment in my life that really shocked me. I remember that back then I had a lot of questions for God.”

As teenagers, Agnieszka and her sister attended multiple mission conferences in Germany where they met different missionaries and heard their stories. “I really wanted a similar life, but I never really knew where God wanted me to be,” she reflects.

Reading a book about persecuted Christians in North Korea, Agnieszka felt a strong burden in her heart for these particular people and began to pray for them, knowing that travelling to that country and meeting its people was severely restricted.

Entering adulthood, Agnieszka knew God had given her skills to work with children and she became a teacher in a public school in Poland, which she did for seven years, but in recent years felt that God might be calling her to a change.

As a teacher, Agnieszka saw the opportunity of using the summer holiday to get involved with an overseas mission project. Looking at the OM website, she discovered an opportunity in South Korea to serve with North Koreans defectors. “This brought back those emotions from when I was a teenager,” she shares. In the summer of 2025, God opened the door for her to spend ten weeks with the team in South Korea and meet some of the people she had been praying for since her teenager years.

Before her trip to Korea, Agnieszka imagined herself continuing as a teacher and spending a few weeks each year participating in short-term outreach. However, already in her second or third week, people began to ask her when she was coming back despite not knowing her that well. This was when she started thinking that maybe God wanted her to come back longer-term.

“I think I lost part of my heart in Korea,” she comments. She can’t pinpoint exactly when, but she was greatly touched as she listened to the people’s stories. She tells of a precious moment when a man was sitting across from her sharing his story via a translator. Agnieszka shares that the man was crying whilst talking and she sat there thinking, "What does God expect me to do?”

Asked about the biggest challenge she expects to face, Agnieszka comments on how Korean culture is very indirect. “I thought that I was also indirect, but I am discovering that I am really direct. It's hard for me in many situations to be indirect because even if I don't say something, my face will still show my true thoughts.”

The project with North Koreans is still in its early stages and Agnieszka will be more involved in shaping what her role looks like once she’s there. “I'm excited to see what God's purpose is for my time there. I think for the first few months I will just be helping the team and discovering what the situation is now.”

She will also be involved in a documentary film about North Korean defectors and mission. “Through this project, I am able to meet different Korean missionaries and people who are praying for North Korea and who want to go there one day to share the gospel.”

As she prepares to take this new step, Agnieszka says she is learning to give her desire for control to God. She knows that trust will be needed as she faces new situations that she can’t plan for. “You never know how God will lead you. He can really use hardships and struggles for His glory, even when it's really painful. I'm very thankful!”

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