Never did I ever think while I was on an 11 month international mission trip that I would visit not just one, but TWO printing companies.

In college I studied Graphic Arts and Imaging Technology (which I always follow with: that's just fancy talk for the printing process). It was not my first choice as a major, but God knew it was the right thing for me so He closed the other doors. And thank goodness because I love the print world and the experiences I have had and the people I've been blessed with knowing.

I fell in love with printing because it combined my creative side with my practical side. My first project in Graphic Communications 101 was to design and then print and collate a notepad. If you know me at all you know I thrive off of a to-do list so to get to be creative, technical and then at the end have a notepad, I was sold. I also just found printing to be so fascinating. It still blows my mind that all images can be made with tiny, microscopic dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. 

After graduating, I worked 10 years for a printing company near the coast of North and South Carolina. Printing was my life and I would geek out about it (and let's be real, I still do). My favorite thing was to see our products in the "real world." I took every chance I could get to check out the Home Depot filter frame isle (one of my largest customers), and I still point out what we print to anyone who will listen while I am grocery shopping.

Turkey

The company I worked for has a partnership with a print shop in Turkey, so upon arrival in the country, I reached out to the contact there and he gladly set up a tour. Given the chance to see how the rest of the world does printing, I was intrigued. 

Essentially everything was the same as I had known it in America. Prepress looked the same, the presses were almost identical, the dies looked familiar, and the glue machines were still my favorite. 

I took one of my squad-mates and taught her about the printing process. We had to laugh because I think the men that showed us around underestimated my interest and love of printing. At one point they had to remind us that they closed soon and we had to keep moving. 

My favorite part was when the tour ended and we were looking at the different projects and materials they have printed over the years, I let out a screech as I reached for a box that I had helped with in the early stages at my job. It was a full circle moment for sure.

Thailand

In our last country, Thailand, one of our teams got paired with ActsCo, a multi facetted ministry that has a print shop. The print shop is run for profit which then supports the ministry's book houses that give away free literature including Bibles to all who need them. 

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to join this ministry for a day and I got the privilege of being shown the print shop and the book house. The print shop provides printed material for local ministries and missionaries along with other printing (non-religious) needs in the area. 

One fun fact I learned was that this particular printing facility hired deaf workers when possible. In the Buddhist culture any "disability" was frowned on because they believed it meant you had bad karma. But luckily with freedom in Christ this print shop happily employs these folks allowing them a decent wage and good standard of life they wouldn't necessarily have the chance to have. 

What I learned from my tours of these facilities is that printing is its own language. Printing, just like Jesus' Good News, is inclusive and it translates through cultures, languages, and countries. (And yes I did just compare the printing industry to Jesus which is probably the first and only time that's ever been done. HAH!) But in all seriousness, it was neat to see God show me something so precious to my heart multiple times in the most unexpected places.