Wherever He Leads: How One Missionary Chose God's Plan Over Her Own

A Father's Promise and a Daughter’s Calling

When Seongeun Ji’s father dedicated his life to Christ, he made a promise to God. He would become a missionary, with the hope that one day his children would too.

Seongeun was 6 years old when her family left their home on the island of Baengnyeongdo in South Korea. Her parents, feeling called to the mission field, decided to move to the UK.

Seongeun reflects on this move as a full-circle moment. In the late 1880s, UK-born missionary and educator Horace Grant Underwood arrived in Korea, where he planted churches and was instrumental in Bible translation.[1] He also founded Chosun Christian College in 1915, which is now known as Yonsei University.

From the fruits of his ministry, Seongeun’s family would come to serve in the UK, and Seongeun would experience her own prompting from the Lord.

“It’s been on my heart for a long time, growing up in the mission field in the UK,” she explained. “I wanted to become a teacher, and teaching is one of the ways to get onto a mission field.”

An Unexpected Destination

Seongeun taught in the UK for a few years before she decided to make the leap into full-time missionary work. Initially, she was hoping to work in Asia. She hadn’t considered staying in Europe until a missionary serving in Albania visited her family in January of 2024. The missionary shared that there was a school in Albania that served many families from Korea and would benefit from a Christian teacher who could speak both English and Korean. Even though Seongeun fit that description, her heart was still set on serving in Asia.

“I ended up having a conversation with my dad and he was like, ‘well, you can't just say never because God will literally send you anywhere and you have to be obedient to that and just go,’” Seongeun recalled.

Seongeun, her family and her church began praying about where she should serve, and a decision was made to visit and compare both options. Seongeun’s first trip was to GDQ International School in Tirana, Albania.

Discerning and Deciding: Choosing a Mission Field

“I made it to Albania in May,” she said. “It didn't feel like God was saying no at that point. I saw the school, I met Lori, our director, and I never actually made it to Asia that summer.”

Seongeun visited GDQ once again in April of 2025. She submitted her application to serve as a teacher with TeachBeyond and was invited back to Albania for orientation at the end of August.

“I didn't have that planned at all, but I had this random 2 weeks at the end of my summer holiday, being like, oh wow, this is the first time in years, where I actually have nothing planned for most of my summer and then realized, okay, well, God clearly had me plan to get to Albania for that week.”

She continued to follow God’s lead and began teaching 5^th grade at GDQ in January of 2026. The timing was excellent, as she had a month to observe and learn from the teacher before taking over the class.

From Missionary Kid to Missionary Teacher in Albania

As a child of missionary parents, Seongeun has a unique perspective that allows her to relate to many of the international students she serves.

She says she struggled at times with feeling she was too British for Koreans and too Korean for British people.

“I think I’m still kind of in the middle of (feeling) like I don’t really know where I fit in,” Seongeun said. Despite this feeling, she has a sense of peace around not having the answer. Now, she is excited to connect with students growing up with a similar experience to her own.

“It's really encouraging looking back on how God has used all of the different parts of my life as a missionary kid, being Korean, as a teacher ... and how he has put all of that together for me to be used in Albania and in that context for these children.”