A young Oak Harbor woman is following what she believes is her calling, at least for the next year.

Kara Linder, 23, left last weekend for a year-long volunteering assignment, part of a Christian partnership between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Time For God, a non-profit group in Great Britain.

Linder will work in the Marylebone Day Centre in England, an outreach organization for homeless or abused women with social and emotional needs.

Linder was chosen for this particular assignment after she attended a weekend-long discernment interview in Chicago in April. Interviewers matched candidates with specific assignments in England, Germany, Thailand or Argentina.

Linder will receive 10 days of training in Louisville, Ky,. before boarding a flight to London.

Linder is a 2002 graduate of Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in international business. While she is interested in business and import/export work someday, it was important to Linder as a Christian to perform service work now.

“It seemed like something I was called to do,” Linder said as she described a feeling of being “pulled toward it.”

Years of church youth group experience, including leadership positions, has helped point Linder toward Christian service now, as an adult, she said.

“My participation in the church has always been very important to me,” Linder said. “I enjoy participating…in church activities.”

Linder said her role at Marylebone will be one of a Christian working to meet the needs of the population the Centre serves, as opposed to ministering.

Linder is a member of Oak Harbor Lutheran Church. Members there helped her raise nearly $3,000 to pay for the trip by hosting a fund-raising event.

Kara Linder is the oldest of three children of David and Le Linder.