You are probably wondering how this journey all got started. How did I hear about world race, what drew me in etc. I am here to answer all of these questions!
The word senior often triggers the question, what are you planning on doing after high school. For a very long time this question haunted me, I did not have an answer for it and I felt the constant pressure to find an answer for it. Would I go to college right away? Take a year off to work? If I went to college, I knew I want to be in ministry/missions but what would I major in? All these questions, doubts and worries constantly flooded my mind. I was waiting for God to give me a bright, clear as day sign telling me what I was supposed to do next. I knew God had laid missions on my heart but was not sure where that was leading me. As I continued to pray and consider my options I decided a gap year would be a great experience for me to step back and focus on my relationship with God before jumping full speed into the next season of college. I began looking into several different gap year programs but was not feeling 100% sold to any of them. Late July we had fellow missionary friends from Japan spend the evening with us. One of their daughters was sharing with me that when she was in a similar boat as me she also chose a gap year. More specifically a gap year through world race, that helped her grow closer to God and discern the path God was calling her to. Later that evening I began looking into what this world race thing was about. Since that night I have been captivated by the experience world race gap year offers. Watching the videos and hearing peoples testimony’s created such an excitement in me. The opportunity to love on people of all different cultures, serve some of the most needy people in our world, give people the opportunity to hear about our Lord and Savior and get to travel was a dream of mine. I told my parents about this program and we thought it over for a little while. I applied a little bit over a month later and was ecstatic Friday, September 6th when I received the phone call saying I was accepted into the program! I am ready to embark on this crazy journey and so excited and expectant of all God has in store. My goal is to spend this time, not only working with those in need around the world, but to use this journey to discover what God would have me do with my life and my education for Him.
If your are not familiar with World Race Gap Year it is a program under the umbrella of Adventures in Mission’s missionary organization, I will be spending three months in three different countries serving the different communities in a variety of different ways. One of the many wonderful things about this gap program is that we as students get to choose from a variety of different routes. Each of these has different locations that we will do our ministry in. I chose Route 5, which means the three countries I have the amazing opportunity of serving in are Romania, India and Costa Rica. It was a hard decision to choose which Route to embark on however I ultimately made this decision because, India has been on my heart for several months. India is one of the most unreached regions of the world. Some of you may be familiar with the Joshua project, each day they choose a different unreached people group to pray for and for several months the focus was India. When I saw that one of the locations for Route 5 was India I felt immediately drawn to it. After spending so many months praying for these communities I have the opportunity to physically go and be the hands and feet of Jesus among these people.
A little insight into what we will be doing in each of these locations is passing out Bibles and eyeglasses to at-risk communities in Romania. In India we will be joining the rapidly growing church planting movement and lastly share God’s love through teaching English within the communities of Costa Rica. I am looking forward to living in community, embracing the culture and impacting the people God places in our path for him.
This gap year experience is a huge step of faith and will be a journey marked by that faith. I am hoping you are here because you are interested in joining me on this journey. First through prayer that God’s hand would be at work every step of the way as I prepare to go, while I’m on the field and even when I transition back home. Prayer for fundraising, my teams unity, for a heart of service even through the trying times and even our safety. The second way you can join me is financially. For this gap year I must raise about $16,000. That is a very big scary number, but I believe in a God of miracles. If it is in God’s plans he will make a way. There will be more information coming about the logistics of fundraising. For now I just wanted to share with you a little bit of the heart behind this new and exciting adventure! I look forward to continuing to share about my journey on this platform. If you have any questions or interested in learning more please do not hesitate to reach out to me, I would love to share more with you!
Thank You for taking the time out of your day to stop in. I Hope you have a wonderful day!
