Here I am. I just turned twenty-two years old, and I live in Colorado. I graduated with my bachelor’s in early childhood education last December. I am finishing my second year teaching the young threes class at Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School. I have been swing dancing most nights of the week, helping at church, and learning more at Bible studies. I am also preparing to leave the country for eleven months on a mission trip to six countries.
Eleven months?! Wow.
I know. It is a long time to be gone. Especially for someone who has never been out of the country for longer than ten days at a time, and yet here I am. How did I come to the decision to pack up my life for a mission trip? Well, it started when I was in High School. I had seen one of my coaches go on a mission trip with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Listening to his stories and seeing his experience, I felt a little tug on my heart to do the same thing. I knew I couldn’t go right then because I was working towards my degree, but I kept it in the back of my head for a long time.
Fast forward about a year, and my taekwondo team ended up going on a mission trip to Belize. It was amazing. I got to experience people who really truly relied on God, and I was able to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people there who so desperately needed Him. Through that experience, God put a call on my family’s heart to continue going back to Belize and to help the missionaries there that we work with. I have been to Belize every year since (minus two covid years), which inspired me to consider going on a longer-term mission trip. I wanted to continue living out the great commission in a real way. Matthew 28: 18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I started looking around for different options for these kinds of mission trips, and I saw a video on my Facebook feed from The World Race. I noticed they offered some two to four month long trips and an eleven month trip. Two to four months sounded like a reasonable amount of time to be away from home, but something drew me towards the eleven month-long trips. I began feeling more excited and praying about this opportunity as I looked into it. I couldn’t stop thinking about The World Race, and I watched every video I could find and read every article and blog I could get my hands on. This verse kept coming up in sermons, in my personal Bible reading and just in my head that says, “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here I am! Send Me.’” Isaiah 6:8. After around 3 months, I finally decided that I would apply. If God wanted me to go, I would be accepted; if I wasn’t supposed to go, I wouldn’t be accepted.
About a week after applying, I was accepted. God sent me a clear message that I was being called on this journey, and I decided to commit to this World Race adventure. Since then, I have felt God confirming His plan for me. Even though I am still in the states right now, God has already opened up so many conversations with people about Christ and His love for them simply because I could tell them about the opportunity God has given me.
So, what will I be doing on The World Race? Mostly I will be helping the missionaries that The World Race partners with in each country. I will visit Guatemala, Romania, Albania, Turkey, Jordan, and South Asia. Another Scripture that continues to come to my mind is 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, which says, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
I hope that through this journey, I can impact the people around me for the glory of God. I hope that people in the countries I visit and those back home who hear my stories will see God in me and in my actions. My goal is for people to forget about me but remember the things Jesus has done for them and the love He has for them and that they will turn to worship and glorify Him. Our world is so desperately in need of a Savior. If I have that gospel, why wouldn’t I share it? Here I am! Send me.
