Hey my name is Desiree but a lot of people call me Desi. I am 29 years old. I am so excited to be on the World Race team, I just found out about this incredible missionary trip last fall and thought I better just say yes and go for it before I reach the age limit.
For those who don’t know me, I grew up in the Midwest, mostly South Dakota. Growing up we moved around often including living on a Native American Reservation for four years. That doesn’t seem like a long time but it was an experience that helped shape me into the person I am today and helped me appreciate the culture I am apart of. Eventually my family and I found ourselves in Oregon. I have been living in Oregon (various locations) for 16 years now and I absolutely love it here. The green rainforest and mountains are so beautiful and the ocean, wow, I am stunned at Gods creation every time I visit the coast.
My parents taught me about Jesus as far back as I can remember but we never did go to church. My earliest memory of church was on the reservation, it was a very small town, no paved roads (when I lived there), and only one very small grocery store. Everyone knew everyone, my best friend turned out to be my cousin, I loved it! I went to this small church after school, it lasted for about a week (I think), I cant remember how long, but whoever wanted to go was let out of class an hour early. There were some people hosting it that I never seen before and they divided us into groups and rotated us through bible stories, songs, and games. I already knew about the stories because my mom would read them to us but it was very fun to see them presented in a different way. Not until years later did I realize that my earliest memories of anything to do with church was also my first encounter with missionaries.
Over the years I put Jesus on the back burner in my life, I still believed in Him and I knew he was there but my mind and desires were always somewhere else. Then the summer before my senior year in high school my family had some extreme financial difficulties and we lost almost everything, including the security of a house. Sitting along side a highway with a pickup camper to call home I learned what it meant to truly put all of my faith in God, something I’ve seen my parents do countless times but never did myself. I began to read the Bible for myself and to pray more then I ever done before. Two months later I found myself back in school, back in a house, and all was normal again except I had a thirst to know Jesus more then I have ever had before. This is when I learned of what missionaries were and what they did and ever since I have had a strong desire to be apart of it.
The next chapters of my life I still had a streak of independence and planned my life out how I thought would correlate with Gods will. I was kinda lost because I never really took the time to ask if it was Gods plan for me. Instead I just jumped into one thing after another without really asking or being patient enough to learn the answer. I know some of the things I did were definitely his plan, things that I actually obeyed by doing and not giving excuses to not do it. But I was humbled when my specific plans for my future didn’t work out and now I am learning to listen more carefully to Him and to learn the plans He has for me. The World Race is that next step into obeying.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
