If you told me six months ago that I would be taking a year off before college to do mission work I never would have believed it. It is still hard for me to comprehend everything that has happened since I decided in April to take this trip. Today though, I have said my final goodbyes and am sitting in the airport getting ready to take the three hour flight to Guatemala City. I was so blessed to have had a great summer with my friends and family to end the chapter of my life called high school.
I was fortunate enough to have been able to make it down to Chicago for two weekends in July! One trip was to visit Jenna Brotz and Melissa Sommer, two of my best friends from church growing up. We got to spend the weekend going to Wrigley Field, the zoo, to see Coldplay, and so much more! The second trip was with three of my best friends from home that I grew up with. Trevor, Sarah, Kaiti, and I spent the weekend at Lollapalooza in downtown Chicago. We got to see so many bands and bond a ton before we all go our separate ways.
The goodbyes truly started on July 31st after I got back from Lollapalooza. I needed to say goodbye to a couple very good friends who were leaving town the next day. After that I was making my way through my friends saying goodbye, many involved nostalgic lunch and coffee dates in which we relived our best memories together. Finally on the 4th of August a lot of my best guy friends were able to come over and hangout by the fire for the night to say some final goodbyes.
To be honest, before last week, I was very emotional and questioning if this trip was truly God’s path for me. I was having many doubts and I just felt alone and like this was the end rather than the beginning. I was having a hard time remembering why I chose to do this and just kept asking myself, “What have I done?” or “Why didn’t I just go to college?” I felt this way until one day when I was sitting at my house with Sarah Beaver (a fellow world racer who told me about the trip) and we read through a blog posted by my World Race Squad. The blog pretty much summed up every emotion that I was struggling with and talked about about how vulnerable you are when preparing to leave. The blog itself just gave me comfort and just a deeper foundation as to “Why I did this.” To know that I wasn’t the only one experiencing this and that it was almost common and natural was a huge weight off of my shoulders.
On the 5th of August I flew down to Atlanta with my parents where I was reunited with my squad and team. It was great to see them again and now that it’s the real thing, we were all ready to dive into the world and go out to make disciples. We spent Friday night and Saturday morning in meetings that reviewed most of the skills, expectations, and outlines that we learned at training camp. On Saturday afternoon I had the most difficult goodbye. I said goodbye to my mom and dad which was very emotional for all of us. Many feelings of sadness, proudness, and love were shared. I’m sure it will be very weird for them to be empty nesters. After telling them goodbye, my squad and I proceeded to have classes and meetings for the next 2 days until this morning (Monday the 8th) when we came to the airport and are finally ready to launch!
As to my current emotions about launching, I think that peace, content, and excited are the three words I’d use to describe it. I cannot wait to wake up tomorrow morning in Antigua, Guatemala and begin work with the kids, ministry host, and country in general to spread the word and love.
Some people I know have asked me, “What is the most important thing you hope to gain from this experience?” and I have been really meditating on that question lately. The answer to that question is clear, whatever God is calling for me to experience and gain. I don’t know what that is right now, to be perfectly honest. But after praying about it for the past months I’ve determined that it doesn’t matter what it is. I was called to go out into the world and love people. I plan on doing that to the best of my ability and God will change me along the way. It is a scary feeling not knowing what to expect, but at the same time I feel the most peaceful I think I ever have.
So I land in Guatemala tonight at approximately 8 o’clock Guatemalan time and will be turning my phone, computer, and social media off for 1 month. I’m doing this so I can start off the trip with no distractions from back home or anywhere else. I am looking forward to this so much and can’t wait to hit that power button tonight. So, if anyone tries to contact me, please do so through Facebook and I’ll get back to you at the end of the month!
Side notes-
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Thank you so much once again to everyone who has donated and supported me! Now need less than $1,000 to be fully funded! Praise Jesus!
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We found out yesterday that we will now be spending one month in South Africa! (believed to be November)
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Please continue to pray for me, for strength, courage, love, peace, and strong spiritual growth
- I will do my best to put up 2-3 blogs per month starting in September!
