From the early age of 7 I had been craving the presence of God. When I first understood that there really was a God and that he cared about the little things in my life, I wanted to know him more. I would ask my mom every Sunday to bring me to church. I didn’t care what church it was, as long as it talked about God. That is why I bounced around to many churches as a child, because my mom chose a new one quite often. But I didn’t care if it were new, I just wanted to be there. I received my first bible from my mom and brother when I was 11. I began going to a youth group in a church with my friend. I truthfully only went there because she said there was going to be food. But I continued to go because of the things they taught me about God. When I was 13, I went to a church that had a bus that picked up children all over the city. I wanted to go to church every Sunday and because this church gave me a ride and I didn’t have to wait for my mom to take me, I went. I remember sitting in one of their Sunday school rooms looking at all the pictures they had on the walls. One poster was sharing information about a missionary. I know this wasn’t the first time I had heard of missionaries, but it was the first time I became fascinated with them. I thought about how amazing they were, that they would take the word of God to the world. I longed to be one of those people. But I never thought that a person like me could be. So I put the idea out of my mind. I continued on growing in my faith and overcoming many obstacles that would try to drag me away from the loving hands of my Lord.
I thought that because of who I was and the life I had lived (though I loved the Lord more than anything) that I was not the type of person to make it in the Christian world. I loved church and went as often as I could. But when it came time to choose a college, I refused to look at Christian ones. I knew I was different. That I was not the stereo-typical Christian who was quiet and reserved. I didn’t think I would be accepted in a Christian School. But God does not see us as the world does. He accepts us as we are, and uses our strengths to bring him glory and he is willing to be patient as he works out the flaws in us. And he is even loving enough to bring people along side of us who see us as he does. And he had a different path for me to follow. And he used my friend to get me there. I love my best friend, and I just wanted to spend time with her. She was home schooled and so I didn’t see her as often as my other friends. So when she invited me to the Christian College fair, I went with her. So that I could spend time with her. I had no interest in going to a Christian college. When I got there, I was intrigued by the colleges offered. One college in particular grabbed my attention. Nyack College. I don’t remember why this one drew my attention. But I remember applying because they waived the application fee. This was the criteria I used for all the colleges that I applied for. I wasn’t going to get money from my family for application fees, so I relied on schools that waived the fee. I don’t remember when I knew that this was the place for me, but I do remember I had the choice between going to a college that offered me a $25,000 success grant, or going to a college that offered me nothing more than Jesus. Something in me chose the latter. And the crazy part about this is that I hadn’t even been accepted to Nyack yet. But I knew, this is where I was going to go. I had to reapply several times because there was a technical error that made my application not be received. But still I believed. My classmates and teachers thought I was foolish to believe I was going to a college in which I hadn’t even been accepted to. But I knew deep down this is where I belonged.
I knew nothing about Nyack. I had only seen pictures and didn’t even know it was a missionary college. The only thing I knew was that it was Christian. I soon found out the deep connection with missionaries that the college had. I quickly became friends with the missionary in residence (MIRs). The first being the Phenecies. I loved to hear about the mission field and the amazing things God was doing there. Every year I would get to know the MIRs and spend time hearing their stories about their field assignment. I especially enjoyed chapels because they spent a lot of time focusing on missions. I still didn’t think a person like me could be used on a missions field, so I just admired the sacrifice from a distance. My sophomore year two of my friends went on a missions trip to Ukraine. I was inspired by her desire to go and loved hearing her stories of the amazing people she met.
I decided to take a leap of faith and sign up for a missions trip myself. I chose to go to Romania. I didn’t really think I could raise the funds, knowing that there weren’t many people that would support me in something like this. Also I did not know how to do fund-raisers. By the time all was said and done, I had only raised about $200. It was a long way from the money needed for this trip. My team bonded and I have to say it is to this day the best team I have ever been on. We worked amazingly together. We were supportive and caring and never complained. Funny this is, God works in ways we would least expect. It turned out no one had enough money raised on our team to go to Romania. I thought that was the end for all of us. That was until I found out that some people on the Puerto Rico team also had not raised enough money. So they were removed from the team and our team took their place. But since Romania cost more than Puerto Rico, when we combined all of the Romania team’s money together, there was enough for our entire team to join the Puerto Rico team. I was at first upset about this. I was even upset when we first arrived. But once I got to know the Puerto Ricans, I fell in love and understood God’s plan for me to be there. People kept telling me that God would have me go to Romania later in my life, but I didn’t really believe that. I didn’t think I would ever go on another missions trip again. Mostly because I didn’t know how to fund-raise. But God waited for me to grow, and for two years in a row I went to Haiti (June 2012 and August 2013). And guess what?! God provided so much money from donors that I had more than enough. And now here I am! Preparing to go on the World Race, fully trusting God to provide 15 times the amount I struggled trusting him for in 2004. Isn’t it amazing how far God takes us? I went from not being able to trust him to give me $1000, to believing he will provide over $15,000! Now that is a testimony of growth in the Lord!
