I have some exciting news: my training camp is just one week away! I will be flying down to Atlanta on June 8th and staying till the 18th. I will be sure to keep you all updated about what is going on at training camp, and with any important information I learn while I am there. Also, if you ever have any questions, let me know. I would love to answer them the best I can! I am so grateful for all the love and support I have received over the last few months, and I want to make sure I keep you all up to date. For this blog post, I wanted to share a story with you all that is important to me. I think it helps explain my heart for missions, and also why I chose the Gap Year route I am going on.
Last summer, I had the chance to go on a week-long mission trip to Guatemala with my sister, Kaylee, and some family friends. We stayed in a children’s home there, and got the amazing opportunity to spend time with the kids there. I loved every minute of the trip. While I was there, I spent a lot of time with a baby girl named Ericka. She was about six months old, and absolutely precious.
Some of my favorite memories from the trip are the times I got to hold her and pray over her. I prayed for her future: that God would make something beautiful out of her life, despite the circumstances. I prayed that she would always feel loved and would never feel alone. I prayed that he would protect her, and send angels to look after her. I sang Be Thou My Vision, my favorite hymn, to her as I rocked her to sleep. I was sad when I left, but I had full confidence that God had a plan for Ericka, and that plan was good. I left a part of my heart in Guatemala that day.
As soon as I got home I went online and sponsored her. It was the best I could do to help her, even though I was so far away. Shortly after that, I went to check and see if the routes had come out for the World Race gap year trip I wanted to go on. After years of waiting, I finally got to see the routes that I could choose from. As I looked, I saw that one of the routes went to Guatemala. I knew at that moment that this was the trip I needed to go on. It felt like everything fell into place that day. I signed up, and started my application process.
About two weeks later, I got a letter from the children’s home. Ericka had gotten sick very suddenly, and had passed away. I was devastated. I couldn’t understand how this could have happened. How was this the good future God had in store for Ericka? She never even got a chance to live her life. There are so many horrible people in the world who deserve to die more than she did. It seemed so unfair. If God truly loved her, why would he let her die?
The more I thought about it and prayed about it, I realized that all of these thoughts were wrong. God loves Ericka, far more than I ever could. My idea of “fairness” meant that everybody deserves to live for a certain amount of time. God, however, isn’t fair, but He is Just. He doesn’t give everyone an equally long life, but He does give everyone the life that is best for them. For Ericka, her best life was six months long. That doesn’t make it any less good than mine. She changed my life, which is more than some people do in fifty years, let alone six months.
In the end, Ericka and I will end up in the same place. The ultimate ending for both of our lives is to go home to Jesus. I just happen to be taking a longer route there than she did. I am fully confident that she is home now, and that is the greatest good and the best future that anyone can have.
I am so grateful that God put me there during one of the last weeks of her life, and gave me the chance to love on her for a little while. I realize now that showing other people God’s love is the greatest thing a person can ever do. Now, I am more determined than ever to share God’s love with everyone I meet, and I am so excited to go back to Guatemala. God changed my life there last summer, so who knows what he has in store this time?
