I was created for teaching and learning. My heart overflows with joy each day I step onto my school campus. I dream up engaging learning experiences. I live and breathe the cycle of plan, teach, assess, and reflect. I am deeply committed to student growth, community progress, and deep belly laughs in the classroom. So why quit my successful job and live out of a backpack for a year? Are you crazy?
Jesus.
My life has been carefully calculated, very intentional, and safe up to this point. I grew up in a broken family, which spurred me towards overcompensation and living out of my own strength. I graduated high school as a Valedictorian. I excelled in college and earned a generous award and recognition at graduation. I received multiple job offers before I even graduated and chose to teach at the wonderful, charter school district I grew up in. “You’re living the dream!” I am told often. These are good things, not to be despised.
Surely, I am grateful! God is good all the time. And I know his redemption well.
I also know it’s time for me to risk more, forsake my comforts, explore, love radically, and dream bigger in this season of life. I feel called to teach, but I also know that I don’t know what I don’t know. And there’s a pretty big world out there.
I need to be obedient to this calling – to be sent. As a little girl, I dreamed of being a missionary. My heart was tugged towards missions. As a youth, I spent six spring breaks in Mexico teaching Vacation Bible School. I traveled to Medellin, Colombia to partner with long-term missionaries. In college, I worked for an urban ministry organization that came alongside local contacts and sent students into the heart of San Francisco and Los Angeles. In recent years, two trusted friends from different contexts and a professor told me of prophetic dreams they experienced of me teaching and preaching to a group of children and villagers sitting in the dirt of a far away land. I think God is going to fulfill this vision on the World Race.
(Serving at 11 years old in Mexico)
And so my answer is a firm foundation – Jesus.
I was dead in my sin, and he brought me back to life. I can’t keep that hope to myself! I am excited to learn from the beautiful tapestry of cultures, which is the world. I am excited to minister to the poor, as they minister to me. I am ready to be painfully broken and wonderfully restored. I am ready to use my gifts, without a spirit of timidity. Beginning next October, I will be working and serving in 11 different countries over the course of a year. Most countries, I will not know my exact type of work until I meet my local ministry contact at the airport/seaport/bus stop. Even now, I step into the unknown. But I must go!
I am overwhelmingly humbled and at the mercy of the Lord to provide the support needed to make this adventure a reality. Please consider joining my love team – supporting each month though prayer and finances. I need to raise nearly $17,000 to cover the cost of training, travel, insurance, housing, and food for the year. If you are interested in coming alongside me, click the upper right hand Donate link (or on the side bar). I look forward to connecting with you soon.
India . Nepal . Vietnam . Cambodia . Chile . Peru . Argentina . Bolivia . Botswana
South Africa . Swaziland
