I have lived in southern Michigan my entire life. Born here, raised here and went to college here at Spring Arbor University. Don’t let that fool you though; because I was born to travel and see the world. And even though I’ve already been on 5 continents and 12 countries, I’m always ready to see more!
I have been immensely blessed throughout my life. I have two loving parents that made it a point to take my awesome little brother and me on cross-cultural experiences even at a young age. By the time I had graduated high school, they had already taken us to Brazil to help out some missionaries we knew, Jamaica twice and Belize and Guatemala. I had all kinds of positive influences that all translated to a great and happy childhood. I was raised in the church and became involved with the ministry of Young Life during high school that changed my life as I fell in love with it. It was through my college-aged leaders from Young Life that I discovered that it was cool to be a Christian and what it really meant to live for Christ. I often tell people that Young Life unlocked the real ‘me’.
College was a little tough on me. Over the first 3 years, depression became a serious issue that was tough to overcome. But with tons of help from God and lots of prayers, I did and have overcome it. I ended up majoring in art, with an emphasis in photography. And I spent a marvelous semester studying and working at a Christian kindergarten in Japan. Aside from my first love, photography, I also really enjoy playing sports (especially basketball and soccer), doing graphic design projects, watching movies and traveling.
I graduated from college in May ’05 via the five-year plan, and since December have been looking for a photo job or internship at a newspaper. After a two week stint as a reporter at a small daily paper in February (they hired me as a reporter knowing that I had no experience in it) I resumed my job search, but also began checking out mission opportunities. Deep down for a few years now, I’ve always thought and wondered if I was meant to live abroad where I could interact with native people and share Christ with them through my actions and relationships with them. As I’ve traveled abroad through the years, I’ve definitely developed a desire to spend some considerable time out of this country, and away from this American career oriented lifestyle of going to the office and doing the same thing every single day. I just feel that I wasn’t made for that type of life. I want to do something that is truly worthwhile. But I wasn’t sure and had yet to feel a significant enough pull on my heart to really start exploring that avenue until the last couple months. I definitely have a heart for Young Life and for the country of Japan, but when I heard about The World Race from a friend on April 13th, I was soooo excited and knew that this was something I had to do for sure! And now that I am on board for this great adventure, not only am I really excited to see more of this vast and beautiful planet, but I am excited and anxious to see what God has in store for me and to find out if this mission stuff is indeed what I am supposed to do with my life.
