Wow, alright, where do I begin?
So if you follow me on Instagram or are friends with me on Facebook, but probably saw a post about how I was heading back to Africa. Well… I have officially made it there and already God has worked in incredible ways!
However, those stories will be found in later blogs, or your can read about them on my Passport team’s first blog (Ministry Moments, Day 1, Africa Experience).
If I were to tell you that this had been my plan all along, I would be lying to you.
You see, since month 5 of my Race (December 2017) I had been planning on pursuing a career in the field of engineering once I returned home. And that is exactly what I went after once I touched foot back on American soil.
For my first month home I stayed pretty busy with a variety of things and at the end of July I went to Project Search Light (PSL)—a post-Race reunion/debrief for all of the squads that launched together in the same window. So during our first full day of PSL there was a lunch time break out over Squad Leading and Passport Leading and I decided to go to it—truth be told, I mostly went because I didn’t feel like eating lunch outside. In the middle of that session I learned about the different leadership opportunities that people coming off of the field had with AIM (Adventures In Mission) and thought it sounded interesting, but I knew that I had a job lined up so I wasn’t listening too closely.
Fast forwarding two days, at breakfast I had received emails from the company in order to proceed with some of the formalities that would need to occur before I was officially hired—one was a phone call that afternoon and another was going to an on-site interview once I got back home. Naturally, I quickly replied and said that both of those sounded wonderful and that as long as they gave me a few hours notice before the phone call, I would happily talk to them.
I thought “Yes! My dream job is another step closer to becoming reality!” I even had this huge vision of how I would be able to use that as my new mission field.
Then, right after breakfast we all went inside to worship and in the midst of worship I heard God tell me to turn down the job and tell the company that I was no longer interested. I was like, “wait, what?!? God, are you sure? Why?” Needless to say, I was not happy about it and I started crying and began to mourn this “missed” opportunity. During the midst of this my friend Leah began to pray over me and told me that she felt that God was telling me the words “bravery” and “obedience.” Needless to say, this wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was God confirming that I had heard Him correctly.
Now, a theme through my Race was one of God telling me to do something and Him expecting me to do it before I knew why or anything else about it. Needless to say, God asking me to tell this company no has been my biggest one of the moments to date. But it has been really cool and beautiful to see how God had begun preparing my heart for this moment months before with smaller steps and slowly built my willingness to obey Him over time until I had reached this point of surrender.
After worship, my squad mentor Teresa saw me crying still so we went outside to talk about it and then she left me to sit and process with the Lord. Despite not wanting to do it, I knew I needed to reply back to those emails from that morning right away—before I chickened out and convinced myself that I didn’t really hear from God. Therefore, I grabbed my phone and started typing out some emails. I had no idea what to say; so I said the truth. I told them that “I know this sounds illogical, irresponsible, and crazy, but I am no longer interested in the position because I felt God telling me to no longer pursue the position.” I said that I was very sorry, but that I needed to follow God’s calling, even when I didn’t know where He was leading me. I could only imagine what the people receiving those emails thought; after all, I had just emailed that two hours prior saying that everything sounded great to go forward with calls and interviews.
At this point, I didn’t know where God was leading me next, but I knew it was my time to throw up my hands, tell Him that I trust Him, and that I surrender my all to whatever He wants for me. It was honestly so freeing—terrifying, but freeing nonetheless.
So continuing to the week after PSL, I decided to apply to Passport lead since I now had free time that I wasn’t expecting. I knew that although I have fully surrendered myself to whatever God wants for me, He didn’t want me to sit idle waiting for Him to come in front of me with flashing neon lights. Therefore, I took a step of faith and applied to lead a trip and trusted that if God didn’t want me to go, He would close the door and I wouldn’t be accepted.
Whelp, that was not the case. I applied, and eventually got accepted four days before I needed to be back Gainesville, GA to begin leader training. Needless to say, these last two weeks have been hectic; but they have been amazing and peaceful in the midst of the whirlwind.
I was accepted on August 22, went down to AIM on August 26, met my team August 30, and on September 3 we departed for South Africa!
I have currently been in South Africa a little less than a week partnering with an organization called Impact Africa; and it has been incredible.
I am expectant to see what the Lord has in store for these next three months, both for me and my team; I know He has big things in store!
Would you please partner with me in prayer for my team? We are currently in Johannesburg, South Africa and will be spending both the months of October and November in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia respectively. My team consists of me, my co-leader Lizzy, and 10 wonderful women of God who have said “yes” to the Lord’s calling upon their lives for this season—Aleena, Amber, Bianca, Chloe, Dakotah, Eve, Hannah, Jenn, Olivia, and Taylor.
Also, would you prayerfully consider supporting me financially? I need to fundraise $2,000 by November 30 in order to lead this trip which can be donated at the above link on this page. Additionally, I am looking to fundraise $600 of personal money in order to help cover some of my cost of living while out on the field (I.e. toiletries, special outings with my team, and random odds and ends) and my return flight home from Atlanta to Ohio once I get back into the States. If you felt led to specifically help with my fundraising goal through AIM you can donate to the above link; however, you can donate to either fundraising goal through my PayPal, [email protected] or giving money to my mother, Shari Grayczyk, and she will make sure that it gets to the proper location.
Thank you so much!
I am also doing an Adopt-A-Box fundraiser, in order to help with these goals. If you don’t know what an Adopt-A-Box fundraiser is, it is where you “adopt a box” out of the boxes shown below and when you donate a certain amount ($1-$72) you will “adopt” the box that corresponds to that amount.
Thank you so much!
P.S. This picture is from Bulgaria when I ran an Adopt-A-Box for my Race, which was a huge success thanks to all of my supporters. I will be posting updates with photos from where I am now, but I have not been able to make it to the store in order to buy the supplies to make one, so stay tuned for updates on this from Africa!
This is a picture of my team during a hike that we took into the mountains on our off day!
Back Row: Jenn, Amber, Taylor, Aleena
Middle Row: Bianca, Me (Bethany), Olivia, Eve, Hannah, and Elizabeth (Lizzy)
Front Row: Chloe, Dakotah
With Much Love, Bethany
