My name is Natalie Edwards and this is the story of how I plan to travel the world on mission and change my life starting at 17 years old.
I was born into a Catholic family full of love and I grew up with Jesus at my side. I went to church class every Monday night and learned all that I could about our faith throughout elementary school. For junior high, my parents sent me to a private Catholic School called St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. It was here that God became a major part of my daily life. However, the next step in my life is where I discovered a personal relationship with our Lord. I chose to stay in private Catholic School and for high school I attended St. John XXIII College Preparatory. Through theology classes with teachers who impacted me more than they will ever know, retreats, and a faith leadership class I discovered all that I had been missing out on in my faith and I truly made Jesus my best friend. Come my junior year, I was leading retreats, pouring my heart out in testimonies, and bringing my peers to a closer relationship with Christ.
My second semester of my junior year, I decided I wanted to graduate high school early and so I did. Read more about how that influenced my life in my blog post, As Always, God Knew What He Was Doing. I finished high school that summer and found this mission trip.
Now I continue to get ahead in school eagerly awaiting and preparing for my World Race Gap Year. I fully believe God has called me on this race and I cannot wait to see how it impacts my life and allows me to grow in ways I cannot imagine.
