So here it is, after 18 years of parents, teachers, adults, students, and bosses preparing me for college or the workforce, I have officially decided to spend my first year as an independent doing something that no one prepared me for. The secret’s out: after graduating high school in May, I plan on leaving the country for 9 months doing missions work with other like-minded individuals my age, and I am so excited. So how does any rational person come to this conclusion, you may ask? Honestly, I’m not sure, but I’ll do my best to explain it.
For each of the past three summers I have gone on a week-long mission trip with my church, and these three experiences have been some of the best in my life. Two of those mission trips were to Shepherd Community Center on the East side of Indianapolis and the most previous trip was to Guatemala this past summer. God clearly showed himself to me over the course of each of those trips through the work that we did. Each mission trip has had a unique impact on me and they have all given me a passion for mission work that has now impacted my plans for the future.
When I was first starting to plan for life after high school I quickly realized that I was at a loss. I was not confident trying to make plans for majors, colleges, or jobs because I had no idea what I felt called to do with my life. I was looking for something that would give me a sense of purpose and I couldn’t find that in any of the typical college plans. That was when I decided that I wanted to go on the World Race: Gap Year.
The World Race: Gap Year is a nine month long mission trip three or four different countries on 3 different continents. My trip would be to Guatemala, Swaziland, Malaysia, and Thailand. On Gap Year you work with a team of similar young adults to be the hands and feet of Jesus every day. One of the unique things about the World Race programs is that, in addition to being a mission trip, it also works as a discipleship program to help this generation find their spiritual gifts for the kingdom of God. While in the field we will team with the local ministries to work toward their mission, whether that be teaching English, construction, evangelism, or planting churches. No two days on Gap Year would ever be exactly the same.
Obviously, I will need your support! Other than the ginormous amount of money that I’ll have to raise, I could really use your help to prepare for this trip. Please reach out to me and ask me about it! Any emotional support, especially prayer, would be very much appreciated as these next 10 months leading up to launch look to be very stressful and busy. Honestly I feel more concerned for the next 10 months than I do for actually leaving for the trip because of all the various responsibilities here at home versus the freedom that I hope will come from Gap Year.
Thank you all, I hope to be able to talk to you soon about all the amazing lessons, events, and people that God has brought into my life.
