Dear Friends and Family,
I’m dropping out of college!
Now that I have your attention, let me explain.
I started school at Trinity Christian College a year and a half ago and just finished up my first semester of sophomore year. I love Trinity and the friends I have made, but I haven’t really felt at home there. I have spent the last year and a half trying to figure out what God wants me to do, whether that be continuing my education at Trinity or at a different school. Funny enough, what God led me to is something that requires me to take a year off of school, and it is something that I was not expecting.
When I was a junior in high school, I went to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip with a group of people from my school. We worked at a school in Santiago and hosted a vacation bible school for the students. That was the first time I realized the love that God put in my heart for missions overseas.
Over the past year, when I realized that school was not what God wanted me to do at the moment, I felt lost. I kept looking for different majors or different schools and hoping God would point me to where He wanted me to go. During that time of confusion, God was working in me and in my life. He changed my perspective on life and opened my heart to Him. I felt this overwhelming urge to tell people about His love and His grace; I wanted to spread the love of God.
So I thought back to the experiences on the mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I became friends with someone over the summer who went on The World Race Gap Year from 2016-17 and talked to him about it. The more I heard about it, the more I felt God’s call to missions. I decided to go on a three-month trip through Adventures in Missions (ADV), but after praying about it for a while and talking to family and friends, I felt God calling me out of my comfort zone to serve with ADV on The World Race Gap Year.
The World Race Gap Year is a 9-month mission trip to 4 different countries around the world. I will be on Route 1, so my group and I will be going to Costa Rica, South Africa, Thailand, and Myanmar. One of the unique things about the World Race GY is that it’s not only a mission trip but also a discipleship program designed to launch my generation into our kingdom calling. Through the World Race GY, my team and I will serve in partnership with churches and ministries in local communities to preach the Gospel, plant churches, work in orphanages, minister to women and children trapped in prostitution as a result of human trafficking, and bring the restorative hope of the Father’s love to many tribes and nations.
I will face many challenges throughout the World Race GY, but as I prepare for my departure in September, two of my greatest challenges are spiritual and financial support. I will be constantly pouring my heart out to people I encounter, and it won’t always be easy. While spreading the Gospel I will see a lot of brokenness in the world and through situations people are in. There will be difficulties, and I would appreciate it if you would pray for my teammates, me, and the people we will meet.
Like most other missions organizations, World Race GY participants are required to fundraise financial support. In order to leave fully funded in September 2018, I need to raise $15,800. This money will cover all of my field expenses for the 9 months of the trip. As I take this large step of faith in trusting the Lord, would you prayerfully consider joining me by donating?
There are three ways to give financially, the first way is to send a check to Adventures in Missions. This check would be a one-time donation of however much money you sign it for. You can make the check out to Adventures in Missions, write my name in the memo line, fill out the inserted card that comes with this and send the check to PO Box 742570 Atlanta, GA 30374-2570.
The second way to give is to give me cash or a check made out to Katie Ericks in person. This money would then be placed in my World Race account and go towards necessities for the trip.
The third way to give is through my blog. To donate you would click the donate button and type in the amount you want to give and click either the one-time donation or the monthly donation which you can end whenever you would like. Then you can put in your credit card information and the money given will go directly towards my trip. My blog is katieericks.theworldrace.org.
Thank you so much for reading this letter, and please consider giving to my World Race trip to help better the lives of others and help grow the kingdom of Jesus Christ. With your help, we can grow God’s kingdom and spread the love of Jesus.
Yours in Christ,
Katie Ericks
My Contact Information:
Phone: (219) 796-6452
Email: [email protected]
Blog: katieericks.theworldrace.org
Instagram: katie.ericks
