*cough cough* Ummm is this thing on?
Okay, this is going to be a little rough. It’s going to be a journey. So buckle and get ready for the ride.
Welcome to my first ever blog!
This is soo surreal… I’ve literally been reading blogs for the past two years, dreaming of a day when that would be my reality. And guess what! That day has come!! I’ve been accepted to WRGY! I get my very own blog to share my journey with you!! And I’m ecstatic… for the most part. You see I’m a dreamer, an idealist, I have these wild plans in my head but when I finally have the chance to do something with it – I freeze… I clam up… every single thought vanishes from my head and I’m at a loss for words. I have sooo much to say but I can’t get it out.
So you can see how having to blog is a daunting task. I’ve stared at this same blank screen for hours upon hours these past few weeks just trying to get these words ,that I so desperately want to say, out. And finally the flood gates have been released and the words just seem to keep flowing. It’s so funny because I came into writing this first blog with a completely different motive and that was to further explain what the World Race is and the journey of how I got there (and I’ll get there I promise). But that’s another thing that you’ll learn about me, that I am so easily distracted that it’s hard for me to string together one cohesive thought…. let alone sitting down to write out what’s on my mind and heart and what I’m going through and feeling at the time. That’s a huge task for me, but I’m trying, so bare with me. Now that that’s out of the way…
What exactly is the the World Race Gap Year?
The World Race is a program of Adventures in Missions, an established non-profit missions organization that has sent more than 115,000 people on mission trips around the world since 1989. Since the World Race began, more than 5,000 people ages 18-35 have said “yes” to the radical adventure of living out their faith. For the World Race Gap Year specially they send 18-20 year olds to 3 different continents in 9 months. I will be going with a “squad” of about 50 racers, who will become my family over those 9 months and already have (shout out to my route 6 peeps, I love y’all!). Next September I’ll be packing up my life into just a backpack and boarding a plane to follow this great calling.
Speaking of being called….
How did I hear about the World Race? And why did I so willingly decide to go?
I’m going to start at the very beginning. You’re getting everything that has led me to this decision. So growing up I’ve always LOVED traveling and when I was in middle school I started thinking about the rest of my life and what I wanted to do. And the greatest urge of my heart was to travel the world. Specifically to South Africa. So that was the beginning.
Another pivotal point for me was the summer after 9th grade. At the first camp of the summer I had the realization that I wanted to be a camp counselor and that thought grew on my mind and my heart in the time between that first and the second youth trip of the summer. And on this second trip I heard God saying that this desire to be a camp counselor was actually me being called into full time ministry. And as a freshman in high school I didn’t really know what that would look like career wise and just in the future in general.
And finally, one year later, at (yet again) another summer camp me and my friend decided to go to a small group about evangelism and that is where I heard about the World Race Gap Year program. I was immediately intrigued and God started working on my heart that same day. The next few weeks I couldn’t get it out of my head and soon I started talking to my mom and my grandma about it and from there it was easy, I decided that instead of going to college right away I would go on to do the World Race, Lord willing. And now the time has come!!
Thanks for sticking around, I know it was long, but it was necessary 🙂
All the love,
E
