First of all, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has already so generously contributed to supporting this trip! In only 5 days I have already raised $1,385 which has blown away my goal of reaching the 25% mark of $1,100 by October 26! God has put some truly incredible humans in my life and I am very blessed by that.
(P.S. – If you have donated and notice that the amount has not seemed to register on the fundraising total on the donation page or at the top of this blog, do not worry! It can take up to a week or so to fully process and show up on there, but if you receive an email that it went through then be assured that I have received it! I will be sure to personally follow up with you as well!)
So anyways, I just thought I should give a little more background into how I heard about the World Race and decided that it was something I needed to do – in case, you know, anyone is kind of curious about how I came to the decision to put life on hold for three months and leave the country.
Isn’t it funny how looking back, we can often clearly trace the path that led us to where we are now, but during the process of getting there we are so busy staring at the ground in front of our feet that we have no idea what is going on? At least this has proven to be true in my experience. God sees a much bigger picture (thank goodness) and he’s been showing me how he can weave bits and pieces of our lives together to create something more wonderful than we could ever imagine or build for ourselves.
So here’s some backstory…
In the summer of 2017 I was a day camp counselor at Camp Geneva in Holland, which was one of the very best things I have ever done (and if you’re wondering if you should spend a summer working there – YES DO IT, please ask me about it I would love to tell you more). I came out of that summer with some really great friendships and experiences.
After that summer, my sophomore year went by and I was thinking about working at camp again. I even applied and got the job, but something about it this time just felt off. I loved camp so much, but it was also really challenging. And for some reason I just could not feel at peace about going back, which I couldn’t figure out. Why would God not want me to spend another summer at the most wonderful place teaching kids about Jesus? It’s already spring – what am I supposed to do for a job if I back out now? What is wrong with me?
But ultimately, I ended up backing out and God provided a different job for me. It wasn’t an internship, and it wasn’t fulfilling in the same way that camp counseling was, but what it did offer me was a lot of time working by myself – and I started listening to a lot of podcasts.
My favorite podcasts were by Stephanie May Wilson, who is a Christian author and speaker. I was introduced to her by one of the girls I became friends with from Geneva (thanks Geneva) who suggested I read Stephanie May Wilson’s book, The Lipstick Gospel (highly recommend – especially for college age women, & it is even free to download at smaywilsonshop.com!). In her podcasts I was inspired by this author’s awesome experience on the World Race’s 11 countries in 11 months missions program and thought that seemed like such a cool thing that aligned with a lot of my passions and would be such an incredible way to dive deeper into my faith and serve the Lord and his people. But, of course, I would never be able to do it. Being gone for almost a whole year seemed far too long, traveling can be a little scary, and I’m in the middle of college besides. Not to mention the cost of going.
As I was anticipating going back to school for my junior year, the World Race crossed my mind again. After some poking around online, I found out that they had just come out with a shorter semester long missions program in the spring of 2018 aimed at college students!
Hmmm… interesting.
I decided to fill out the application, (I mean why not?) and pursue this mission trip until some roadblock presented itself making it clear that this was not for me. But the exact opposite happened.
Within the first few weeks of going back to Calvin this fall, doors continued to open up. After meeting with my advisor we came to the conclusion that I would be able to graduate a semester early – meaning I could take the spring semester off and do this mission trip and still stay on track for graduating on time! That was huge, something I hadn’t even considered being an option.
Eventually I was accepted into the Costa Rica and Nicaragua semester, and I had this supernatural peace about traveling outside the country that I couldn’t deny that I wanted to pursue this. I usually have some apprehensions about going far away, and a semester studying abroad had never appealed to me, but the idea of this mission trip felt so right.
Sometimes (a lot of the time) I get so caught up in making the “exact right decision”, because if I choose wrong then I’ll mess up God’s whole plan for my life. Right? Absolutely not. I keep learning that there is no perfect decision, because life is messy and emotions are confusing and humans are imperfect, but God seriously can use everything for his glory.
My summer at Camp Geneva affirmed my love for kids and participating in Kingdom building and connected me with the friend who introduced me to the author through whom I would probably not have heard about the World Race if I had not turned down another summer at camp. I think its really redeeming that God used my choice of not working at camp to lead me toward something a little bit different, for which the program came out at just the right time, and with the opportunity to graduate on time presenting itself, the stars were just too aligned to say no.
So here we are! And with the incredible support I’ve already received from so many friends and family members, I feel even more affirmed that this is what God has for me right now.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
Thanks for reading!
Love,
Jordan
