The World Race has been on my mind since June 2018. I thought The World Race was an amazing opportunity, but I also believed that someone like me would never be able to do it. I was wrong.
On February 18th, 2019, I received a life changing phone call. It was from The World Race calling me back about my interview. I was 95% positive that I was going to not be accepted because I applied later than others and had a poor interview (because I’m not a good communicator when it comes to interviews). But, I found out that I had been accepted! Automatically, I was speechless and very surprised! While I was praying for this interview and this trip, I asked God to show me a sign about what He wanted. If it’s my purpose to stay back in Wisconsin, I would not be upset and pursue what He wanted me to do here. But, instead God told me that this is HIS PLAN and I am supposed to be a part of this trip. I learned that there is a wait list for this trip, but instead of being put on the wait list, I was accepted right away. Right now, I have no idea exactly what God’s plan is for me with this trip, but I can’t wait to see the way He changes my life and changes others’ lives.
The reason why I decided to apply for the Haiti/Dominican Republic trip is because of the love I have for Haiti. In November 2018, I took a week long trip to Haiti with my church. This was my first time ever out of the country and I was going without any family members. I was very nervous. But, I am so thankful that I took that step out of my comfort zone because God showed me so many amazing things in only one week. During the time I went, Haiti was dealing with a series of unrest. My team and I were very upset that we were unable to leave campus because of this. But, we had many tasks to do on campus that were needed to be done. On Thanksgiving Day, a miracle happened. The unrest stopped completely and we were able to go out into a near village! Hearing the stories of each and every villager changed my life. We talked and prayed with multiple families and gave them a gift of a water filtering solution. During this time, we were also able to play with the village children. Every child ran up to you with huge smiles on their faces, like they were dying for the love we could give them. Right when our bus would arrive in the village crowds of children would run towards us. These children would cling onto us right away and follow us while we walked through the village. Every time we had to leave for the day, the children would watch us go and wave until we could no longer see them. It’s amazing how we went there to give love to these Haitian children, but in the end we received so much more love from them. Because of language barriers, we were unable to have a conversation with these children, but that did not stop either of us from showing Jesus’ love to each other. The truth is: Haiti may be one of the poorest countries in the world, but they are also the richest in happiness.
I am so grateful for everything that God has given me and shown me in this past year. After being in Haiti for only a week, I did not want to come back to America because I felt the happiest while I was there. It is truly a gift that God wants me to return to Haiti and to continue the work there. I will be staying with the Mission of Hope, where I stayed during my first trip there. I know the Mission of Hope is doing amazing things for Haiti through God’s power and I can’t wait to see how this organization will eventually change the whole country. Please continue to keep Haiti in your prayers because there has been more recent unrest there.
