If someone had told me five or ten years ago that I would be going on a three month mission trip to Peru, I would’ve thought they were crazy! 1 Corinthians 2:9 says “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” I have found this incredibly true in my life. Many of the things I have done would’ve been unimaginable years earlier, including this trip. But God has prepared me in a variety number of ways. What has led me to this point has been incredible, but I believe this is just the beginning of my journey.
I grew up in a Christian home surrounded by the most loving family I could ask for. I went to church and Sunday school almost every week as a young child and learned all about Jesus and his love for me. But since I was just a kid, I didn’t understand what it meant to have a relationship with Jesus, and I definitely didn’t know how to love others in a way that points them towards the kingdom of God. For the first ten years of my life, I felt satisfied in the way I was living my faith. At some point throughout the next several years I came to realize I wasn’t living out my faith at all, I was comfortably practicing it in my own little world.
With a bit of reluctance and a whole lot of nervousness, I went on my first missions trip with my family when I was 10 or 11. With a group from our church, we went down to an impoverished area not far outside of Juarez, Mexico and built a house for a family in need. I instantly fell in love… with all of it: the interaction with kids, serving others, and working hard for the purpose of being the light Jesus calls us to be. My family would end up going on nearly a half dozen of these trips down to Mexico in total. We would build houses, drive around and hand out clothes/sleeping bags/blankets, sometimes make meals for communities, hold a VBS for a local orphanage, and always play lots and lots of soccer with the local kids. I loved every thing we did there and felt like I was doing the Lord’s work. But every time we had to leave, it was soooo hard. I had met these incredible human beings and spent a few days with them… but that was it. I wasn’t able to form deeper connections with them and learn about their stories and their beliefs like I desired. I didn’t know it at the time but the World Race was going to be the perfect opportunity for me to do that.
What those trips did help me learn is that whatever I end up doing in my career, I want to be able to help and serve other people every day that I can. After fumbling through many different ideas of what to do after high school, I came to the conclusion that the best place for me to be able to serve others every day was to become a firefighter. It seemed like the perfect choice; helping others on the worst days of their lives and potentially saving lives. However, partway through EMT class this last semester, I felt like God was telling me I wasn’t heading in the direction I was supposed to be heading. This took a little while for me to swallow the idea of because for the last few years, I thought my plan had clearly been the right path for me. Keyword there is ME. No matter how hard I try to stop, if God has somewhere he wants me to go, then I will end up there. I don’t yet know where I’ll end up, but I do know that I will try my best to listen to my plans less and try to follow where God is leading me.
And that is what I’m doing with this trip. I believe God is calling me to take a semester off and step into the missions field for a few months. What better way to serve others than to spread the good news of Jesus at the same time? I chose to go to Peru because I am absolutely fascinated by the different Spanish cultures in the world. This is something I discovered on my trip to Costa Rica and several trips to Mexico. I’m so excited to see what God has in store on this trip and would be forever grateful if you decided to help support me on my journey!
