As most of you know, I tend to overthink just about every single decision that I have to make. It only makes sense that making my decision to do World Race: Gap Year was an entire year in the making. At first I was extremely hesitant. I reached out to a few people about their experiences with World Race as the college application process loomed closer and closer. But once I looked at the price tag, I laughed and walked away. How could I possibly raise that much money?! Especially with my sister going to college next year, there weren’t enough resources to go around. During the next few months, I still thought about a gap year option but not World Race.
As I went to work at a YoungLife camp in Buena Vista, I felt God rearranging the things in my life to point me in a different direction. During my first week, I met a girl named Emma Young. We both decided to take a quick morning hike on our day off and I got to hear about the mission trip that she would be going on within the next two months. She explained her thought process and what lead to her decision. In the following weeks, I kept thinking about what it would be like, for me personally, to live on mission.
And then one night during worship, I knew what I should do. As I stood there, in my pajamas and bare feet on the floor, after a night of dancing in cowboy boots and singing songs by Whitney Houston, I realized that the community I experienced at Trail West was just a glimpse of the life of a missionary: a life of serving with purpose, surrounded by people all reaching towards the same thing.
Yet, even though I was confident in my feelings, I still panicked. How would this even work? Could I take that much time off of school? What if I wasn’t able to raise the money? All these questions racing through my head made me unsure of what I knew to be true. From there, I reached out to my work crew boss, Mel. Now, I had already had some serious conversations with Mel after taking out the trash in the housekeeping cars. But there was something different about this conversation. I was beyond excited to even share what I was feeling and when Mel affirmed me in that, I couldn’t believe it. My heart was so light, like I had never felt before. The only possible word that I can use to describe it is joy. Pure joy. I felt in my heart all along that I was called to do World Race but I just needed someone’s reassurance.
Since then I have been in pursuit of this feeling. I’ve received the support of so many different people, all who have helped in so many different roles– financially, spiritually, mentally. It is because of them that I am able to understand my purpose in God’s plan and follow his calling. I am so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity to pursue this adventure and I can’t wait to keep you all updated.
As always thanks for reading and talk to you soon!
With lots of love,
Abby Hayes
