Hey beautiful people!!
My name is Maddie! I am 19 years old and I am head-over-heels in love with Jesus!!!! I live in a small town in Minnesota and just graduated from high school this previous spring. I have wonderful parents and a younger sister, Kami, who inspire me daily to live out my faith. I have grown up surrounded by the love of God and really started to get involved in our church at the age of 10. Since then, the Lord has marvelously orchestrated my testimony into a story of grace and obedience. Throughout high school I was abundantly blessed to have strong, Christian friends who encouraged me to pursue Jesus and always saw me through the lens of Christ. I failed & disobeyed God…many times…but I proudly declare victory over a multitude of my struggles I once let define me.
The Lord has engraved the nations on my heart, and I started doing missions when I was 12 years old. I love to see the parallelism from my life to Acts 1:8, which says: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I have done street evangelism in Minneapolis, construction and agricultural projects in Oklahoma, and ventured to remote bush villages in Africa twice to build churches and relationships.
During high school I decided to take Spanish all four years, which was probably the best choice of my high school career. I remember my senior year I was a T.A. for my Spanish teacher (she became a huge role model in my life), and I walked into her classroom one morning and expressed how the Lord was placing the country of Guatemala on my heart. I didn’t understand why or what that meant but I was inclined to pray for the country and the people that live there.
Going into September, I was set on attending a Bible school called YWAM in Kona, Hawaii–sounds nice, huh?? Something wasn’t adding up, however. Through prayer and time with God I decided the island wasn’t where I was being called to. I was confused, angry, and discouraged after the Lord had seemingly opened so many doors for this opportunity. One thing I’ve really been learning recently is that God’s timing is not our own. A few days later I was scrolling through social media and noticed an internship position in downtown Minneapolis and started pondering if this could be for me. I weighed the pros and cons and eventually made a last-minute choice to apply. Fast forward and I am at my last day of the internship. God was cultivating a field for me to work in that I hadn’t seen. I have been diligently learning about God’s character, the Bible, evangelism, the creative world (I was a creative design intern) and soooo much more. I am growing in the areas of discernment and boldness because of the program which are setting me up for this next season in my life.
All of these struggles, victories and new skills/knowledge have prepared my heart for this 3 month trip to Central America. I am OVERJOYED to be on a team with diverse backgrounds and stories & simply sit in awe how the Lord is going to be weaving our hearts for missions together in ways we can’t even imagine.
I love to be creative through singing/creating music, hand-lettering, drawing, painting and graphic design. Another huge passion of mine is the great outdoors! I absolutely loooove to hike, rock climb and soak in God’s creation. Lastly, I am wild for others. I love to serve in any shape or form (when you tell this to the Lord he might send you to camp to clean showers and bathrooms–mind you that was very humbling), but I especially love students. I am currently a small group leader for sixth grade girls at the same youth group I’ve attended since I was little, which shows me a beautiful full-circle effect. As a teenage girl who struggled with pure pressure & identity, I have becoming increasingly passionate about pouring into kids the love of Christ whether that’s in small groups, giving a message on a Wednesday night, or summer camp! When you fully devote your skills and talents and passions to the Lord, He is able to use you in a complete way to advance the Kingdom.
I am stoked to be a team member of the 2020 Nicaragua & Guatemala trip, and can’t wait to see how the Lord is going to use me.
