Hello everyone! My name is Aliyah DeCook and I’m so excited to share this crazy adventure with you! I’m from Byron, Minnesota. I come from a very big family (as most of you know), my oldest brothers name is Cole (20), then my stepsister, Olivia(19) a.k.a kooks, then me (17), my sister Alivia(16), my stepbrother Kyle(16) and finally my stepbrother Jake(16). (Also I have like a million cousins hahaha) I also have two dogs, Abby and Sammie. My family is a really big part of my life and I absolutely love spending time with them. I love hiking, traveling, spending time in God’s creation, Montana, playing soccer, naps, Netflix thrift shopping, and of course being with my family. A lot of you know already I got the opportunity to spend my whole summer in Montana serving the Lord at a camp called Clydehurst. Clydehurst is a really big part of my story, I was saved there in the summer of 2017 when I was a camper there, after that summer I felt called to work there next summer (I hope to share that all with you in a later blog). Working there this summer taught me so much and I couldn’t be more blessed for the friendships I made and what God was showing me that summer. Going into that summer I had high hopes of making lifelong friends with the girls I got to serve with, I’m happy to say that’s exactly what happened, the girls there showed me real friendship, and I can’t wait for the same thing to happen on this World Race! Since I was a little girl I always felt I wasn’t meant for something ordinary, for me, this is my first step into finding what I’m supposed to be doing, my purpose. Since High School, I’ve always felt like going to college right away wasn’t for me, but I had no idea what God wanted me to do. Then I heard about the World Race, the same day I heard about it, the applications for the 2019 routes came out, I felt strongly comforted by the Lord and felt called to apply, so that same day I applied for Route One, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Thailand. About a week later I had a phone interview and was accepted. I’m am so so excited and blessed that all of you are here to support and walk with me on the adventure!