Well hello there, friends! Thanks for stopping by. I am so excited and finally ready to share some big news with you!
I AM LEAVING THE UNITED STATES FOR 11 MONTHS TO SHARE THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST WITH 11 DIFFERENT NATIONS.
Woah. What? Where did that come from? Kinda crazy right?! Let me explain.
I want to bring everybody up to speed; whether you’ve known me my whole life, or you somehow stumbled upon this page and you’ve never met me, HELLO and welcome to my World Race blog!
This would be a great time to head over to the “About” page to read my testimony and a little bit about what brought me here. After you’re finished over there, come back here and we can recap and continue with the exciting news.
Welcome back! So, in short, I was raised Catholic but I didn’t really know who God was. I knew about Him. I knew that He created the heavens and the earth and all the fishes in the sea and me, of course. BUT, I didn’t know much about his character, and that I could actually have a relationship with Him – like a real friendship. One where we talk back and forth and spend quality time with each other. I discovered that He even desires to takes me on romantic dates! My favorite is when He surprises me with beautiful sunrises while I sit with my hot tea and His word and feel His overwhelming presence surrounding me. Truly divine. I love my God. He is my best friend. But I had no idea that was even possible until a little over two years ago.
Growing up, church was a chore. It was something we did on Sundays to pass the time (sorry Mom). I was bored in church, I never understood anything the priest said (even after going through eight years of PCR), and I just didn’t really care. I also didn’t feel like I needed a God. Everything in my life was perfect (lol), so I didn’t feel like I needed a God to pray to or look to as a loving friend and Father. I had both. And as a kid, anything I needed, my parents provided me. End of story.
Well, God is smarter than I gave Him credit for. He knew that I would need Him; He was just waiting for the right time to show me why.
The summer before I left for college, my world was turned upside down. Literally. I woke up one morning to my mom frantically searching the house for my dad. I had to rush off to work so I tried not to think too much into it, but let’s be honest, I couldn’t stop thinking about it the entire time.
Afterward, I went to my friend’s house because the last place I wanted to be was in my house where I was pretty sure police were investigating and my mom was freaking out.
Five minutes after arriving at my friend’s house, I got a phone call I will never forget.
Me: Hello?
Mom: Did you hear?
Me: No? Hear what?
Mom: He hung himself.
…
As you can imagine, my heart sunk, my stomach flew into my throat, my head started pounding, and my jaw dropped.
No.
No. No. No.
Nononononononono.
How? There’s no way. That’s not possible. MY dad couldn’t do that. There’s a softball game he has to coach tonight. He has work today! There’s bills to pay! I never got a proper goodbye! How can he leave us here?
I was angry. Angry at him and angry at God. How could God do this to me and my family? If He really loved us, He would’ve saved us from all of this pain and heartache.
Long story short, I learned about my deep need for God through the loss of my dad. There was no one else in this entire world that could not only completely understand, but take care of me, protect me, and love me as much as He did. I was nothing without Him. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t be here today, let alone be here sharing this incredible news with you all, had He not saved me from rock bottom.
Day by day, I started to grow in my faith. Prayer was integral. Community was necessary. Learning from giants of faith helped me to gain insight and perspective on my own faith journey.
And just like the good God He is, I don’t think any of this would’ve happened had I not been pushed off to college. God planned this incident (although I have a really hard time being grateful for my dad’s death) perfectly and with my heart in mind.
Finding my way in a new city, with new people, new places, new experiences, and new opportunities played a key part in the healing of my broken soul. I found the best home I could possibly imagine through my church. I found the best opportunities to plug into my community and pour my heart into service. All of these miraculous ways that I’ve found healing from the great big hole in my heart would not have been possible without the Man upstairs looking out for me and planning each and every one of my steps. I thank Him everyday for saving me.
Although a lot more has happened since then, those reasons are what brought me here.
I want to bring the name of Jesus to every nation, every tribe, and every person in this world. I want to spread His name like wildfire. If God could turn my ashes into beautiful things, I can only imagine what He’ll do for the rest of His children around the globe. There is so much hurt in this world, and cannot imagine the pain people suffer through without having the hope of Jesus Christ. God wants them to know He loves them, and He wants to use me (why? I have no clue.) to shine His light. He wants me to proclaim His name and love on these people like He would if He was here.
SO, that is why I chose the World Race!!!
I will be traveling to 11 different countries in 11 months from August of 2019 to July of 2020. We will spend one month in each of these countries: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. I am stoked!!
Ministry will look different in every single country because our squad will be splitting up and pairing with different organizations within. Some examples could be planting churches, working in orphanages, ministering to women and children trapped in prostitution/human trafficking, teaching English and Bible lessons in schools, and of course, preaching the Gospel and bringing the restorative hope of the Father and His love to any and everyone we meet.
To say the least, this is going to be an adventure.
And it starts TODAY! I am overwhelmed with joy, peace, and hope for this journey, and I cannot wait to bring you all along with me.
However, I cannot do this thing alone. This is going to take a village. As you all probably could’ve guessed, I am going to need help. In several ways.
First, I need prayer. Please, please, please pray for me, my squad, and all of the people we will be ministering to around the world. Specifically, I need prayer for the faith to trust God with this whole process! I am flooded with school, work, graduation, extracurriculars, etc., PLUS this project that is blogging, preparing for 11 months abroad, and fundraising. I need all of the prayers I can get.
Second, I need partnerships. If you would like to partner with me in making this dream come true, look no further! This blog is where it all will go down. I need to raise a total of $19,200 to be fully funded and stick this thing out to the end. I would LOVE to sit down with you and chat more about what led me here, what God is currently doing in my life, and how you can be a part of this journey with me! Please do not hesitate to reach out!!
Lastly, I need power. What does that mean? If this is going to take a village, I need to build a powerful community that will stand behind me and join with God to make this work! Share this blog on social media, with your family, with your friends, with your co-workers, roommates, pets, UPS guy, Bible study, classmates, you get the gist. I want people to follow along. I want people to see the miraculous things God is doing in and through me to share His goodness with those all across the globe.
It’s going to be amazing year, friends. Thank you for choosing to be here with me.
God Bless,
Allison
