“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”-Matt. 28:19-20
As I mention in my previous blog post, I have always had a passion for mission, and helping others who are less fortunate then I for I am so thankful to have been so blessed with many things in my life. That seed of passion for mission was planted during my middle school years as I remember spending a weekend in downtown Detroit helping out at a soup kitchen, and helping to plant a community garden in one of the rougher parts of the city, along with staying at Fort Street Presbyterian Church.
It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I had an amazing opportunity to go on a summer mission trip for the first time in many years since we had a change of youth pastors the summer after my junior year, and she was the one that brought so many fresh ideas including rebooting the high school youth summer mission trip. I went on that mission trip down to the state of Tennessee where we helped an elderly lady paint the exterior of her house. I was one of the youth assistant leaders too which was a huge honor. We camped in the local state park, and the work was hard but it was so gratifying and we went white water rafting at the week’s end, which was so cool, and something that I was able to cross off my bucket list too.
Not really mission related, but it was community service related which to me is pretty close to the same thing. In college I volunteered with APO once a month to the old nuns retirement home to play Euchre with the nuns there, and that was such a blast (my favorite story is when I played the left bower and stole the nun’s trick since she had played the highest card to take the trick up til that point, and I got called a dirty little rascal by her. I cracked up laughing)
Flash forward to 2010- 5 years after Hurricane Katrina, and I had the chance to go on a churchwide mission trip down to New Orleans to help with the ongoing recovery and rebuilding of homes in the hardest hit areas of the city. That mission trip is one that still sticks with me to this very day since I really learned a lot about mission service at a national level as we were there through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA).
One of the questions that I have gotten since I told people that I was going to take this shot was-Why was I called to go on World Race? (After I get the “you are crazy” look from others when I tell them about my new adventure)
This is an partial easy answer for me since it combines many things that I am passionate about: God, serving on missions/giving back to those who are less fortunate then I, travel, the outdoors, and my passion for learning about other cultures and photography. World Race fit all of those areas of my criteria. The other part of my answer is the hard answer since ever since I had heard about World Race from a former racer friend of mine, it was something that was put in the back of my mind at the time since I always knew that I wanted to do something like that but I had my doubts that I had what it took to actually pursue something like World Race, so I just shoved it back there, and didn’t think about it until recently.
You see this past summer I had about reached my breaking point as I was extremely frustrated with the way things were going with me in regards to my job (I broke down in a meeting with my team leader in which my favorite team leader was also present, and I never do that), my health as I was dealing with bone crushing fatigue/dizziness (I’m much better now since I found out what was going on, and its nothing major which is good news), and just how my life was going in general (I knew it was bad when even my golf game suffered since I wasn’t even enjoying playing golf with my awesome foursome). I prayed to God for guidance in what I should do, and that was when God put World Race once again on my heart. I listened to God and I made up my mind to apply for World Race in the Fall since that was what I felt God was telling me when to apply. I’ll admit I was a bit scared, but I have faith in God, and I knew that if her had put it on my heart then I had to obey so I did, and guess what? It indeed was his will for me to be chosen to go, and the rest is history since I am now beginning that journey that he reveled to me this past summer. So as one can see I do have an extensive mission history, and I am excited to be able to add World Racer to my list of mission accomplishments.
So just what is World Race? I think the following statement that I found on their website sums it up better then I could ever do:
Imagine leaving all that’s “normal” behind for the next 11 months while you explore who you are and who God has called you to be. Imagine traveling the world caring for the lost and the hurting. The World Race is an 11 month missions trip around the world in which missional teams experience what the first generation of disciples did: feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and hearing the voice of God.
That’s going to be my life come next Fall for a whole year, and I am looking forward to it.
Don’t Forget to donate!
Til next time your fellow Sister in Christ,
Bonnie
Psalm 18:2
