Hello friends and future friends, near and far!
IT’S REAL. I’M HERE. I can’t believe that MY face and name is on one of those blogs I’ve stalked for so long. In August 2016, I will be a missionary on the World Race for 11months in 11 countries: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize! The ministry will differ depending on how I’m serving, so I honestly can’t even imagine what I’ll be doing yet…but God does. SO EXCITING
Since this is my first blog about this, you might be asking…
How did I get here?
There I am in May 2012 being asked what I wanted to do after graduation, and while I fully knew that God had a pretty great plan for me in Juneau and that starting college was the best way to be the best steward of the multiple blessings I’d received (scholarships), part of my heart was still rocketing off to other places. In March, I’d gone to Guatemala during my spring break with my church’s youth group and had gotten a taste of what short-term missions was like. That week opened my eyes to so much; not only to a different country but also to how big God is and how He can use me. I loved serving and I loved the growth our team experienced in the short amount of time. I started researching mission trips when I got back, even though I knew I was going to go to college. And I happily did! I started my freshman year, switched majors, found a community of believers that I am now able to call my wonderful friends…but never stopped thinking about missions. Somewhere in that research I stumbled across a mission trip that lodged itself in my heart and has never left, a mission trip called The World Race. I remember sitting in my bed with my laptop, my heart racing and blood singing as I read about it. The World Race: an 11-month mission trip that goes to 11 different countries. 18-year-old me was stoked by the thought of abandoning all my worldly comforts, expectations, and plans and making myself available to God and the 11 countries I wanted to tell about Jesus. Fear and hesitation were two emotions I did not feel at all in regards to possibility of going, until I saw 2 little details:
1) You have to be 21 to do the World Race. I was 3 years (the agony! the time will never pass!) away until I could even apply!
2) There’s fundraising involved…yikes.
Despite those 2 obstacles, my heart was set on fire. I could wait, I could PRAY. I told a few close friends about this crazy goal, and every time I talked about the World Race, it was kind of like this: SUPER STOKED WOOO I WANT TO LIVE OUT OF A BACKPACK FOR 11 MONTHS AND TELL EVERYONE THAT JESUS LOVES THEM DOESN’TTHIS SOUND AMAZING AND EPIC AND yeahbutit’skindofacrazyideasinceitcosts$17,000andIprobablywouldn’t actuallydoitandyouhavetobe21butheyit’sacoolthoughtyouknow?
Over the last 3 years, the World Race has never left my heart. I stalked the new routes every time they were released, wondering if one day I would do it. I read the racers’ blogs and felt the fire to go burn, still alive and untamable. In the meantime, I studied abroad in Germany for a year and got to travel quite a bit in Europe! Rather than quench my desires, however, I was just ignited. Meeting different people from so many different countries and learning about their cultures, perspectives, and personal stories really engaged me and I loved sharing my faith, too. I turned 21 in March, and it got slightly more real. There have been times where I really pushed the idea out of my head and wrote it off as a dream, even though I’ve never felt so passionate about doing anything as I have about serving abroad.
This fall, when the routes for the World Race in August 2016 came out, I decided to apply. I filled out the application and then…let it sit there for a month while I sorted through my thoughts. Am I going to do this? How can I NOT, if I feel so strongly that God has put it on my heart? I had also found a YWAM program I was interested in that felt so much safer: it was only 6 months and I could pay for it all by myself. I know that it appealed to me because I wouldn’t have to trust anyone but myself and the length of the program fit with other “linear” goals of mine. I hovered in this state of non-decision until Chrystal, my close friend/sister in Christ/ roommate/total blessing, told me that I’ll stay in the boat forever if I don’t step out. In the end, I submitted applications for both, but as soon as I had I knew which one I hoped for: the World Race.
After an online interview and a phone interview after submitting the extensive application, I found out on October 29th that I was accepted to the World Race August 2014 Route 3! It’s real!
One of the most exciting and terrifying things about this is that I know that I am unable to do this alone—I know that I need God. There’s so much to be done, so much to trust in. All I know is that to GO and love others because I love Jesus and what he’s done in my life is not a fleeting desire. I believe that God gave me this desire to go and learn and love. My heart that longs to serve and tell the lost, to reflect love, and that is not scared of the unknown was created by Him. That’s what this is all about for me. That’s what draws my heart and gives me the fire: the opportunity to go and share Christ’s love.
Maybe this is a cliché by now, but when I first heard the song Oceans by Hillsong United, I thought that someone had somehow translated my heart: “You call me out upon the waters/ The great unknown, where feet may fail” –I will be called places before and during the Race where my feet will definitely fail, and I can’t wait to see how God picks me up and leads me. The chorus, though, is where I sing from the bottom of my heart. I’ve always sung this in my head with such longing: a longing to go and a longing to just know what God is going to do with this adventurous heart of mine:
“Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior”
To be lead where I can only trust, to be taken deeper than I can fathom…as I love Christ and the people that don’t know him yet. That is why the World Race first captured my heart.
Thanks for stopping by! Also, if you don’t know me too well yet, check out the “About” link–maybe we’re secretly BFF compatible. If you have questions or thoughts or any fun facts about manatees, comment or contact me! 😀
Brittni
