Launch-
“It comes, like the sun setting into the earth, like the green resting into the reds and browns, like a shadow merging into the dark, like time escaping into an everlasting capsule. To leave can never be permanent, like the cycle of the land, memories will remain and the past already spent cannot be forgotten.”
The time has come. I set off for Atlanta, Georgia today, for launch camp. I will spend a few days finishing and finalizing my mental and physical preparations at the fabulous Holiday Inn that Atlanta has to offer and then i will be off to Cambodia. And it will be 11 months before i am back. Currently i am so excited i can’t stop smiling. I’m in puppy love with the fact that i finally get to start this next year. It has been a long journey coming. With that in mind this seems like the perfect time to reveal my testimony and with that the testimony of my life with missions.
I would say that i did not grow up “in the church” (the phrase always bothered me; maybe because it is used too frequently, or maybe it just seems unimaginable to me for someone to “grow up” in church.) i would say that my parents definitely believed in God. They never expressed that the didn’t, but never really implemented why they did, so it seems it was just a neutral subject in our household. We attempted to go to church when i was in my youth, when i was younger for sure, but every Sunday was dreaded, because it was something we had to do. I was never present. I dreaded it actually. On the occasion when my parents forced me to attend the youth group, which i hated, i never felt welcome. I felt like the other kids were always excluding me on purpose because i wasn’t a “regular”. As eventually as we got a little older my parents stopped trying to make us go, and we stopped going altogether. God was never a topic on my mind. When i got to Jr. High a friend invited me to her church, so i went. It was fun, the youth had their own building, the played games and had breakfast before we broke up into same gender groups where we just talked about boys and stuff for an hour. I loved it. I was always the kid that probably didn’t fit in, but i thought everybody is my friend, why wouldn’t they be?! Even for those girls that loved to make fun of me, i thought that meant they loved me, so hanging out with a bunch of girls, having a group of friends to talk to about nonsense was amazing to me. I went maybe two times. The next time i went was in High school. I was dealing with some very difficult things, including some serious depression, but at the same time i was searching, for something, some kind of happiness. I am very interested in knowledge and theology and all things of culture (which i didn’t realize, was God’s gift and interests given to Me.) so i started exploring. I wanted to know about all types of happiness and where i could find it, through religion, through art, through music. I was skeptical about which God was real. My sister started going to that church again, and i followed, but it was different this time. There was breakfast, but we didn’t break up, we stayed together, we worshipped, and then we all sat and listened to an entire sermon. I liked it. I was intrigued by the environment, i started feeling happiness. So i kept going. Through worship and the people in that youth group, i felt Joy for the first time. Joy from God. Real joy! I can’t explain it completely, but it is the most complete happiness and comfort, it is the ultimate joy and i had never experienced anything to compare, and i knew. I knew that this God was THE GOD. Since then my life switched. It was immediate. Nothing mattered anymore, this world could never get me down again because i knew that Go was real, all of it was real. Later i found Jesus, i realized that this relationship with God wasn’t about me, i became nothing and Christ became everything. Now with missions, i had never been on a mission trip, i had never even thought or new mission trips were a thing. When i got to college i was on fire, i was looking for a group, community, anything just to be involved with God. I became involved with the BSM on campus. I went to every event. They had free lunches, a bible study, and an international free dinner with the international students on campus, and i ended up going to Worldlife (the international bible study) every week. I LOVED it. I started to realize that i felt so happy with international students. That was where i belonged and the people i belonged around. Since then God has literally just planned out my mission life. It has all fallen in my lap so easily. I got a job that next summer at a church in Plano Texas, as a youth intern. I managed the 6h, 7th, and 8th grade girls. And the first mission trip i ever went on was one that i planned and coordinated for that youth group… i didn’t tell them that because i didn’t want them to know that i was about to plan something i had never even done before.. It was amazing, i loved it. The following summer i decided i needed to go overseas. I was in the office one day saying, “I really want to go somewhere this summer, the office secretary said this group is looking for people.” so i said okay! And i went with them. I spent 3 months in morocco that summer, and again it changed my life. i realized God had crafted me for missions, it just feels like i am living my life when i am on trips, (not that i don’t see every day of my life as a mission, i definitely do.) but overseas my purpose feels like it is filling up. The next year hurricane sandy happened. And my roommate came in and said “do you want to do disaster relief in New jersey.” i replied “Ya! Why not.” and she said “cool, we leave in three days.” i spent my thanksgiving with hurricane sandy and completed my first trip with AIM. I fell in love with Adventures in Missions. I knew that this was the group i wanted to serve with. The following spring i became a Project Leader with them, led trips all summer and applied for the world race for the next summer. Like i said, God has literally just planned my life for me.
It has been over a year since i submitted my application for the World Race and it is finally here. I am in denial a little, but i am ready. Praise God… just to praise God, I’m so excited to share everything all year with anyone reading this. I’m going to stop now because this is way too long. Love you! Be praying for launch and our first month in Cambodia. Also for me, because i am a logistics leader for my squad, and it’s looking like a big o’l job. Peace.
