i grew up as a missionary kid but i dont think my friends and i were exactly the greatest examples of what that’s supposed to look like. i know i definitely did not want to be a missionary when i was growing up. somehow in the last five years god has really changed this in me, and i have developed a heart geared towards expanding the kingdom of god around the world. a big part of the reason for this would be the church i have been going to. i have been on several mission trips with my church that have really impacted me in life changing ways. as a church, we went through a season of discovering what it means to give ourselves away. it was amazing to be in a place where we could discover what this looked like as a church together. ot of 5000 people, we sent over 2000 people on mission during the summer. it was also around this time that i saw the documentary, Invisible Children. after watching this, i decided i didnt want to sit on the sidelines any longer but wanted to be involved in these social justice issues. i finally got my chance to go to northern uganda and i am so excited to be able to return with the world race. i have always wanted to do something like the world race but there have always been excuses that have prevented me from going (mostly student loans). one day, i stumbled across the world race info while reading relevent magazine and looked the website up. i spent the next couple hours reading blogs and looking at pictures of some of the world racers. i was blown away at how this was exactly the thing i have been wanting to do but had no idea existed. this trip has everything that i love and value- traveling the world (especially areas of extreme poverty ),  community, making disciples, ministry in social justice issues, backpacking,  competition, partnering with local churches, and learning from the established missionaries in each country we visit. i have no idea what my future holds in terms of missions but i think this is a great step to help me discover what that could look like.