Hey everybody! So this is my first post on here. I figured it would be best to just say a little bit about myself and why I am going on this trip! To start off, I am 22 years old. I live in Central New York in a city called Syracuse. I am currently going to school part time and I also volunteer with the fire department here. So I grew up going to church with my family every Sunday. Throughout my young life, I never fully grasped it. I didn’t like Sunday school because I was super shy, and I never really paid attention to what was being said during the sermon. I knew that God existed, and that he sent His son to die for our sins, but I didn’t really know why I believed that, nor did I have any knowledge of His work to refute my claim. Around the age of 12 I was given the decision to stop going to church if I didn’t want to. So I stopped. At that point in my life I was like many christians today who believe that this is something that you can do on your own. That your relationship with Christ can simply be the acknowledgement that He exists, and nothing more. Now, don’t get me wrong, knowing that He exists and acknowledging that is great, but I would eventually learn that it takes much more than that. So I stopped going to church, and things got pretty bad over time. I became very depressed, and very anxious, and I really just had no motivation or purpose in my life. I got mixed up in some bad things. It wasn’t really until about 2 years ago that I finally started to get my life on track. But there was still something missing. A big something. About a year ago, I had been coming to terms with the fact that I was financially unstable. Like really unstable. I had heard of Dave Ramsey on youtube, and was starting to get interested in learning his techniques. I hadn’t really told anyone about this, and I really put it on the back burner. One night, after hearing in a youtube blog about Dave Ramsey again, I knew I really needed to start looking into it again. That night, I came home to find a book on my nightstand. It was Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. My dad’s friend (who live on the other side of the country mind you) had sent it to him thinking that it might help me out. This was it. This was my eye opening moment. I had no doubt in my mind that God was screaming at me. “I am here! I want YOU!” So I started reading. It was all very interesting, but it was hard for me to put it all into practice. That’s when my church decided to facilitate Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace course. Again, it was like a slap in the face (a good one of course) “I am here! I want YOU!” So I signed up. The course was during the 11 o’clock service, so I decided I was going to start going to the 9:30 service immediately before hand. Since then, I have missed as few services as possible. He drew me in. He made it intensely clear that He wanted me! That missing piece that I could never find, was a relationship with God! He gave me everything that I needed to make the journey into His arms! God is great! About a month ago, my church started talking about their annual Sunday celebration. A Sunday service outside, at the end of summer, with lots of music, and food, and praise, and most importantly, a lot of baptisms. Naturally I started thinking, ‘Should I get baptized?’ This thought was in my head constantly for about three days, until I decided to go for a run. I put on my Rend Collective pandora station and started running. I got very spiritual on that run, and eventually got to the point where I asked God to give me the strength to run for a longer time than I ever have. That was the first day that I ever ran an entire mile without stopping to walk (I’m not the most fit person). At the end of that mile I was overcome with this feeling. The feeling that God was there. Right there running with me. I broke down, with joy, knowing that He is always right there beside me. I decided that morning that I was going to be baptized. August 24, 2014 was the best day of my life. Surrounded by family and friends, and 30+ others who put their life in His hands. It was amazing. I looked back at all God had done, and is doing in my life, and I got to thinking, I want others to experience the same joy and love that I experience everyday that I live my life in His arms. So I took to google in search of Christian mission trips. I knew that my church goes on mission trips sometimes, but I wanted something longer. Something that allowed me to spend a decent chunk of time doing God’s work. That’s when I came across the World Race. 11 countries in 11 months! Wow. This was it. The more research I did, the more I was interested. I made a profile, but spent the next week not knowing whether I should fill out the application or not. So finally I decided I was going to go in my room, and pray about it. So I prayed, and then I sat in silence for a nice long time just listening for His answer. During that silence, my phone rang. Naturally I didn’t answer it because I was in the middle of praying. When I finished however, I checked my voicemail. It was a representative from Adventures in Missions asking if I needed any help filling out the application. Thinking of that situation still gives me goosebumps to this day. He is amazing. He made it clear as day that He is calling me on this trip. So I am here. I will do whatever I need to do in order to make this trip a reality. I would not want to be anywhere else, doing anything else. God is great!
So that’s me! Sorry if that was long winded, but I wanted to get everything out there and show you guys who I am! I will post again soon, but for now, just know that He is amazing!
Love to all!
–Colin
