Attention World!
Elizabeth Yates is going on the World Race!
I understand that if you are visiting this blog, you most likely know that already, but this declaration is still so new to me, I couldn’t help but announce it again! God has stripped away all my expectations, my planning, and my attempts to put Him (and my serving Him) in a box, and He has sent me on a journey I never expected to be going on. I had a perfect layout in my mind of what kind of mission trip I wanted to go on, how long I would be gone, and how much it would cost. I had it narrowed down to trips that made sense to me and were “manageable” from a logical and financial standpoint. Methodically, I looked at websites and contacted friends to find the mission trip that fit my criteria, and I was confident God would provide a cookie cutter trip that stayed within the lines I had set.
Yeah… right.
Isn’t there a saying out there that states if you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him your plans? Well, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. After a lot of frustration and stress followed by some Bible reading, David Platt podcasts, and a Francis Chan book, I realized what I was doing, threw my hands in the air, and said, “Fine God. I’m going to quit looking for trips! If You really want me overseas, I guess You’ll have to toss something in my lap. I give up on finding ‘my’ trip.” Low and behold, it was just a week or two later that He almost literally threw something in my lap: The World Race. It didn’t fit my cookie-cutter. It wasn’t financially “manageable” for a kid right out of college. It wasn’t my time-frame. But it did give me goose-bumps the moment I looked at the January route, and a peace and confirmation I hadn’t felt with any other trip. I knew instantly – This was it.
Okay, God. You win.
So now, ladies and gentlemen, I am letting you know that I am a World Racer. God has called me to travel to 11 countries in 11 months, sharing the gospel and Jesus’ love with the people I come in contact with. Carrying only what can fit in my backpack, I will launch out on this adventure with 55 other young adults who love Jesus as much as I do, and we will learn to live and serve in community with one another. I will have to rely TOTALLY on my Savior, and trust Him to provide for my needs. It’s time for me to give up the “American dream” and pursue a deeper relationship with my Creator that will leave me completely abandoned to Him.
Where will I be serving? Due to the nature of the trip, some plans will inevitably change along the way, but as it stands now, my route is as follows:
· The Dominican Republic
· Haiti
· Peru
· Bolivia
· Ecuador
· Kenya
· Tanzania
· Uganda
· Thailand
· Cambodia
· Malaysia
That list alone should tell you just how excited I am about this trip! Please be in prayer for me as I prepare for this trip spiritually, mentally, physically, and financially. Serving God is always an adventure whether it means dancing in the joy of cloudless skies or drawing a sword in the midst of a heated battle. The thing He is constantly reminding me though, is that the adventure doesn’t start when I get on foreign soil… the adventure starts now!
