How did I hear about the World Race?

It was while I was on a mini vacation in Lynchburg, VA (home to Liberty University) with some of my girls from church! During our trip one of the guys who were staying with named Dan, mentioned that he was getting ready to leave in October for The World Race, when we asked what it was he said “It’s an 11 countries in 11 months missions trip!” My thoughts were, “WOW that is Awesome, but CRAZY and I would never want to do it!”. Little did I know that God was planning otherwise!  I enjoyed my weekend and then went home and completely forgot about the conversation I had,had. Then a week later while I was just playing around on my laptop the name World Race kept popping into my head so I looked it up and read lots of information, but then got sidetracked and ended up forgetting all about it again. Another week went by and then one night I kept hearing God speak to me, almost like He was there beside me in my room. I kept hearing Him say “Emily as a child you wanted to be a missionary, as a teenager you wanted to go on missions trips and do “mission’s type” work, now as an adult when I give you a huge opportunity to serve Me all you can do is say that its a CRAZY idea! Why my child?”  I of course played the guilty person to a hilt by ignoring God’s voice, therefore wrestling with sleep for the rest of the night. The Very next day I was at work less than two hours when a coworker came up to me and asked about being a christian and believing in God, I hesitated (remember that word *hesitated*) then jumped in and talked with that person for the next 40 minutes. Later that day at lunch I was sitting there eating when a thought hit me so hard, that it made me sick.  How sad was it, that I had to wait until someone came up to me and asked about God, before I would mention Him, and even then after hesitating?!?! The thought made me start crying, I mean like bawling my eyes out in the middle of the Subway that I was sitting in, I decided right then and there that I would go home and apply for The World Race. Even though I was *Scared* (because fear I found, was what kept me from taking all the other opportunities that God had sent my way), I was going to go for it because if it was what God wanted for me, then He would see me through each step of the way. And He HAS! I applied that very night and got about halfway through the application process before I got hung up on a question, and had to quit for the day. Two days later I got a call from a staff member with World Race named Matt, he said that he noticed that I had started an application and just wanted to encourage me to finish it. God knew that I needed encouragement right then and so He sent it, Matt was able to answer my question and give me a little bit of an idea of what His World Race had been like.  I was So excited that I got my application finished the next day, and then took the next step of setting up a phone interview for a couple of days later. I have to say that I was pretty nervous for the phone interview because:

#1. I just do not have good phone skills, I would rather talk to you  face-to-face then have a phone conversation.

#2. If I stumble around or act silly like I usually do when I’m nervous then they wouldn’t think I was serious about going on a huge mission’s trip like this. 

But God took care of my fears and gave me a really sweet staff member named Darci to have the interview with, and when she started it off with praying for me, Well that just knocked all of my nervousness out of the park. So the interview went really well, and I was told that it would take up to a week or two to hear back on whether I was accepted or not. The NEXT DAY I got a call from a different World Race staff member name Jacob, who told me that I had been accepted!!! I of course gave a little yelp into the phone and did a little dance around my room! After getting off of the phone I realized “HEY this really must be what God wants for me, I can’t wait to get started”! and I thanked God for what He had already done in my life so far.  Since then I have had the ups and downs of realizations like (I won’t be home next year for this birthday or holiday) or (This time next year I’ll be in KENYA)!  I am currently getting things up and going like this blog for example, as well as things like applying for a passport, renewing licenses and things, ordering bracelets to sell for a fundraiser, looking at gear, insurance, vaccinations. Then there is the issue of raising my support which in total is $15,500 for the trip, and probably another $1,500 for the expense of gear, insurance, and vaccinations. It is OVERWHELMING at times, but I know that God is in control and that He will provide as long as I have faith and believe in Him!