Hello again! Can you believe it’s been nearly a month since starting this whole thing?? What a life. I am so deeply grateful for every ounce of support I have received whether it be finances, prayers, encouragement, or simply just love. I have been so incredibly blessed and just have seen the Fathers hand in this in so many ways already. And can we just say a huge hallelujah and praise God for the fact that I am already HALF WAY funded?! You guys it’s been three weeks since I have been accepted for my mission and I wouldn’t have ever thought I’d be standing here saying that. HE IS SO GOOD. Gah, okay. I could sit here and type out how thankful and blessed I am forever but I won’t haha!
If you missed my last blog you can go back and view it right on this site! I gave a little introduction of myself just so you all can get to know me a little better if you don’t already! But today I wanna give you all a little insight on why I chose to take this step into Adventures in Missions and kind of how the idea and reality of it even came about!
I met the Lord in September of 2018 and one of the first things He began putting on my heart was overseas missions. Now at the time I was fifteen and had so many thoughts that probably went like “um Lord that’s crazy,” “maybe that’s just my weird thought,” or “how would that even happen.” I never said much of anything about it because again, I had no idea what to think! And with being the age I was, going overseas didn’t seem real likely at that point in time. So I held on to that little piece God laid on my heart and kept it tucked away maybe for later.
Along my walk with the Lord it started to become not just a thought. It became something that the Lord spoke to me through others. Someone would be praying with me and being a missionary would be mentioned just briefly. A time or two I had people just plainly walk up to me and tell me God would be calling me to other countries. And one time I had a girl who I BARELY knew message me with an urgency to meet up with me. She had just come home from a Christian conference and all she told me was she needed to tell and talk to me about something. We met up for coffee a few days later and she starts talking about coming upon this booth at this conference that was about missionary work. She looked me in the eyes and said “I walked up to that booth and the Lord just whispered ‘Tell Haley’ and I knew it was you so I couldn’t not come tell you.” I got chills. I felt so excited when she spoke to me about more details with it and I didn’t know why. Her telling me didn’t mean I was headed out for mission the next month and it wasn’t her inviting me to be a part of one or anything.. but I was ecstatic inside.
Through my whole walk I’ve prayed and prayed about going on mission. I had asked God over and over if these little detailed ways that it had shown up in was leading up to an actual mission somewhere. I wanted what He had for me whether it was being a missionary overseas or not.
Probably right under a year ago I got my confirmation that He has called me into this. I didn’t have any idea of how or when it would happen, but I had full faith that what He said was true.
If you have talked to me in within the last nine months you may have heard me say something about “if I’m on mission next summer” a time or two. I have had such a desire to go across this big world and spread Jesus’ love and I had a gut feeling that it was next summer. I had asked the Lord to confirm several times but my answer was always either “have patience” or “trust” which I won’t lie, was never the answer I wanted but oh was it the answer I needed.
I (maybe not so patiently) waited this whole last summer for Adventures in Missions to post their summer 2021 routes. I may or may not have emailed them a time or two about the release dates haha! I had been decided on going through Adventures in Missions because my lovely and dear friend Maia Jenkins (almost Riddle, holy cow!) had been through them three times before and assured me of how wonderful they are to work with. She trusts them with everything so I had no doubt when it came to applying for mission with them!
Finally, the routes were posted and I definitely jumped up and down and squealed haha! My heart was bursting with the possibility of this dream God put into my heart becoming a reality. I sent in my application the very day that the routes were posted and two days later I received my follow-up call AND my call to congratulate me on being accepted! I was actually at work when receiving both calls. The first one I was out on delivery, taking someone flowers, and pulled over so I could answer the call ha! And then the second one came when I was back at the flower shop. I had gone back into my boss’s office to answer the phone and then throw myself a tiny party for a quick minute before sharinen decided on going through Adventures in Missions because my lovely and dear friend Maia Jenkins (almost Riddle, holy cow!) had been through them three times before and assured me of how wonderful they are to work with. She trusts them with everything so I had no doubt when it came to applying for mission with Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours.” And goodness have I cried a lot haha! But I think that’s one big reason why I am so eager to do this. My heart shatters for those who don’t know our sweet Jesus and for those who have never even heard His beautiful name. It breaks for those who are lost and broken, because we all have been, and don’t know the abundance of life, freedom, and love that is found in the Savior. And it breaks His heart to not know those who don’t know Him. Our God desires us so deeply. We are sons and daughters of the King and there are people in this world who are living without knowing or pursuing that. I pray that saying yes to this call puts me in such a position for the Lord to use me so that lost souls can come to know the Lord and fall in love with Him. So that hearts can be rescued and restored. Gosh I could go on forever.
I am so excited for this opportunity. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in me in these months leading up to when I leave and what He is going to do while my team and I are overseas. I am walking with expectation for Him to move not only then but now. I believe He is preparing the hearts in Thailand and Cambodia and He is preparing my heart and my squad members hearts. Agh, isn’t the Lord so cool??
I am so grateful for all of you following along with me on this journey and am so thankful for each of you individually. Please, continue praying for me along with the hearts of those my team and I will be ministering to next summer and my team members own hearts.
I love you all, Jesus loves you, God IS GOOD, and I pray He blesses you today. Thank you for reading and feel free to subscribe to receive updates!
