“Surely the islands look to me…”
Isaiah 60:9
These words drive the desires of my heart… but we’ll get to that later 🙂 I grew up in Kentucky and spent my college years in Tennessee, but the Dominican Republic will always be the place I call home. I grew up with my parents and younger brother in Louisville… home of the Kentucky Derby, bluegrass, and good ole’ Louisville Slugger. I was blessed with an amazing family, great church, good friends, and parents who shared the love of Jesus with me.
The years I spent in college were when God really rocked my world. While I had been a believer most of my life, this is when I fell head-over-heels in love with God. I have a degree in early childhood education and always thought I would grow up, get married, have kids, and never work again. Ha. God sure changed that around! I went to Johnson Bible College, a very missions focused school in the mountains of East Tennessee. During my sophomore year of college, I couldn’t deny the fact that the Lord was urging me to devote my summer to missions. I ended up spending my summer at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic and all my previous hopes and dreams died right there as soon as I met those beautiful kids. I spent the next two years of my life going back as much as I could, knowing that the Lord had created a special part of my heart for the Dominican. I graduated, moved down, and just recently got back to the States after living in the DR for a year and a half.
The past year and a half has been a time full of falling more in the love with the Dominican people, being burdened by the way human trafficking affects this country, and learning a lot of lessons about love and life from the Lord. My heart beats to bring glory to my Father. I long for hope and the power of the Gospel to bring restoration to the hearts of Dominicans. I have a fire in my blood to see women released from the chains of prostitution and sex trafficking. So really, my dreams didn’t die the summer of ’07 in the Dominican Republic. They were born. I couldn’t have thought up these God-given dreams if I had tried and I am humbled to spend my life chasing after them. I am excited about this opportunity to spend time serving along-side others who have a similar vision and to gain some incredible wisdom from people who are already doing insane things to fight this battle called human trafficking.
AND… a few other things about me… 🙂
-I love speaking Spanish. It is hands down my favorite language.
-I like playing cards… especially games that make you think.
-I like baking… pumpkin chocolate chip cookies are my favorite 🙂
-I’m kind of addicted to coffee and tea… but I could stop anytime 🙂
-I love traveling, seeing new cultures, and doing new things.
-Chick-fil-a openings are one of my favorite social events.
-I like math… and doing math problems is fun for me? haha.
-I used to want dreads, but I’m pretty sure that would never be culturally acceptable for a Dominican woman… so we’ll save that for another time in life.
-I prefer to be outside rather than inside.
-I would eat rice and beans every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it.
-I love good conversations, encouraging people, hearing people’s stories, and keeping up with good friends.
-I loooove God… and life 🙂
If you would like to know more about me, check out my other blog…
