Hey my name is Jess! I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas my junior year of high school. Growing up my family always had me and my younger sister Sami in church. My parents were owners of taekwondo studios most of my life so I spent most of my time practicing my karate when I wasn’t at school or church. I always knew that God loved me and Jesus died for my sins, but that was the extent of it until my eighth grade year. This was a time in my life that things started to get a little tough.
My parents sat me and my sister down and told us that they were deciding to get a divorce. I was thrown by the thought of them even being separated. I wanted to distract myself from all of the family problems that were going on so I focused a lot on my social life and tried to get away from the whole scenario at home. Something that I didn’t realize was that God was wanting me to run to Him during this time instead of some of the things that I was turning to. I became obsessed with how other people saw me and it caused me to not be a person I’m very proud of. My first year of high school I was in show choir while I was also cheerleading. The only time I was focusing on my relationship with the Lord was during the Summer camp I’ve attended every year since I was in sixth grade, and it wasn’t until the Summer leading up to my sophomore year that I went from being a lukewarm Christian to becoming on fire for God!
That Summer I recommitted my life to Christ and it was the best decision of my life. After all the family drama and self confidence issues I was facing during that dark time I found new life. I knew that God was going to use what I was going through for someone else going through similar struggles.
When my mom, Robin, and new step dad, Kurt, decided that we should move to Arkansas I couldn’t be more excited! My life was finally going to change and I was going to be able to start over. Being the new girl at first was scary, but when we found our home church, That.Church, my relationship with Christ skyrocketed. My sister and I soon became very involved in the Student Leadership School and I got to go on my first mission trip last year to Los Angeles, California. We went to places like Skid Row and my heart was broken when I saw how some of the people were living with so little. I knew that I wanted to do something about the hurting people in the World and share the awesome story of Jesus with them.
I’m in the middle of my senior year of high school when I came across the WRGY (World Race Gap Year). Basically it’s a trip to five different countries including: India, Nepal, Nicaragua, Swaziland, and Lesotho in nine months to share the Gospel. I knew immediately that it was something that I needed to do so I turned in my application as soon as I could. After lots of prayer and waiting I got the call that I had been accepted!!! Words cannot explain how nervous and anxious I got about the whole thing, but God kept reassuring me that He just wanted me to give it all to Him. Fundraising is the big thing I was so afraid about because it can be scary when asking people to financially support you. In order to go on the trip I have to raise $14,951. That may look like a huge number, but I have a few ways I’m going to be fundraising for the trip. I will be selling t-shirts for $25 so if you are interested in buying one to support me you can contact me at [email protected] or give me a call at 702-338-1153.
If you would like to just donate to me you can do it through my blog at www.jessedillow.theworldrace.org or go and click on the DONATE tab!
Even if you can’t give financially I will need a community of people praying for me for this long journey ahead. I’ll be posting here on my blog every other week just to keep ya’ll updated on everything.
Adventures In Missions is a tax-exempt organization under IRS code 501(c)(3) and is a member of the ECFA. (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). Due to IRS and ECFA regulations governing the administration of tax deductible donations given in support of a particular trip/program, support contributions given on behalf of an individual will be used to offset the costs of the trip/program you are involved in. All contributions are non-refundable regardless of the participant’s success in completing the program.
