A few years ago, I took a class where I began to learn a lot about what people around the world are experiencing. I learned so much about the injustices that women and children are dealing with, whether it is poverty and lack of education or sex trafficking. In 2015, I went on a short-term mission trip to Italy to partner with a ministry that fights against sex trafficking. Ever since that trip, I’ve felt that even if we can’t end all the injustice in the world, if we can end it for one person, then that one person’s life will forever be changed. I hadn’t gone on an international mission trip since that point, but the suffering that so many were experiencing and the desire to do something about it was still something close to my heart.
There was a mission trip that I heard about years ago called the World Race, in which you would travel to 11 countries in 11 months. This ministry, created by the organization, Adventures in Missions, also has a focus on discipleship and helping people find their specific calling. I signed up for email updates and I would read about it every now and then, but I felt like this would be such a huge thing to do! Could I leave the country, my job, everything that is familiar to me to travel internationally for 11 months in a row? It took a while, but I felt this was something God was calling me to: actually going to the ends of the earth to tell others about Him.
My team and I will go to 11 countries in 11 months, spending approximately one month in each country. There are a few different teams going to different routes in January. For the route that I chose, we will go to the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru.
We will be doing something different in each country as we partner with a local church in each area. We would help them plant churches, distribute food to widows or the homeless, hold retreats, teach English or evangelize. In Thailand and Philippines, we would minister to those caught in human trafficking.
With this trip, I want to be a part of the solution to the suffering that many around the world are experiencing by spreading the hope of Jesus. I desire women to know that despite where their circumstances have taken them and their lack of earthly love, there is someone who loves them. I want to help meet the physical needs of the poor and oppressed, as well as being able to address their spiritual needs.
I look forward to you joining me on my journey as I prepare for this trip and go out on the field in January!
