It feels so weird blogging under a title that is asking me to describe how I was called to the mission field. Mainly because up until about 4 weeks ago I did not think I would ever be the girl who was called to the mission field. But now, well now I think I may want to do this forever.
Let’s back up for a minute. I always knew I wanted to go on a mission’s trip. I was visiting home one weekend in early 2009 (home, for those of you who don’t know is Port St. Lucie, Fl) and while we were at church, Highpoint Community Church (the church I attended growing up) , the announced a missions trip to Kitale, Kenya. In that moment, my heart leapt. I had always had a heart toward Kenya. It started in elementary school when I was assigned a project about Kenya. Since then it seemed my ear was always attuned to that country. I knew I had to go on that trip. I was supposed to be there. But I did not know if they would let me go since I no longer attended that church. I asked my dad, who is a deacon at the church, if he thought they would let me go. His response was that if I could get the deposit in on time, he did not see a reason why they would not let me. So I emailed one of the Pastors, asked, and he said the same thing. Can I just say that was the easiest $100 to pass over to someone else! It was a fantastic trip. God used me in ways I never, ever thought was possible. For example, I helped put together a feeding system for the chicken house our team was helping to build. I also fell in love with a wonderful 11 year old girl named Veronicah. I came back having left a HUGE part of my heart in the town of Kitale, Kenya. The church went back again in 2010, and as much as it killed me, I knew God was telling me this trip was not for me. But when they announced the 2011 trip, I got that “feeling” again. I knew I was supposed to go back. Again, my life was changed. I my relationship with Christ grew during that trip. It was also on that trip that I started praying about the World Race.
I found out about the World Race through one of my friends from my church here in Orlando. Our singles ministry has a monthly event called Coffeehouse Sessions. It is an informal event meant to be a non-threatening environment for you to bring your friends to. Each month there is a theme and a few people share their stories and testimonies about what God has done in their lives. It was one of these evenings were someone shared about their experience on the World Race. I was not there that evening, but one of my friends was there and she shared that with me in passing. I was intrigued, so I looked it up. I took a look around some of the links on the website and I remember getting to the part where it told me the price of the trip. $15,500. I think I may have laughed out loud. Needless to say I left the website fairly quickly.
This happened right before I went to Kenya the second time. About halfway through that trip I remember praying “God, I would really like to go on that trip, but if I’m suppose to do this you are going to need to have someone walk up to me and say ‘here’s a check for $15,000’.” After I returned, life got complicated with events God told me to get out of and I chose to ignore, and thoughts of this trip vanished. Flash forward 6 months later. I finally followed God’s directions and let go a part of my life that was holding me back. Not too long after that the World Race began to come into my thoughts again. I found myself back on the website, reading the blogs, and beginning to wishfully think about this trip. Then at one of our Saturday Bible Studies, we were challenged to begin praying for those ridiculous prayers that we stopped praying. I immediately thought about this opportunity. I shared this information with the group. I am lucky to have some amazing women of God in my life! I spent the next two weeks pouring over WR blogs. I was able to talk to one of the WR staff members who told me the route I was wanting to go on was filling up and that I needed to get my application in soon. By the next night I had submitted my application, paid my application fee, and scheduled my interview…for 4 days later.
And the rest as they say is history. I am so excited about this opportunity that God has given me! I know I cannot do this alone. I hope you will pray about partnering with me financially, prayerfully, and through your words of encouragement! If God has placed it on your heart to help me financially, just click the “Support Me” Link on the left menu bar.
