Why am I a World Racer? I think the only fair way to answer that is to explain my past missions experience and what happened to my heart in the process.
I feel tremendously blessed to have been able to be a part of four different missions trips. The first one I had an opporunity to go on was when I was a freshman in high school. The missions committe at my church teamed up with our youth group and we were given a chance to go to the Czech Republic to work on renovation projects. This was the first missions trip that was ever offered at our whole church, let alone the youth group. I immediatly started praying about whether I should go. I could feel the Holy Spirit surrounding me in an envelope of peace about it. I was ready! But just one thing, my mom was not happy at all about it. She was very worried about the whole thing, and she was not allowing us to go (my sister, Jen, was a Junior in high school at the time and felt the call to go as well). My youth group leaders and I were very close, so when they heard that my sister and I were not going to be a part of the trip, they could sense something was wrong. Two of them offered to have a meeting with my parents so that they could talk things through and see if my mom’s heart would be softened. God truely blessed their conversation because soon after their meeting, our names were on the list! We stayed 9 days in Brno, CZ where we teamed up with a local missionary. When we were there, we worked alongside many Czech people to renovate two buildings in the city. They were old and needed much done in order to be in use. The basements of them were filled with dirt, we called them the catacombs. The small backyard areas looked like jungles, about to engulf the buildings. We shoveled dirt out of the basements, cut down trees/vines/shrubs, painted walls, and a bunch of other odd jobs to make these buildings ready for ministry. They were to be used by Christian students to have a place to study and fellowship. The Czech is a place thats largely atheist. Christians who live there could benefit greatly from a place of fellowship to share. Much was accomplished through God’s blessing as we worked. I learned so much about teamwork in the Czech. We were not individuals, we were one body working together. Our team grew so close, and I believe that was my first taste of true fellowship. This trip also sparked in me a passion for the world. It was my first time to Europe and it made me realize just how big the world really is. Just how many people are in need of the Savior that I’ve come to know.
The second missions experience that I had the opportunity to be a part of was when I was a sophomore in high school. This was through my youth group again, and we were able to journey to Camp Echoing Hills in Warsaw, Ohio. This camp is specialized for people with special needs. Each week in the summer, a different age group comes to the camp and is surrounded by love and the message of hope. The Lord pressed on my heart to go, but I was nervous about this trip in a way I hadn’t been about the Czech. Following His lead, I went to Ohio and have been changed ever since! I was assigned to go for Kid’s Week, and I loved every moment of it! The Lord opened my heart so much. Was it out of my comfort zone? Yes. Was it completely worth it? You bet! As the week went on, I got to know my campers and fell in love with them. Their hearts were so pure and honest. They were constantly filled with love and energy. They loved without abandon, having no care in the world about being different. I tear up just thinking about those girls I shared a cabin with and how much they taught me. I went into this trip hoping to change someone’s life, but little did I realize they would change mine!
The West Indies is where I was headed the next year! As a Junior in high school, my youth group teamed up with Pastor Henry Blake and his wife, Norma, in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Our mission this time was to teach Vacation Bible School to the local children and do street evangelism at night. St Vincent is a country in which drugs are a huge problem. It’s not the safest of places because drugs and violence are prevalent. Economically, it is a very poor country. It’s lush mountains are used to grow illegal drugs, and while people there don’t want to get into that business, they feel torn. It’s the only really thriving business there, so either you sell drugs and feed your family or you don’t and there is no guarentee. Countless people we met there were affected by this and you could see the heaviness on their hearts. It was such a blessing hearing their stories and all that God’s brought them through. At Vacation Bible School, my friend Bobby and I taught the lessons each week. It was such a privelage to see the young, eager faces ready to listen to God’s Word. My absolute favorite time of the day was praise and worship before VBS. The kids sang and cried aloud to God with all their strength! They danced before the Lord in praise! I felt the most at home worshipping with these little children than ever before! Even though they have almost nothing (according to the world), their souls are so rich with the love of Christ! I believe this trip to be one of the most life changing times in my whole life. God helped me to realize many things, like where our treasure really lies. I was unsatisfied with what the world had to offer, and craved what these people had – a true intimacy with the Lord. On the plane ride home, I cried the whole way. I didn’t want to leave that country, those people. I knew God was doing a great work there and did not want to come back to the ordinary life I had been living. I resolved to live with reckless abandon for Him! And He has been teaching me and blessing me ever since. I still keep in touch with a few people I met in St Vincent and consider them not only borthers and sisters in Christ, but also true friends.
I had the privelage of going back to Camp Echoing Hills when I was a senior in high school. This time, I went during “Older Adult Week” which was quite a difference from “Kid’s Week” that I experienced last time. This week consisted of adults 50 and over with physical or mental disabilities. We did a lot of the same things as far as caring for the campers: helping them shower, changing their briefs, brushing their teeth, pushing wheelchairs, feeding them if needed, etc. The older adults moved at a much much slower pace than the children. We leisurely walked everywhere, sometimes taking a good 40 mintues just to get from one building to another. It was during these strolls that I really got to know the ladies of Cabin 5. We chatted a lot, as girls tend to do. They each had such different pasts, and hearing their stories was amazing. Since they really couldn’t get up and run around playing games, all we did was talk. And the relationships we formed touched my life so much. These women had hard lives, nothing came easy for them. One lady named Joy had Down’s Syndrome and fainting spells. She was 35 years old (she was our youngest, I’m not sure why she was put in the older adult week actually.) She would get dizzy and suddenly faint, which was very alarming since we walked a lot up and down hills. Someone was always right by her side, usually me, so I got to know her pretty well. At night she would ask for me to help her with her hygiene needs, and as we cleaned we would chat. She always asked for prayer for her father who was sick. She would always ask me to read to her from the Bible, whatever passage I wanted. She would fall asleep listening to me reading the words of her Heavenly Father. Joy has so many obstacles every day that she deals with. Enough to make any person break down and complain about how its not fair. But just like her name says, she instead has Joy. What an inspiration!
I found out about the World Race in 2006… quite a few years ago. I felt a tug on my heart ever since I heard about it, but have been waiting patienty for the right time. Years later, the Lord spoke to my spirit to show me that time is now. The World Race will surely be different from any missions I have been involved with before. It will be the longest trip by far, and the most stretching for me emotionally, physically, spiritually, and psychologically. Going into each of my past trips, I had no idea what the Lord was going to do and what radical changes He would spark inside of me.
I’m still in awe that I feel God calling me to something of this extravagance. I never would have thought that He would want me to do such extreme things for Him… I never used to be one who made waves. That is, until I allowed Christ to take over my whole heart, instead of just chunks. It’s really hard for me to wrap my head around an entire 11 months of missions work! So my expectations are sort of uncertain… I’m actually trying to have zero expectations so as not to limit God in any way. But, I cannot help but think of some that I would like to share: I do expect to be stretched beyond my own limits, allowing my trust to be fully on God. I expect to cry a lot… since I’m emotional and even movies like “13 Going on 30” make me misty eyed. I expect to miss my family more than I can imagine. I expect to be broken and devestated at things that I see. I expect to become one, big, happy family with my fellow racers 🙂 I expect to meet some incredible people from all over the world. I expect to be completely blown away by my All-powerful God. I expect that I will never be the same. And I pray that the world won’t be either.
