Missions have greatly impacted my life and my relationship with God. One of the most influential spiritual leaders in my life (Bill Bradburry) was a missionary in Peru and told me stories about his missions work when I was a kid. I was always intrigued by what he had to say and wanted so bad to have the same cool God experiences that he had. Eventually, I went on my first missions trip in 2011 with Granger Community Church to Nicaragua. It was the first time I had seen poverty and it broke me. I remember seeing kids my age that had nothing, yet were happy and loved God. I was still too young at that point to comprehend everything that I saw, but a seed was planted in me. Then in my Freshmen year of high school I was able to go to Mexico to serve with Nappanee Missionary Church. Seeing the Mexican culture and church was very influential for me on a more physical level. I realized how different some people’s worlds are and that I could learn a lot from them. The most recent missions trip I went on was to the Dominican Republic this past summer with Nappanee Missionary Church. This trip was extremely influential to me, because I really broke out of my spiritual shell and became more confident in my faith. I found out I really enjoy working with kids through the vacation Bible schools we put on and I was also able to speak in front of hundreds of people at a community basketball game without messing up, which was a complete God moment for me. During my time in the Dominican I felt a sense of peace within my spirit and felt closer to God than I have in years. This lead me to question why that was, and the answer was pretty simple. My life constantly gets in the way of my relationship with God. Even good things are distractions for me like friends, family, school, and sports. Because of this I decided to take a year traveling with the World Race so that I could rid myself of the distractions in my life and intentionally focus on God. I am praying and would love prayer for my trip, that I grow closer to God and that I can bring that close relationship back to the real world and have it stick.
