I remember last year I was so excited to go to college. Any free time I had I would constantly be looking at “cute dorm rooms” on Pinterest or spend hours on hours researching all the different clubs and sororities I could join.
When senior year came around, all that excitement was gone. All anyone asked me about was where I was going to college or what I wanted to major in. When in reality, I never even took the SAT/ACT, much less thought about anything after graduation.
My mom finally sat me down and made me decide which colleges I wanted to tour. I decided to tour 3 different universities. I remember being so confused because I loved all the schools I toured, but I never really felt committed to one. When I got home I started filling out applications (pretty much just so I could go to the counselor and get out of class).
One night my pastor came over and I told him all the colleges I was applying to, thinking he would be excited for me. His exact response was, “No, you don’t need to go to college. What you need to do is take a year off of school and go on a mission trip”.
Me, being the stubborn person I am gave him a disgusted look for not approving of my colleges (and for not thinking of this myself), I marched straight into my room and immediately went and researched different mission trips. This is when I came across The World Race. I started reading racers’ blogs and watching their videos and instantly fell in love. I started to pray hoping this was God’s plan for me. I filled out the application and got accepted a few weeks later.
In August I will be packing all of my belongings in a backpack and leaving my comfortable life to go spread God’s word for 9 months. I will spend 3 months in 3 different countries, Balkans, The Philippines, and South Africa. My team and I will be doing everything from helping to plant churches, love on orphans, help stop human sex trafficking and so much more. And let me just tell you, I am simply overjoyed and humbled God would choose me.
If you have any questions, I would love to answer them! Thanks so much for reading and make sure you subscribe so you will be notified every time I post.
– Mal
