Maria Bayles here!!!!
If you don’t know who I am or would like to know a little more about me, please click on the About Me link on the left! Right here, right now, I am going to talk a little bit more about The World Race and how God led me to where I am now.
For starters, I am sooooo excited for the opportunity to participate in The World Race! 🙂 I have been looking forward to this for years, literally, I just didn’t know when/if the right timing would be! But here it is! This is happening! And I can’t wait!
So, I will be leaving in October 2016 to go on an 11 month mission tip to 11 different countries. The countries on the route I am going on are:
Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Honduras
Guatemala
Malaysia
Thailand
Cambodia
Philippines
Rwanda
Uganda
Kenya
The goal within each of these countries is to meet the needs of the communities we are in. So, from month to month, the type of work we will be doing will vary quite a bit. We may be doing anything from construction work (like building schools, homes, etc.), to teaching English, to running children’s programs, to praying over the sick. I think it will be really cool to learn how to meet the needs of a community rather than entering in with an agenda.
Some things I am most excited for:
- Learning how to share the Gospel
- Meeting and forming genuine relationships with people from all over the world
- Stepping out of my comfort zone
- Growing in community with my team
- Stepping out of the privilege I was born into and the opportunity to live like the majority of the world does
- Learning how to trust God on a daily basis
As much as I have always really wanted to do The World Race, when thinking about what I was going to do the year after graduating school, this wasn’t really on the top of my list. Deep down, I felt the nudge, but I was scared to commit to something that would take me away from my family for 11 months and would sort of cause my to put my life on hold. I was also kind of scared to leave the safety and security of North America. However, the more I prayed about it, the more I knew that God was and is calling me to this. Time and time again God put people and events in my life to make it clear.
Two specific examples come to mind:
- During our department chapel this semester at school, we had a guest speaker. And one of the things he talked a lot about was being a senior coming out of college and trying to figure out what to do. The point he made that resonated with me the most was just taking it one step at a time and not trying to see the whole picture. I think a lot of the time I am a whole picture kind of person. I want to make a plan and have an idea of where I am going. His point though was that only God knows the whole picture, and He is going to show you the right amount of that picture at the right time. Your job is just to take whatever step(s) you feel like you are supposed to take at that moment and leave the rest up to Him. For me, the week leading up to that chapel I had really felt that I was supposed to apply for The World Race, but I didn’t want to because I wasn’t entirely sure that is what I wanted to do, couldn’t see the whole picture, etc. But after that chapel, I applied anyways. It was just one step that I felt I was supposed to take – whether or not I got accepted, whether or not I decided it was right for me.
- Another example of God really speaking to me what at church a couple weeks later. I believe at that point I knew that there was a good chance I would be accepted in the following couple days. I had also continued to pray about and was really feeling the tug on my heart to go. However, I had fears. Mostly, I didn’t want to leave my family and I didn’t want to put my life on hold. That Sunday, my church played the song I Will Follow by Vertical Church Band. The lyrics spoke to my heart. God was responding to those fears and doubts that I had about following Him.
So here I am. Accepted and ready to go. Now I get almost a full year to find a team of supporters and prepare my heart for this wonderful journey!
Before I leave, two quick links for you to look at:
- If you have any interest in following me throughout this journey, please click the Follow Me tab on the left! I would love to share my adventures with you.
- If you would be interested in supporting me financially, please click the Support Me link on the left. I can’t do this alone, I need a team. And I would be honoured to have you alongside me.
Thanks so much for taking the time to learn more about this trip and how God led me here. Can’t wait to continue to update you as I prepare!
~Maria
