Excitement, nerves, anticipation, doubt, thrill, longing, fear, trust, hope, desire, growth, joy. These are the first words that come to mind when thinking about the adventure I am beginning this October. 11 months, 11 countries. I am beyond excited to see how God is going before us, preparing a path for my teammates and I. And I cannot wait to live day by day challenged to invite the Holy Spirit in every conversation, decision, action, and hug. It is funny to me how God leads our lives into the unknown when we surrender to Him. I fully expected to be preparing to move to the country of Nicaragua by this time. For so long this was my desire, my direction, and my longing. I have been traveling to this beautiful country since I was 15 years old. I still remember the day that my dad told me that our church had asked him to go on one of their first exploratory trips to Nicaragua. Without hesitation I said to him, “take me with you! I have always wanted to visit Africa!” For those of you who know your geography, you would find humor in that response.
By the next summer I was stoked to join the first youth group trip that our church would send to Nicaragua. Of course by that time I realized and accepted that Nicaragua was not in Africa, it was in Central America. I even had one year of Spanish class under my belt-not that it helped very much!
This was my very first mission trip and I was so thrilled to jump in, get my hands dirty, and help save people from the poverty and devastation in which they were caught. Wow, have I learned a lot since then! Instead of helping “save” the people of Nicaragua, I was being saved from my paternalistic mindset. Unbeknownst to me, this first mission trip was the beginning of my new life, one leading to humbling moments, deep friendships, convicting conversations, powerful prayer and a call from God to do global work. I look back on my first couple of trips to Nicaragua with a smile on my face because I had no idea of all the life lessons, crazy experiences and friendships that lay ahead of me. I had no idea that I would be visiting this country a couple times a year for the next eight years, and I had no idea that most of my time at college would be spent preparing for the mission field.
During college I stumbled upon what is now one of my favorite Bible verses, Proverbs 19:21: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” I love the promise that is within this Proverb. No matter how hard I try to construct what my future will look like, God will always win, and his purpose will stand against all my mediocre ideas. I am so thankful for that! I would so rather live by God’s amazing plan instead of my own. If I have learned anything, it is to hold lightly to my visions for my future. It may look like my life is going one way, but in the end that was just to get me to the place that will take me to the next part of my journey. Life is a big adventure and I am so glad that Jesus is my guide.
I am so thankful for all the support that I’ve been given through my friends and family. I look forward to sharing more stories of how God has been preparing me for this trip in the following weeks. Thanks for reading!
