I have been attending church on a regular basis ever since I was a child, but I didn’t really start pursuing Jesus until I was much older. After my sophomore year of high school, it became evident to me that my life needed to change, that I desperately needed the Lord. My home-church, New Community Church, partners with an organization called Pine Valley and so when my mom suggested applying to be a part of the kitchen staff for the summer I said, “Sure, why not?” not really expecting anything to come of it.
Boy was I wrong. Days after I applied I was contacted by the camp and being told I was hired. I went into the experience knowing absolutely nobody and came out of it with people whom I call my best friends up to this day. Pine Valley is a bible camp with a mission to “Rebuild broken lives through Jesus Christ.” Serving at this camp forever changed my life. I encountered God in new ways that I never knew were possible. I went back and served at Pine Valley the next summer and I am back again this year. I have graduated from being a kitchen girl and now I have the amazing opportunity to be a counselor this summer. This is the place where my love for the Lord began and where my mission experience started.
This past January I had the chance to travel to Uganda with a mission organization, Loving One by One Ministries, for two weeks. During these two weeks my passion for overseas missions really began to grow. I got to help with medical clinics, visit former sexually abused children, talk with recovering drug addicts, live at an orphanage for a week, and so much more. Words cannot describe how I experienced God on this trip. He was present in a way that I had never experienced before and I praise him for that.
(This is me with some of the village children)
With every mission experience that I have been able to be a part of, I have grown in my relationship with Christ and I hope one day to become a full-time overseas missionary and The World Race is the next step for me in fulfilling God’s plan for my life.
