For anyone that knows me, you probably are not shocked that I am doing this. For those of you who might not know me well, or even at all: I am an adventure girl. I am a self proclaimed adrenaline junkie. For example, all I wanted to do for my eighteenth birthday was to skydive. And I did! You could describe me as a girl who is constantly seeking new adventures. Everyone has a person in their life who is always dragging them to do something spontaneous or crazy, and for a lot of people, that person is me.
There is one more thing that I have been drawn to just as much, if not more, than adventure: Missions. As far back as I can remember I have been intensely drawn to the idea of missions. It was always the first update I looked for in the church bulletin and when I was younger it was to topic that made me listen and stop playing hangman during a sermon.
My church used to always have mission trips to Juarez, Mexico and when my aunt started going, I would get so excited for her. The idea of going and building cinderblock houses and playing with kids and being the hands and feet of the Lord just amazed me. I remember distinctly one summer in high school, I begged my parents to let me go and because of the danger, I was shut down. Well, the week that my church was in Juarez, my grandfather passed away. And if my Right then, it dawned on me, that God has placed this desire in my heart but I am not in control of the timing. My parents reluctance was God’s way of saying “Morgan I have plans, just wait”.
Since then I’ve still had a passion for missions, but I’ve been waiting to hear God say, “GO!” And now he has. No, he didn’t shout it at me, but instead placed a yearning in my heart like never before. I know that His plan for me was to attend Oklahoma State, and I love it here, I do. But during my first semester I found life whirling around me, and God whispering in my ear that it was time to do something radical.
I started praying, and with the newfound encouragement from my more than supportive mother, I began searching. I would peruse the internet for hours at a time looking for a sign. Once I stumbled on the Adventures in Missions website, I fell in love with a program… The World Race. Yes, I know, I am not going on The World Race. I fell in love with the idea of long-term missions that included traveling all over. My heart sunk and discouragement set in once I found out you had to be 21, and I let go of the idea and began praying again.
A few weeks later, at the church I attend here in Stillwater I heard a sermon about being a goer or a sender. –Side note: this is an AWESOME sermon and I plan on making my next post about it, so get excited people—Anyways, after the sermon, I knew for sure that God was calling me to go. I began searching again and felt an “ah-ha” moment when I found out that Adventures in Missions offered a program called Gap Year. It is a nine month mission for 18-21 year-olds, and entails going to three continents in nine months; Southeast Asia, Central America and Africa. I applied and went through the oh-so-scary process of interviewing. After waiting and wondering, I got a call. I got it about 15 minutes before a huge exam and I was already in the classroom waiting to take it. But, I noticed the number was from Georgia (where AIM works out of) and I decided to pick it up. Long story short, I found out that I was accepted! YAY! It took a while to announce my plans to go because there was so much that went into me being able to say yes, especially figuring out how to put school and my sorority on hold.
But there are some things I want you to know. While I know that this is God’s plan for me, there are many things I don’t know. I don’t know what to expect or how this will change me. And honestly I don’t know if I will like living out of a backpack and sleeping on the floor ( I DO know I’ll love the adventure though). I don’t even know if I can raise enough money to go. And with all of these unknowns comes fear. I am scared. I’m scared I wont be home when my family (and mostly, my sister) needs me, I am scared that it will be hard work, I am scared to be in a foreign place with foreign people, and most of all I am scared about how I much I will miss all of my loved ones back home. But here I am, this is me placing all my faith and trust in God and crossing my fingers, knowing that with a lot of prayer and support, and a little bit of magic, this all works out.
So, I hope you have gotten at least a little bit out of this novel of a post, and keep in mind that this is my first time ever to blog. If you are sitting here thinking that reading all of that was an utter waste of your time, well I’m sorry. But if you are feeling called to support me I’ll ask you to consider supporting me financially or by praying and encouraging me. You can do so by clicking the “support me” tab or leaving a comment!
**just a side note- I have currently raised a whopping 1% of 12,478 dollars, so anything helps and would be much appreciated, because I know this is God’s plan for me, but it just won’t happen if I can’t raise enough money**
