Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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     We were asked to write a blog about how we were called to this mission trip. Here is my story…..

     Growing up I never wanted to leave the country. I’m not sure exactly why. I think that idea was mostly driven by fear as another place seemed scary and I hated getting shots! I knew several people who went on mission trips but I thought that would never be me. I wanted to stay in my own country where life was comfortable. In the spring of 2004 while I was in high school, my youth pastor started talking about a mission trip to Hungary. Some how the Lord worked in my heart; He completely changed my mind about only staying in the US. I knew I was supposed to go.

     The time spent in Hungary was amazing. While I was there God worked in my life in so many ways. He gave me such a heart for people all over the world to know him. It was so amazing to wake up everyday with the soul purpose to be used by him. Like with any mission trip there were so many challenges my teammates and I had to over come. One of them was I had never experienced not knowing the same language as the person I was trying to communicate with before. This proved to be so frustrating yet great! I loved finding ways to explain what I was trying to say!
 
While in Hungary we taught English. This was my student.

     God really used this trip to open up my eyes to the needs of people around the world. I realized how blessed I was to grow up knowing him and how Jesus desires to be shared with people everywhere. From that time on I prayed about what God wanted me to do to help tell the world about Jesus. Since this trip I’ve been on a couple others and it’s been so amazing to see the work that God is doing in other countries.

     So now you may be asking why this trip? Well this past year the Lord still put missions on my heart. I kept praying about where he wanted me to go as I was willing to go anywhere but the Lord didn’t show me where. I applied to another organization and God closed that door. After this happened I was really upset because I thought God wanted me to go. During the months that followed God kept showing me that He wanted me to go be a missionary somewhere but I didn’t know where. At times I didn’t even want to pray for other countries because it was too painful. I wanted to go! I know this attitude wasn’t right but I was so frustrated. I couldn’t understand why the Lord was showing me this and not showing me where. Well this last summer I think it was in the very end of June the Lord brought a friend of a friend into my life. She is now my friend too but I think it was only the second time talking to her that she told me about The World Race and her friends that have gone on it. It was so crazy because the next week I felt the Lord leading me to apply!

     The Lord continues to work in my heart and give me a love for people I’ve never met! I’m so thrilled to finally be going!