Welcome to my first blog post! I wanted to fill you in about why I decided to do this mission trip and the progress that has been made for preparing for it.
My youth group has a weekend retreat called “Bold” each year and I had never gone before. The trip basically consists of digging in to the Bible deeper and sharing our opinions and questions we have about different passages. I was intimidated to participate in a larger Bible study with over 30 people. After a lot of convincing from my friends, I decided that I would go. After diving in to God’s word more closely all weekend, there was a change in my heart. I came to the realization that I want to become more like Jesus. I want to love others deeply and share God’s word with others because it has drastically impacted my life. Jesus’ love has changed my entire life and I realized that I want to tell people about His love for us.
When I returned home from the trip, I was praying about what my next steps were, because I knew that I was not going to college right away; I knew that God had something else in store for me. The World Race was an organization that I had been researching for years and I looked into applying for a spot on one of the mission teams. I had originally applied to the Gap Year program, which is a trip that lasts 9 months. But after talking to many mentors and spending a lot of time praying, I decided that a 3 moth trip would be better for me.
Preparing for this trip has kept me quite busy! I have been talking to so many people about my trip. I’m planning fundraisers, applying for a new passport, making packing lists, and doing a ton of things to get ready for this trip!
I also wanted to thank everyone for the overwhelming amount of support and prayers! I’m so blessed to have so many people by my side praying for my team and I as we embark a new chapter of God’s plan for us!
-Natalie
