As many of you probably know, I have decided to embark on The World Race, in August of 2018. For those that don’t know, the World Race is an 11-month mission trip where you travel to 11 countries in 11 months getting to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people of the World. I will be traveling with a squad of around 50 people, in which we’ll be broken up into teams of around 7 to 8. We’ll be doing things like teaching in churches, working in villages, farms etc. Some places we may be teaching English classes or working with Refugees or even hurricane relief, so just a little bit of everything. We also do a 10-day training camp 6 weeks before we leave to prepare us for life on the field.
For the past couple years, I have taken a break from school and now work as an Assistant Manager for H&M in Louisville, KY. You know me, you know that I was raised to love missions and have gone on several trips in the past, the most recent to Uganda in 2013. Over the past 2 years I have found myself focusing more on the American dream and chasing after money than I have my pursuit and hunger for Jesus. This past summer, I got to a place where I realized I missed my personal times with the Lord and the hunger that I used to have for Him, so I asked Him to shake things up and no matter what it looked like I’d do it. It’s funny what hunger and desperation will make you do, especially when it is something you desire. Cue getting on Facebook and the first thing I see is an Ad for the World Race. I’ve known about The Race for 6 or 7 years but never really considered it, but as soon as I saw the ad I knew it was what I was supposed to do, so here I am. The Lord truly does like to work in mysterious ways and He will use crazy things to accomplish what He has planned. One of my friends calls Him “Jehovah Sneaky” a lot because of how He always does stuff behind the scenes just to surprise you and make you love Him even more!
So, in August 2018 I will be leaving on Route 2 which includes the countries of Haiti, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, India, Nepal, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, and Serbia. These countries may change before or even during the race, but for now this is where I will be going. We were originally going to Macedonia, but it changed to Bulgaria, so you never know what might change! I encourage you to look these countries up and pray for each place and my team as we’re there as well!
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to literally travel the world for a year telling people about Jesus, but I will admit it is kinda scary too. To think I won’t see my friends or family for a year, sleep in my own bed, or have a consistent hot shower doesn’t seem that glamorous, but no one ever said following Jesus was easy, plus the outcome far outweighs any of the downsides. As I sat at dinner on Thanksgiving it hit me that this was my last Thanksgiving in the U.S. for a year, so while kinda sad, it’s also exciting because next year I’ll be spending the holidays with an incredible group of people, that are already becoming my family!
So here is to my first blog of more to come soon, I ask you to pray for me about this journey that I would begin to prepare myself, mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally. I’d also like you to pray for financial support as well, that I would have creative ideas for fundraisers, and that people would partner with me to help send me!
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Ty
