Why I’m Going on the World Race

Why am I going on the World Race? There are so many factors that played into me making this decision but if I am being honest there is only one reason. God. 

     I want to start with why I love going on these trips in the first place. I grew up going on mission trips and have always loved them. Any opportunity that I have to go on one I try to take it. Every time I get back, all I can think about is how excited I am from the next one. The people I meet and the relationships I build, whether with the people I meet along the way or the people I am serving alongside, is one of my favorite parts. I have never been the best at communicating with others, but I feel that when I go on these trips I am able to communicate through my actions. I can show people how much I care about them, as well as share my faith with them. My hope is that I will grow more in my relationship with God and learn to trust him one-hundred percent. 

     The last missions trip that I went on was last summer. I went with a group of people I have been going with for the past four years and went to a camp in Indiana. As soon as I got home I began to think about how much I would love to go on a long-term missions trip out of the country. I began to research different organizations but nothing stuck out to me at the time and eventually I forgot about that idea. 

     Another factor that made this idea stick in my head in the first place was actually because of one of my favorite book series. The main character in the book ended up going out of the country on a missions trip with her friends. Her best friend also moved to Africa to do missions full time. I remember this really inspiring me. 

     I went to a woman’s conference with my mom a few months ago and a man came and spoke about missions. When I heard what he had to say, I really felt like God was asking me to go. I began researching again and that is when I found World Race. As soon as I found the website something changed. For as long as I could remember I wanted to go to college. It had always been my dream and had always felt like the right thing to do. So why was I feeling like God was leading me towards something completely different? I then decided that I would pray about it and left it at that for awhile. A few weeks later, some missionaries spoke at our church. Once again I was feeling God was calling me. I started researching more and praying even harder. I began to get very anxious because I thought I had my whole life planned out. Clearly that doesn’t matter because I have found that God can do anything and when he calls you need to listen. The ultimate deciding factor was when I sat down after leading worship. My pastor began to talk and I began to pray. This was my prayer: “God please lead me and a help me make the right decision about my future.” The second I said “amen” my pastor word for word answered my prayer. He said something along the lines of this: “Some of you here have felt God has been calling you to go into ministry or missions etc, and you may be afraid because you already had plans like going to school. I am here to tell you to go.” I immediately got chills and knew what I needed to do. I could not be more excited and at peace with this decision. 

 

Please continue to keep my squad and I in your prayers as we are fundraising. Also, that we will each have life changing experiences on this trip and grow closer to God and each other.