So I suppose the best place to begin my story is answering the question: why missions? I can’t really explain it beyond just feeling God’s pull on my heart. I’m not content where I am, I feel like God has a purpose for me beyond just my everyday life in central North Carolina. Starting in late middle school I began feeling the tug towards the young children in Africa. I always said I would take time after graduating to go and serve, that’s been the basis for my plans. God gave me a love for the people of a world vastly different from mine, people whom I’ve never met in a place I’ve never seen. The desire to go and serve consumes me, and there is really no other way to describe it. I know it will be scary, and unknown, and stretch me in ways I cannot even imagine at this point, but the calling is real and I am excited for the challenge.
In mid-highschool I thought I found the perfect mission in South Africa. My plans were pretty much set, and that is what I was telling everybody I was doing. However, just before heading back to school this fall, God rocked my world and through some unexpected situations it was made clear that that is not where I was supposed to be going. That left me confused and stressed out because the plans I thought were a part of God’s plan for my life fell apart. It was at this point that I started back at square one, and began reevaluating what God wanted me to do.
I never once questioned whether or not it was still in God's plan for me to go on mission, the question was only "where to now?" He came back and answered my longing heart with bigger and better plans. He opened doors where I didn't even know they existed, and laid a path far greater than I ever could have imagined! Through communication with family friends, I was able to secure an opportunity to work with the children in Ethiopia. I'll be partnering with The Forsaken Children while I'm there to share the love of Christ with children who may not even know what love is. I will be living in a small village, teaching English to the children there using the Bible. The great part is, while my mission is with children, what I share with them will then flow to the rest of the family as well. Like I said, God's plan is far greater than any I could have dreamed up. He opened the door for me to have a family to call mine while I'm away and blessed me ten-fold with them. He placed me in a predominantly Christian village so I could connect with the locals while reaching the lost children on the outskirts of town and in the surrounding villages who are "lost". He has prepared the details so that everything would fall into place perfectly in His timing. He has opened my heart to the power of trusting Him in all things. As I follow His calling into the rural village of southern Ethiopia, I find peace and joy in walking this journey with my Father.
This is my story... God has continued to amaze me by His power over the whole situation. I wake up each and every day excited to see what else He has in store for me. The reality is that my heart is already abroad, I just have to finish up my job here so I can catch up to it.
