GoWeek has started. The fundraising journey has begun, and yet God has been reminding me that this entire journey started way before I knew it did.
I went into college wanting to do something significant. . . in the states. Something drowning in comfortability and worthy in any Americans eyes. I thought I’d study abroad to escape for a tiny bit of time, get some direction, find some deep purpose as they say study abroad opportunities are likely to bring you.
While I was there, I chose to serve in a township. Mphopomeni was the epicenter of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and 80% of the population had the disease. I specifically worked in assisting the medical clinic there by helping with birthing classes and helped out with after school programs with the younger kids in the area.
One morning, we visited some of the homes of the sick in the community.The last house we went to was a small building half the size of my room back in the states. It housed one tiny fire stove and 5 children under 18. The oldest was sick, lying on a towel on the floor. I stood beside her younger siblings who were surrounding her and searching for something to hope in.
I didn’t know what to give them. I didn’t have money or clothing to hand over to these people. The only thing I had was the name of Jesus and the hope I found in them. It was my answer for so many things, yet when the toughest problem I had ever seen was in front of me was there, I didn’t know what to do because they hadn’t heard His name before.
Over the next 2 years, I educated myself on unreached people groups. My frustration started building after I learned that over 3 billion people in the world hadn’t heard about the Gospel. God was reminding me that He had built me for something big what it was bigger than myself; it was to be involved in the growth of His Kingdom through missions.
Through a long process of talking to organizations and hearing about the opportunities out there, I knew He was calling me to a mid term trip in the Middle East; a portion of the world that is known as least unreached.
I sit here, starting my blog for an adventure that takes off on a plane in November. But again, I continue to stand in awe of the Lord’s interweaving of stories and experiences of revelations toward His character and His calling in my life. I’m JUICED to get started on fundraising; to see all of the ways God has been stirring in the hearts of my friends and family in the states. I’m pumped to see the Lord continue to rejuvenate this call as the days get closer and closer. But it’s comforting to know my journey has already begun. He was along for it since the beginning and His footsteps are before me for the journey ahead.