In 2017 I had the opportunity to go on my first mission trip to Haiti. Within the first moments that I was there, sitting on the bus that took us from the airport to where we were staying, I felt the presence of God overcome me in a way I had never experienced before. I had always heard that there were people around the world living in poverty, who have no opportunity to receive an education, are forcibly displaced from their homes, and don’t have an opportunity to hear the Gospel. While in Haiti, these facts and statistics became friends with souls and stories. These friends, whether they knew Christ or not, had the very image of God displayed within them.
This trip to Haiti sparked my heart for missions. As this passion grew, I started to look for more opportunities to serve missionally around the world. I had the opportunity to travel to Honduras in 2019. Here, I was able to serve in different locations including a nutrition center and an orphanage. During this time I was learning Spanish in school and was able to apply this knowledge from the classroom to a real world scenario. As I would speak to the children in Spanish I saw their faces light up. There was an immediate trust and connection that was formed as a result of this. Through this experience in Honduras, I gained an understanding of the importance and the value of going onto the mission field educated and prepared, not only for myself, but for the people I am serving.
Stepping into my last year of high school, I felt God calling me to pursue missions as a career. I knew I wanted to obtain a college education related to ministry so I started to look into Christian Universities. I came across Lee University and found a degree program called Intercultural Studies. This program equips students with the tools to design and implement mission methodologies, holistic models of ministry, effective strategies to communicate gospel truth, and knowledge to grasp and engage difficult global issues.
In the fall of 2020 I started my bachelors degree in Intercultural Studies at Lee University. However, after a couple weeks in, I was faced with doubts and fears about this decision. This ended in second guessing the passion that God was instilling inside of me. Read the next blog to hear more about this!
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