When I first told people that I had been accepted to the world race a common response was

             “Wow, that’s so cool we’ll get to watch you on tv!”

              They thought I was going on the Amazing Race tv show because they had never heard of the world race. I was totally in that boat with them and signed up for it kind of naïve to what it was. But I got accepted and am so thrilled to have the opportunity to go! I’ve done some research since then, so I’m going to answer the 5 W’s about the world race.

Who: The Christian World Race is done through an organization called Adventures in Missions.

What: The world race is an 11-month mission trip through 11 different countries. A group (around 30 other 21-35 yr. old’s) and I will be partnering with local churches and non-profits to help uplift their communities. We will do everything from evangelism, manual labor, teaching English, street ministry, whatever they need we will be there to help.

When: I leave August 1!

Where: The route I am going on goes through Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, India, Nepal, Lesotho, South Africa, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Why: My favorite question of these to answer, is why I’m going on the world race. And the short answer is because I’m trusting God.

                The first time I heard about the world race was this past summer when I was on a mission trip to Peru. The trip was life-changing; we lived on a boat and ministered to the people in the villages along the Amazon river. I don’t have a zoomed-out picture of just the boat, but here’s a picture of my squad on the boat. 

               One of the missionaries from a different squad (shoutout to Jac if you read this) and I were talking about mission trips and she mentioned that she had always wanted to go on the world race. I had no clue what she was talking about, so she had to explain it to me.

                Fast forward a couple of months and I was back home going to college and doing my normal daily life. If you know me and have ever talked to me about college, you know it’s not my favorite thing ever. So, I came up with a plan to somehow graduate a year early (that also is purely God because I thought I wasn’t going to even be able to graduate on time). I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life post-graduation, but I’d been given this amazing gift of a year being freed up.

                I started looking into mission trips and found one that you train for 3 months and serve as a missionary for 3 months. That seemed doable for me, and I started thinking about raising the $7,000 for that trip. While praying about it, I realized that while that organization and trip were amazing, that wasn’t what I truly wanted, and I was settling because I knew that was something I could accomplish in my own strength.

                I realized I was dreaming too small and thought “Why not me?” So, I continued praying about it and saw that I would have to completely trust God to go on the world race. $18,000? That’s gonna take God. Being away from my family and all my friends for almost a year? That’s gonna take God. Stretching out of my comfort zone and doing things I never thought I would on this trip? Yeah, that’s gonna take God.

                I prayed that if this wasn’t what God had for me, that my application would be rejected. It could be for any reason, but Lord if you don’t want me taking this step, please let them reject me. That was my prayer. I answered a call on the day after Christmas this year and heard that I had been accepted. What an awesome Christmas gift! I started learning more dependence on God and trusting Him more and more.

 How I feel about going on the World Race

               There’s so much more I could talk about in this blog, but I’ll save it for other blogs and leave you with this. God knows where you’re at and the desires of your heart. He wants you to put full trust in Him. I couldn’t be more excited for this adventure. Not just because of the countries we’ll visit and the people we’ll help, but because I’m excited to grow in my relationship and trust with God.

                If you’ve read this far, thank you so much. I’ll be blogging leading up to the trip, and also the whole time I’m on the trip (might also start a youtube channel and vlog if I learn how to edit, we’ll see), if you’d like to stay updated with where I’m at you can subscribe to the blog. Please join me in praying for me, the squad, and the people in the countries we’ll be visiting. Love you guys so much, talk to you later!