The Journey

For those who weren't able to attend the commissioning at my church here is my little speech in which I presented. The idea was to explain to the church how missions has become apart of my life and what I'm planning to do. 

I'm a firm believer in that when difficult times arise it is often God's way to prepare people for a specific purpose. At least this idea has played into my life significantly. Before I ever thought about missions, I struggled with living life my senior year of high school and first year of college with the idea of where God was in my life and if there was a God who was He? I had to sink to the darkest point in my life in order for me to see a glimpse of hope. Through closed-minded thinking and taking control of my life, I was shutting God out and it didn't feel good. I didn't know my purpose in life and often asked myself what was I going to do with my life. Once I sought God out, He showed me that He had great plans for me. It is truly amazing what open-minded thinking can really do, even if it's a simple thought about the way a person acts or an outlook on a situation. While I have been attending a mission-oriented church and went to EMHS, I always felt that missions were a great things for someone else, but not me. It was just something my friends would end up doing and I would support them. You see my closed minded plan was to go to college right out of high school, graduate, and start a family. That didn't include enjoying my life or taking time away from school to explore and obviously, God had other plans.

While in this dark place in my life, God showed me hope, hope that there was life ahead that was worth enjoying and living. Reflecting back I have realized that if I had not been attending Zion or had the opportunity to attend EMHS I would never had thought about missions. I'm so thankful that the Mennonite faith embraces missions at every age. The idea of missions was never a thought until my mom mentioned it to me. Surely, she had no idea that I would take her up on it and to be honest neither did I. Funny how little things can change, so now I'm here embarking on a new journey in my life. I'm at a time in my life that I'm tired of the normal everyday routine and ready for some new challenges. I'm eager to start the Eastern Mennonite Missions YES program and expand my knowledge of the Bible, learn from other people, and learn some new things about myself. Through much anticipation, anxiety, and nervousness I think I'm finally excited to leave my comfort zone. And like Micah 6:8 says, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." I'm excited to grow in Christ and be able to trust in Him with every ounce of blood in my body.

As I now have exactly a week [now 4 days] until I start my training in Harrisburg, PA I would still love your continued thoughts and prayers. I cannot thank each and ever one of your enough for all of the support, thoughts, prayer, and money. I feel embraced, uplifted, and loved by you, my church.

Thank you to everyone who has been in prayer for my team and I through this journey thus far. I'm excited to meet everyone Sunday, though it will be hard leaving my family and friends. I know God has given me this opportunity to glorify Him and I'm eager to see what this experience has in store.