Taking a gap year was never something that I thought I would be doing. I had never really thought about where I wanted to go to college, but I knew it was something that I was going to do right away, because that's what you were "supposed to do". At the beginning of my senior year, I found out that my family was getting stationed in Hawaii, and I was torn between going with them or going to college. After lots of prayer and conversation, I had peace about taking a year off to decide what I wanted to do with my life and to explore all the beauty of Hawaii. When I got to Hawaii, I realized that I had never fully decided what I was going to do while I was there or really thought about the fact that I was going to be getting "behind". I had been struggling for a couple weeks with what I was going to do, when I came across an instagram post from someone I knew that was on a mission trip, and decided to look into it- and here I am! It's crazy how God works. I became so focused on what I wanted to do and what my plans were that I forgot to stop and ask God what it was that He had planned for me. I thought that I was just going to be taking a year off from school- I never would have imagined that I would be going to Africa to share the love of Jesus.

In my 19 years of life, I have moved ten times, completely unaware of what each place would bring. Every time I moved, my mom would remind me that these challenges would only make me stronger and that God has a reason for everything that He does. When I was younger, I didn't realize the significance of that statement but now that I have graduated high school with the experience and knowledge of the way that people live all across America, I have the desire to continue to see different cultures all around the world. During these four months, I will be able to show the children of Africa that there is a God that loves and cares for them. I will be able to show them the joy that the Lord so willingly gives and how they can have a relationship with the creator of the universe. I don't know exactly what this season of my life will bring, but I am so excited and cannot wait to see all the good things that the Lord does.