Honduras !!
My Travel Story
I grew up in the church. Growing up, my family and I would get ready and attend church every Sunday. Once COVID hit, we didn’t go to church in person anymore and slowly my family began to struggle with our faith. As time went on, I had no sight of God. My family was different. We didn’t love the same, talk the same, laugh the same, and we didn’t have the Lord rooted in us. I never knew the small things were going to make the biggest difference and little did I know that shortly after this my parents would be getting a divorce.
This left me empty. The family, and ultimately love, that I knew was taken away in days, and it left me mad at God. I cried “Lord, why my family?” “What did I do wrong?” Shortly after, these prayers left altogether. Once I saw how God was working in other people’s lives around me and not mine, I began to think that I was unlovable. Soon I fell in with the wrong crowd, doing the wrong things, and it quickly caught up to me.
This marked the beginning of a 2-year cycle of me saying, “Oh, I found the lord” and then falling right back into my old ways. I had never felt the feeling of being too far gone before, or being too ashamed to tell people about the sin I was living in. These feelings began to take over my life and I felt trapped in a state of anxiety constantly. Never knowing who I truly was as a person. I let my poor decisions define me. I let my hurt and anger control me. Worst of all, I pushed the people who cared about me the most as far away as I could. One random day in November of 2022, I got a call from a summer camp called “Camp Longridge” saying that I had gotten a job I had applied for months ago. This was the first time I had heard God in so long. It was first time I had the hope of a new beginning, so I took the offer within minutes, thinking that the summer was going to be a normal summer….
I get to camp in May of 2023 and God put me right back to square one. It was hard work, long hours, and spiritually draining. I simply didn’t know God and didn’t desire to. Little did I know I was going to have to pour into 20 young girls and 150 other campers a week. I knew that the state that I was in wasn’t going to let me properly pursue these kids that God had placed in my life for a reason. Then one night, we were doing a small group discussion as we always did, and we read Philippians. During this time, all the conviction from years past began to hit. The shame was sitting on both of my shoulders. I went to the lake and prayed, “God, I don’t want to be here. I can’t leave my family with what is going on, but I’m going to trust you.” In that moment, I was lost and couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I knew there had to be more to life. The next morning, I got a call from my mom, and she says, “We won.” Those words may not seem like a lot to most people, but to me they were everything. My family was in the middle of a very hard custody battle, and I truly didn’t know how it was going to end. But with these words, I knew God had me in the right place. At this exact moment, I knew I had to get right with God.
During the summer I heard the Lord loud and clear. Then one day, a thought came into my mind. I began to think, “Why don’t you go on a long-term mission trip?” My first response was simply, “No God.” The thought didn’t go away that easy, so I prayed and prayed some more. I then attended Custom summer camp that I went too that summer. There was a sermon about where God places people. At the end during small group time, we all got a rock with a word that our youth pastors thought resonated with us, and mine was “called.” After this had been spoken into my life, I knew that all my worries weren’t as big as I thought, and I knew this was going to define me next steps in life.
When I got home, I immediately had an opportunity open up. I jumped at the opportunity and believed I had it for 3 months. Then it was taken from me. I questioned God saying, “You called me to this, and I didn’t even want to do this.” It then hit me. I have to truly want to do this, and that scared me because I knew a part of me was still wanting to live for the world. To be able to go do what God has called me to do, I needed to get right with God and my heart would have to change.
After this, I rededicated myself to the Lord. I was put in a season of wilderness and never felt so alone, but that grew my faith more than ever. I had to stop thinking of it as punishment and realize that it’s a time of growth. A few months later, I could feel it was time to start looking again.
This time, an opportunity for a trip to Costa Rica popped up. If you've heard my story you know I took that offer for about two months. Little did I know God would call my too Honduras. I was given an opportunity to go for 6 months and Costa Rica has been causing me so much anxiety and stress so I prayed and said "God i'm not sure where i'm being called if it Honduras I truly need a sign" and surely he gave me sign. I went to go hear my friends testimony at her church their were four people sharing, and of those people was my sign. The women helping on this journey with Honduras lived in Charleston I did know where and I hadn't met her in person yet and what I really didn't know was that she attended the same church as my friend. So when I relized the women that asked me to pray about my decision for Honduras was in front of me sharing her testimony I couldn't ignore it. It didn't end there I go sit next too her because I felt this pull too and then no lie the pastor comes up and "obedience" that word may not seem much too you but too me golly it confirmed everything and it was like God looking at me in my eyes and saying "you know your next steps" because my word for 2024 is obedience.
My whole life, I’ve known that I am meant to travel the world. I never knew how or why. Once I found out about missions from a dear friend of mine, I just knew this is what I was meant to do for the rest my life. I will take every step not by myself, but with the Lord next to me. I will make memories that I never can imagine. I will build a community. I will draw closer to the Lord. Most importantly, I will be fulfilling my calling. Now you’re probably wondering. “what’s next?” Well, that is a great question. After my trip, I will be attending North Greenville University and major in Intercultural Studies in order to pursue God’s calling on my life. After that, I will go wherever the Lord calls me.
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