Expectations

We were asked to write a blog about how we felt before leaving on this mission trip. Here is what I'm expecting...

hmm... I think the thing I'm anticipating most is surrendering myself completely to everything God will have me do next year! To be taken out of my element, out of my comfortable life where complacency sets in so easily. To be pushed beyond my perceived limits until I truly can do nothing but rely on God to live through me, to shine through me, to love through me. To be His eyes and hands and feet to the world, to the beautiful people He loves so much!! To watch as He transforms their lives and heals their hearts through us! To be a part of what He is doing around the World!!! Wow! What an honor! what a privilege to be an ambassador for Christ, a messenger of the Good News!

"How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who brings good news,
the good news of peace and salvation." ~ Isaiah 52:7

I know I will be stretched in ways I never thought possible, but the thought of completely dying to myself excites me! May I become less and less and may He become greater and greater! Amen!!

Knowing that I'm going to be experiencing this with my team gives me peace. A support group is so important and I'm really looking forward to the friendships that will be built and the fellowship we'll have as we depend completely on God and each other.

I don't really have any worries...other than how I'm going to pack everything

I need for 11 months in a giant backpack lol...It won't be easy -

but that's part of the adventure, right? :-P

I know I will miss my friends and family, but I feel that God has placed a 'nomadic' spirit in me (moving over 20 times will do that to ya!). It's kinda neat looking back and seeing how, despite the fact that I hated moving while growing up, He has used that to make me flexible...to make it almost second nature to just pack up and go. lol. God is so funny like that. I love Him! hehe.

Anyway, I'm SUPER STOKED about next year, and I know that there will be tons of things I won't be able to expect or see coming till they happen. As some of my teammates have said - expect the unexpected!! Woot woot! bring it on! ;-)

The Calling

We were asked to write a blog about how we were called to this mission trip. Here is my story:

My mom read me tons of stories when I was young; novels, poems and tales of adventure. I have a faint memory of one story in which a woman devoted her life to serving God overseas. This woman had brown eyes, like me, but prayed that God would make them blue. I could definitely relate to that! As the only one with brown eyes in my family, I always wished they would just magically change to blue if I prayed hard enough. Or even hazel...that would at least be a step up from plain old brown. The woman in the story discovered, however, that God had given her brown eyes for a reason. As a missionary in India, blue eyes might have hindered the Indians' acceptance of her. This, of course was a story about Amy Carmichael, and it was my first view of what missionary life was like. Secretly I prayed that God had a cool purpose for making my eyes brown too, and that someday I would need those dark eyes on an adventurous mission in the jungle of..well...wherever God sent me. Yes, that must be it.

Years later, in a huge stadium filled with other enthusiastic teenagers, I listened as a vonunteer with Global expeditions shared the importance of missions and God's heart in bringing all peoples to Himself. Along with his message he showed a video clip that displayed youth lovingly serving people all over the world in Jesus' name. my heart began to beat faster and I felt a certainty that this is what God was calling me to do. Since then I've kinda always felt like that was something I would be doing for the rest of my life.

God increased this desire in me during my last 2 years in High School, and, as I studied Spanish, my love for the hispanic people and their language grew. I had gone on a couple mission trips within the United States, and my senior year I got the opportunity to go to the Dominican Republic with the high school youth group. It was my first time outside of the United States and I loved all of it! - - being with the people, seeing the differences in cultures, playing with the beautiful Dominican children, helping my team with work projects, becoming unified as a team and as friends, practicing Spanish and, of course, the food was AMazing!!!

That summer (2005) I was able to join Compassion International for a week long trip to Honduras. There I got a hands-on glimpse of what Compassion does all over the world, and, at the end of the week,met Kerlyn for the first time, the girl I sponsor there (who is now 14 years old!!).

In 2006 I discovered the World Race while searching for a short term mission trip on the Adventures in Missions website. As I watched the promo video, a passion welled up in me that seemed to shout "this is what you were created to do!!" After praying about it, I felt like God was telling me to wait. So, in the mean time, I did some more traveling, moved to Costa Rica with a friend for 9 1/2 months, and then came to CA. It was here that God brought me back to the World Race website and I began feel an urgency to finish the application. In October I noticed the site's 'application-fee-waiver' and thought, hey! what better time to send it in than now?! so I did, and, needless to say, HERE I AM!!!!!!!!! :D

I am so humbled and honored that God would allow me to be a part of this awesome adventure with Him and I'm so excited to share this experience with my teammates, who, I can already tell, are AMAZING! God is so great and I can't wait to see what He's going to be doing in us and through us on this trip for His glory!!! Hallelujah!!!

About me :-)

Hey! I'm Keri and I'm 24 years old. I was born in Virginia, and, after moving more than 20 times, finally ended up here in California (and no, I'm not part of a military family, my mom just liked to move a lot! :-P ). I am an only child and was raised by my mother. God is the only Father I have ever known and I love Him so much! I love spending time with Him, especially through praise and worship and just hanging out with Him in His creation.

Right now I'm studying photography through a correspondence with the New York Institute of Photography, which I'm hoping to finish this year. I have a passion for photography and to use it for God's glory. I never thought I would go to an actual collage until a couple years ago. lol Out of nowhere, God put the desire to study in my heart. I believe He's pointing me towards languages, child development, and media to be used in missions. I took a few gen-ed. classes last year, and now have a grand total of 9 credits. My plan is to finish after the World Race, but we'll see where God leads!!

("We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." ~ Proverbs16:9)

Some random facts:

I LOVE adventure, my last of which was bungee jumping 264 ft. off a bridge in Costa Rica!! Fun stuff! I'm hoping to take that to the next level and go sky diving sometime soon!

I speak a lot of Spanish...not fluent yet, but I can carry on a pretty good conversation :-)

God has given me a heart for kids!

Favorite foods: pineapple and chocolate

Favorite animals: horses and dogs

Favorite movies: Braveheart, Gladiator, and The Emperor's New Groove.

I lived in Costa Rica for a total of one year and loved it!

I LOVE music!! i began playing the guitar a couple years ago and absolutely love it. I still have a lot to learn though!

I just realized, i use waaay to many exclamation points...!

I've only been to 7 countries - all in Central America - and I'm totally psyched about that number increasing next year! ;-)

My hobbies include: travel and missions, reading in local coffee shops, photography, stargazing, baking, walking/hiking, hanging out with friends and worshiping God through music and dance!