So I have never done any kind of missions work, I have worked at a summer camp for several years but have never done missions or even been out of the country...  I say that to say I have nothing to base my expectations on expect for things I have read and things people have told me.  One thing I can expect is to be changed. Changed to be a more devoted follower of Christ.  

I am looking forward to serving, I'm excited to go into these countries where  God has placed people in full time ministry and help.  I honestly don't care what they ask me to do, my heart is geared to serve others.  So I guess my expectations are to be a help to others and serve people for Christ.  

I know God has put this trip on my heart and I am going in willing and ready to be changed by God.  I can not express how excited I am about this trip and seeing the people that may have never heard of God be touched by His love!!!

Ok so to be honest I never really saw myself doing any kind of missions work.  I got my degree in business from Oklahoma State University and thought I wanted to go work for a business doing office work... After I graduated I went to work for a bus company doing sales and marketing, it was a good job but it wasn't something I loved.  I have always been in jobs where I am serving people and I did not feel I was having much of an impact on people at this job... But knowing this is where God wanted me at the time I continued to work diligently, but at the same time started to pray for opportunities where I could serve people as a job. I had been thinking about going to South Africa for a year to work in an orphanage, but that kinda fell through. Then I heard about the World Race from a college buddy who is going on the trip...  I prayed about it for a bit before I took the job at the bus company, but thought i needed to use my degree right away.  Then one day I was at work and for some reason I started thinking about the World Race again and how much serving people is involved, so I started thinking about and praying about the trip again.  I really felt strongly that I was supposed to pursue this trip and see where it led.

Here is the story of how it played out...

 After speaking with Danny more about the trip and what I was doing at work, I decided to go ahead and apply knowing God wanted me to be serving him and having a feeling that this might be the avenue.  Once I had taken that step to apply everything started to fall into place.  I contacted the summer camp that I grew up at and asked about what they needed in terms of help, knowing that could be another area I could serve people for God. They offered me a job through January, when I leave for the Race,  being paid more than I needed. However, they needed to know within the week, this was Monday, whether or not I could take the job.  This is where it gets really interesting...  So I had applied for the World Race and had scheduled an interview for Wednesday of the same week.  So that leaves me two days after my interview to tell the people at the camp whether or not I could take the job, seeing that they are closed on the weekend.  Alright, so while I was waiting for my interview on Wednesday my boss at work came to me and asked about one of my friends who had his degree in business interested to see if he need a job cause they were thinking about expanding.  So I set him up an interview with the owner the same week and he came in I believe on Thursday.  Ok so it's Thursday I have had my interview and I thought it went really well, but they told me it was going to be a week to a week and a half before I would find out if I was accepted. I knew that I had to know quicker than that to make a decision about camp.  Part of the thing about going on to work at the camp is that it would be a transition to going on the Race.  If I wasn't accepted I was going to try to seek a more permanent job, still serving people for God but something I could do for awhile.  With that I still knew that God had put the Race on my heart and I believed that he wanted me to do it. So it is now Thursday afternoon and I have a day and a half to tell the camp and the company is kinda up in the air about hiring cause they are not sure if expanding was a great idea at the point but they really liked my friend they interviewed...  Man this is getting long.  Thursday around 2:00 I got an email from AIM saying to call within the week.  Of course I called them within like 2 minutes wanting to know what the email was about.  Yay!! I got accepted and was going to be able to leave in January.... Now knowing this information I felt it was important to tell my boss so he didn't let a good hire go if he liked him...  Also, I could tell the camp within the time frame they gave me that I could take the job starting in the summer and work through January... The great thing is I wasn't going to leave anyone hanging cause my friend would take my place at work and the camp only needed help through January...  

So lets recap, I  got a job I loved doing and could serve people for God, got accepted for the race and God provided a person to take my place at work all within 4 days...  God had it all figured out, but it was sure a test of my faith!! 

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."  - Proverbs 19:21

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." - Proverbs 3:5-6