To begin my story I first have to tell a little bit about my journey in coming back to Christ. Growing up, my mothers side of my family were church going Christians, my fathers side were not. I went to Church up into the point when my parents got divorced. During this period in my life, I saw my mom less and less, which meant that I stopped going to church. The divorce finalized by the time I was in high school. It was the first time in my life where I actually decided that I want to go to church. I loved the people there, because they were so nice and I made a lot of friends. I also loved hearing about Jesus. It was pivotal for me because some Christians go to church their entire lives not knowing why they are going and when they receive freedom to make their own decisions, they don’t go back. I did go back during high school and really enjoyed it.
Going to college in a new place, I searched for a church home In Boulder. I went to several and did not feel that they were the place God wanted me to be. They were not a place were I felt comfortable in connecting with God. Out of frustration in failing to find a church home in Boulder, I stop searching and going to Church entirely. The absence of a church and God definitely showed. My freshman year was a very dark period in my life. Going home for the summer was a rejuvenating experience for me. It was nice being home and spending time with my family.
At the beginning of my sophomore year, I began searching for churches once again. I had lunch with one of my friends and she randomly invited me to a campus ministry called the Annex. The Annex serves as a place where I could praise, pray to and worship God with my peers. It is an amazing place to connect with Christians who can push me towards God. It was the end of the semester where I was studying with a friend, Jess. Jess asked me if I had ever thought about doing missions work. I laughed at her, and said that I just came back to the Lord and that I wasn’t ready. I told that if I were to go on a missions trip that I would take it seriously and I had to be “rock solid” in my faith. Following that conversation, three guys in my small group went on an 11-day missions trip to Cuba. When they got back, the stories of how God moved in them and through them were amazing. I was fascinated on how much growth my friend Ethan experienced. So the next Annex, they announced this program, called messenger that sends students for two months in the summer to various countries in the summer to do missions work. At first I was definitely interested however not completely sure that I wanted to spend my entire summer going to another country. I asked my small group members to pray that God would grant me discernment of his will for me to go on this trip or not. A week later, I told them that I was going on the program. And Now I will be going to Peru! ☺
