So yesterday's blog pretty much left off at the end of my junior year. That was one of my favorite years in high school. I took classes that were a lot of fun, made a lot of good friends, and grew a lot in the faith. That summer was a lot of fun. I took a trip to Europe and made a lot of great friends that I still keep in touch with today. That trip helped me grow a lot in my faith. That summer was a big time of growth. I read almost every day, all day. I had gotten to where if I started reading when I woke up and stopped only to eat, I could finish a 250 page book in a couple of days. I finished anywhere between 7-10 books that summer and I loved every second of it. I finished the Bible on July 1, 2011 and dedicated my time to books people had recommended and that I had discovered. After a month I had finished all of those books and decided to read the Bible again, except I was reading the Message version.
At the beginning of senior year I was on track to graduate and go to college just like the average high school senior. By October I had applied to Asbury University, Mississippi College, and Auburn, and been accepted to all three, so I had a decision to make. I went and toured the colleges throughout the month of November, but just couldn't make a decision. I absolutely loved Asbury, but it was way too expensive. I liked Mississippi College, but they were covering half of the cost to go there. And Auburn was just home, but no scholarship. Amongst all of this my friend, Daniel Harris, told me about this thing called Passion that happens in January in Atlanta. So I looked it up and I was dying to go. They had some really awesome people like Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, Kristian Stanfill, Francis Chan, David Crowder band, Beth Moore, Hillsong, John Piper, and many more. I was looking for any way to go that I could. Then I saw the college pastor at our church tweet that they had spots to fill, and as soon as I saw it I emailed him asking if I could go. He said that I could, and I was super excited.
So all of Christmas break I was looking forward to Passion. For Christmas my dad got me this book called "Kisses from Katie" by Katie Davis. Katie is a girl that decided to take a year off after her high school to go do a mission experience somewhere, and she ended up in Uganda. At this time I knew that I was going to Uganda for a little while, and that was the amazing trip I took earlier this summer. Keep in mind that I still hadn't made a decision on where to go to college yet.
I finished that book in about 3 days, but didn't really think anything of it. The day that I finished that book I picked up the Bible and began to read out of Isaiah, and this is what I read:
"What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families" (Isaiah 58:7, The Message).
As soon as I got done reading that verse, I knew that the Lord was trying to tell me something. Fast forward about a week. I'm at Passion having an amazing time. Chris Tomlin tells us that we are going to sing "How Great is Our God" but we were going to sing it in different languages. I didn't really think much of it when he told us that. It was getting close to the end of the song and an African Children's Choir jumped in and began to sing with us. It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever heard. I had to stop singing multiple times because I was so choked up.
At the very end, Louie Giglio got up and he said, "I know that God has put a country on your heart." And right at that moment, I heard what sounded like a faint whisper and it said "Uganda". Since I had been through this once before, I knew that it was God telling me that. And at that moment I knew that God wanted me to go to Uganda for longer than a week.
I didn't think about it much while I was at Passion, but the whole ride home and the whole weekend I thought about how I was going to get there. My whole family left the weekend I got back and I had the whole weekend to think about it. That weekend I contacted Jamie East. She was my history teacher junior year and I knew that 5 months earlier she had moved to Uganda to work with 4 Corners Ministries. So I asked her if it was alright if I came and did an internship with them in the fall. They were all for it, so I was on board.
Then I had to find a way to tell my parents. This was going to be a lot of fun. So they got back on Sunday and that Sunday night I pulled them into my dad's office to tell them about this. Surprisingly, they were pretty cool with it. Yes, they had their questions, but they were on board.
Over the following months I had to apply for the internship, interview, and I got accepted. I was so excited!! I now have a plane ticket and I leave in 12 days! I am so excited to go back over there and see what the Lord has in store for me.
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