I grew up in Maypearl and attended high school in Waxahachie. During my senior year, I began attending Stonegate Church in Midlothian and my family began the process of building a house there, where we currently live.
I became involved with international missions after a trip to Haiti in 2011 where I quickly fell in love. So in love that I went back the next two summers and now have a 4-year old sister from the orphanage where I volunteered. The summer after my senior year, I fell in love again-with Uganda.
In 2014, I graduated from Waxahachie Global High School and went on to San Marcos to attend Texas State University for a degree in elementary education. Halfway through my second semester, my love for missions got the best of me.
I applied to go on the World Race Gap Year where I would live in three countries for three months each. After a somewhat extensive interview process, lots of fundraising, and 10 intense days of training in Georgia, I flew out to the first country in early September.
For three months, I lived in Guatemala City and worked with youth who lived on the streets and were addicted to inhalants. My team and I helped renovate and open a café where they could enjoy free coffee, games, and fellowship while being sober. The friendships we made were precious and sweet, and the ministry impacted me greatly.
After our final month there, we flew to Malaysia where we taught English and helped out around a learning center. The state we lived in was very strictly Islamic, so ministry was a little more difficult since we were not allowed to talk about our faith. It was a hard season for my team and me, but the Lord remained faithful and still used that time to minister to my heart.
I am currently living in a village in the Khalaghadi Desert of Botswana in the southern part of Africa, where we are focused on building up the church we are partnered with and reaching out to the community to build relationships and share the love of Jesus with them. I will be here for the next month and a half before I fly home at the end of May.
At this point, I am unsure of my future plans, but I have found that I quite enjoy the adventures Jesus takes me on when I trust him with each step at a time.
