Exciting announcement!

Concerning Ghana...

Hi all!

I am ECSTATIC to share some SUPER EXCITING news with you!!!!

Many of you know my story, but some may not, so I will give a brief recap so you understand the significance of this news.

Growing up, I found myself very lost in materialism. I loved getting my nails done. I loved buying clothes. I loved going on vacations. I loved big houses. I loved it all. And I was determined to get a job that would allow me to have it all.

That being said, my heart was very hardened toward missions. Why would I want to go to a third-world country where I couldn’t be a materialist and have all of these things in abundance? I felt like this was most definitely not in God’s plan for me because He knew my heart and because He knew that my heart and missions didn't align, He would omit it from the plan.

To say the least, I wasn’t taking my faith seriously.

That is until I went to college and some life events happened that resulted in me leaning heavily on the Lord. Upon doing this, He completely flipped my life around in the best possible way.

This led me to attend the Passion Conference in the winter of 2022. This is a huge event where tens of thousands of young adults gather together to worship God.

The theme of this conference was, “Where is God sending you?” And they actually wanted you to answer the question on a card at the end.

As I was thinking about the question, I was really struggling to write something down. Not because I didn’t have anything in mind, but because the thing that was on my mind was not something I wanted. I wrestled really hard with the Lord. I initially told Him no, but as my mind became more and more blank with any other ideas and time became less and less, I surrendered to writing it super small and showing no one.

The word I wrote was Ghana. (pictured below)

I had no prior connection with this country. I knew it was in Africa because of my AP Geography class, but that was it. It was truly the strangest experience– that country being repeated over and over in my head. I couldn’t think of anything else, so I told God I would write it down, but He would have to do ALL of the work if He wanted to do anything with it.

And so He did.

A few weeks later, after I had returned to school from my winter break, I was walking to lunch. To get to the cafeteria you have to walk through the lobby where sometimes there are booths set up. Normally, I just keep my head down and try to not make eye contact so I can just get to the food. But on this particular day, OneWay Ministries had a booth set up and they were offering a sticker. (pictured in the bottom right corner above). So being the materialist I am, I walked over to get a sticker. They started to tell me who they are and what they do and it sounded cool, but I was by no means sold. On a whim though, I asked if they did any mission work, to which they replied, “Yes! We primarily work with Ghana!”

My jaw dropped.

And I asked them to repeat themselves a few times.

I thought to myself, “Wow God, You really did do all of the work. Now what?”

I took the most natural next step: I grabbed all the brochures and applied for an internship.

And I got in.

And it was the best summer of my entire life. Not just because of the amazing people, but because I was given a vision for my life. A vision I had never had before. That vision was marketing ministry. Prior to the summer, I was planning on taking five years to graduate because I had no idea what I wanted to do. College was comfortable enough, so I figured I would just stay as long as I could. But after the summer, I realized I needed to graduate as soon as possible so I could start pursuing this vision that God gave me.

Instead of five years, I am now graduating in three and a half! I actually graduate this December! Which is so crazy and so, so exciting!

I came back this summer for a second internship because it just felt like the most natural thing I could possibly do. And the summer has been even greater than last! I have gotten to work on the coolest projects. One of those was producing a podcast from scratch! This was challenging but so rewarding. I also got to write lots of stories for Ghana which allowed me to learn more and more about this country God had written on my heart.

That all being said, I haven’t had the opportunity to go to Ghana… until recently…

A couple of weeks ago, the founder of OneWay, Michael Thompson, left in the middle of his meeting to ask me a question.

And that question was if I could go on their next trip to Ghana!

The only problem was that it was going to be in October… right in the middle of school and volleyball. As they have been considering who to send on this trip, they have always ruled me out because of this. But during this particular meeting, Michael stopped and decided that they couldn’t keep assuming. They had to ask.

And so he did, and I ecstatically agreed!

They pulled me into the meeting and asked for the percentage of how likely I’d be able to come on the trip to which I answered with a confident, “100%.”

I answered so confidently because it is God who started this work in my heart and it is Him who will bring it to completion, regardless of the other things going on in my life.

He is a waymaker and I already see how He is making a way and I am so incredibly encouraged by His faithfulness to answer that prayer I prayed all that time ago during that moment at Passion, “God if you want to do anything with this, You are going to have to do all of the work.”

He has and He continues to and I am incredibly grateful to be walking in step with it.

I look forward to sharing more about the details of the trip, but for now, praise God with me for His incredible work and faithfulness!

Thank you, Lord!

Thank you all for your prayers, love and support. You guys make this all possible. :)