"You won't spend the rest of your life chasing your own desires,
but you will be anxious to do the will of God" ~1 Peter 4:2
I was born and raised in Loveland, Colorado to a beautiful family that has always and will always love and support me and want the best for me. I love the Rocky Mountains and have developed a sense of direction based on the fact that I know my mountains are always in the west. What will I do when they aren't?!
I always wanted to be a teacher. My mom, aunts, cousins, uncles, and even friends' moms were all teachers. I spent hours as a child teaching 'my students' in the basement with my mini chalkboard. I had my life figured out from an early age….teach little kids to read!
In 8th grade, a substitute teacher in my English class told us that she had just returned from some far off country. She had been a missionary there. We prayed for missionaries in church, but I had never met a real one. I was fascinated by her simple statement and told myself that I wanted to be one of those, but I didn't know how or when.
July 2006. It was the summer after my junior year of high school. My church began taking groups down to Somoto, Nicaragua to build homes, do medical missions, and lead Vacation Bible School. I would be working with kids in the community and would get to use Spanish which I had grown to love over my 3 years in high school…it was an IDEAL situation!!
I told God that if I was supposed to do something in missions, this trip would be the perfect opportunity to let me know that!
He didn't outright tell me anything.
I had no visions or dreams….
But I was called to go back to Nicaragua the following year.
And I began to feel this longing to right the injuctices I was seeing around me in the world…but the issues are so huge and complex. How could a mere HUMAN like ME do anything?
"Jesus looked at them intently and said, 'Humanly speaking it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.'" ~Matt. 19:26
I graduated from high school and was off to college in Iowa. I was far from my mountains, but I could still sense which direction was west. And I was far from my parents, but a little independence was good for me. Plus, cell phones work GREAT…even in Iowa 🙂 I went to Wartburg College to become a teacher. And to study abroad. That was all I wanted out of college.
Boy did I get sooooo much more!
I did fulfill my dream by studying abroad by going to Córdoba, Argentina for 6 months. It was 
wonderful…learning the culture and perfecting the language and meeting new people. I truely enjoyed almost every single moment! I was there to study, but I met people who challenged me in my faith as well. I rededicated my life to Christ in prayer one afternoon, and God has taken ahold of me since then. He has shown me who He wants me to BE…and guided me to where He wants me to GO.
My passion for education only grew while in college. I love kids. I love learning things myself. The world is so much bigger and more beautiful and complex and in anguish than I could have ever imagined. I passionately believe in education's ability to help a lot of the issues facing our world. But it is not the only thing. It is not the cure all solution. Christ and His love are the only way to heal all the hurt and tight all the wrongs.
I met my best friends in college. They challenged me, laughed with me, cried with me, drove me insane, and kept me sane, dreamed with me, supported me, inspired me.
Now I am heading out on a wonderful adventue to Cambodia. I have never been to Asia. I have not studied the language or the culture. But it is the right place for me to be going. I am going with a beautiful team of young women and God has put in our hearts a wonderful desire to love His people there. And that is just what we will do!
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." ~Psalm 37:4
