Why I'm Leaving & What I'm Doing

In July 2022, I went to LIFE Conference, a tri-annual conference put on by the Christian Missionary Alliance. Youth groups from all around the US attended. (As well as some people from Puerto Rico!) I stayed in Orlando in a massive event center with some of my best friends and over 6,000 other Christians. Throughout the week, I was able to listen to various speakers and participate in seminars. We got to see Brandon Leake, a famous spoken word poet perform. (Eeeee!!!) Colleges and organizations from both coasts had set up tables down the main hallways. You could stop by one table and buy a bracelet, at another table, you could find pamphlets on how to evangelize at your school, and yet another table sported mini-games that you could compete in for candy. 

I walked into LIFE conference knowing that God was going to do something. What it was, I didn't know. I made a promise to myself: whatever God said, whatever He did, I was going to say yes to it. Throughout the week, it became more and more apparent. I felt the Holy Spirit leading me toward the table that Envision (an organization that helps plan short-term mission trips) had set up. After asking the lovely folks there some basic questions and getting a pamphlet, I moved on with my day. The next day, I went back to the table. I talked to a new person and was offered more pamphlets. (I know some of you are shaking your heads right now. Envision? That's right, that's where this story starts. Don't worry though. I'll get to Global Bridge... eventually.)  

Eventually, I ended up standing next to the Crown College table with one of the Envision representatives, waiting for one of Crown's representatives to wade through the constant crowd of teenagers. We talked for a bit, and I explained that I didn't really know what I was doing, but I did know that I was saying yes to whatever God put in front of me. It was here that I was introduced to a Trek Year. Trek Year was a program where you could complete college credits while also participating in ministry. Envision had sites all around the world. I could go pretty much anywhere; Germany, France, the Dominican Republic, and Cleveland were only some of the sites. 

I sat on the bathroom floor that night, my roommates fast asleep, and I prayed. I went through the pamphlets, asking God where I was supposed to go... and if I was really supposed to do something this crazy. 

On the last night of LIFE conference, they asked anyone who had felt the call to ministry to come to the front, next to the stage, so that everyone in attendance could pray for them. To my own amazement, I found myself standing with them. Obviously, the answer to all my questions the night before was "Yes, this is what you're supposed to do."

When I got home, I faced the inevitable onslaught of questions. "How was it?" "Did you have fun?" "Was it warm in Florida?" You can imagine my parents' surprise when I told them that I was not going to be staying in the US for college and that I wanted to leave the country. "I don't know where yet, I just know that I need to," I told my mom.

August 2022 came, and I began to email back and forth with the Crown representative. She gave me more information about Envision's Trek Year, but she also introduced me to Students International (shortened to SI). SI was also partnered with Crown, and their program was called Global Bridge (shortened to GB). They only had one location, in the Dominican Republic, but they had an education site, where I could work with kids. (Note: Envision also had places where you could help teach, but that was with high school and college-age students. I felt called to work with younger kids.)

By September 2022, I'd made my decision. I was going to go to the Dominican with SI. I'd said yes and I'd gotten this far. What was next, though?

Fast forward to March 2023, Spring Break. My dad and I boarded a flight at an outrageously early time to JFK, where we would meet our connecting flight to Santiago, Dominican Republic, arriving in the early evening. I went from snow storms and 4 feet of snow to 85 degrees F and very humid. I spent the next four days playing with kids at the education site, doing devotions, and getting to know the girls who were part of the GB for the 2022-23 school year. My dad worked at the Appropriate Technology site, making affordable water filters for the surrounding community. 

That visit was an amazing blessing. I got to tour the education site, the social work site, and the two clinics. I met Courtney and Dustin, (two wonderful people!) who are the program directors who live in the Dominican. I got to live on the base that I'll be staying in when I return in August 2023. The GB girls gave me a glimpse into their every day, telling me about Spanish lessons, small lizards and large spiders, homestays, and fresh fruit. 

I am nothing short of ecstatic to return to the Dominican. I will be able to participate in ministry at one of the sites (TBD which one), take classes with Crown, and go on excursions to the beach and into the city of Santiago. Once or twice a semester, I'll be able to stay with a Dominican family, like a foreign exchange student. I'll also be learning Spanish! (Yeah... I know, I should have taken it in high school. I took ASL instead.) Every day, the countdown on my phone gets smaller, and the trust that this is what God made me for gets bigger! It's amazing how God continues to assure me that this is what He's called me for. 

In short, though maybe it's a little too late for that, I'm leaving for the Dominican Republic on August 21, 2023. I'm going with both hope and steady certainty that God is going to do a great thing. I never thought that I'd be doing something like this, but crazy things happen when you say yes to God. He's got a plan for all of us, and this is the one He made for me. I'm going to miss my family and my friends. (Good news! I'll be back for a month around Christmas!) But I know that this journey, this adventure, is going to be something better than I could have ever imagined by myself. 

¡Hasta luego, y'all!

    Maddy <3