Macedonia.

A trip to Macedonia.

Over spring break.

Expensive plane tickets on a broke college student’s budget.

Traveling overseas in the midst of the busiest semester of my college career.

What in the world was I thinking?

Here’s the simple answer: I wasn’t thinking.

In the fall semester, I kept hearing about this Macedonia trip. People in chapel would announce it every so often. One of my professors (who is the leader of the trip) would talk about it nearly every class period. And I thought to myself, “Huh, that would be really cool.” But then I would brush it off because traveling overseas is such a distant concept to me. Macedonia was going to stay out of reach in Europe, and I was going to stay in my little American bubble. Nice, safe, and comfortable.

Then I started noticing some . . . hints.

Whether in church, classes, or my devotions, I somehow always ended up opening my Bible to Acts 16:6-10. The heading of this passage? The Macedonian Call. The first time I read this, I froze. Was God trying to tell me something?

Pffh . . . no way. God isn’t going to call me to go to Macedonia when I have so much other work to do. That would be crazy. God wouldn’t ask me to do that.

I’m too busy,

Too poor,

Too young,

Too unknowledgeable,

Too [insert another excuse here]

Think of an excuse and it probably crossed my mind. But then I talked to some people, my roommate being one of them, and asked some questions. My roommate jumped right into the trip like it was no big deal. I asked her why, and she said, “Why not?”

So, I jumped. I didn’t think. I said, “Why not?” And now I am nine days away from getting on a plane that is headed for Zurich, and eventually Skopje, Macedonia.

I didn’t think about a schedule, or the finances, or my fears, or how crazy it would be. I said:

“Here I am, send me.”

So here I am! Our team of six (shout out to my ladies Jess, Becca, and Emily who are the other students going on the trip and Dr. Yoder and Lisa who are our brave leaders!) is headed into Skopje, Macedonia to serve the people there. Although we cannot explicitly share our faith or talk about Jesus unless someone specifically asks us, our goal is to exude the love of Christ through our actions and words. We will be working alongside SEND and their team who are already doing amazing work in Macedonia. Our team is possibly hosting TESOL classes which will be an adventure considering none of us are education majors (but that’s okay because we all know English fairly well . . . I think). But mostly, we will be talking with people and building new relationships.

If you are reading this, please pray for our team. We are all so excited to see how the Lord will work in us and through us on this trip. We know He already has every moment perfectly planned out for us.

But we all have our fears. When I share about this trip, people’s eyes widen and typically the first sentence out of their mouths is, “Wow, aren’t you scared?”

Yes, yes we are. But we are resting in the peace of the Lord and the knowledge that He is going to be walking alongside us through every step. Matthew 28:16-20, right? So, please pray for peace of minds. Pray for flexibility. Pray that Christ will be honored in every thought, word, and action. Pray for safety. Pray for new friendships, open minds and hearts, and humbling experiences.

Thank you for reading.