When I decided I wanted to take a gap year after high school, the only thing I needed to figure out was what I wanted to do. Easy right? Not so much as I soon found out. I figured I wanted to go on a mission trip with an organization. I knew a decent amount of people who had done that after high school, and they loved it. The only thing was I had to find an organization to go with, and when I started looking I thought I didn’t have too many preferences on where or when or how it would be done. Once I got more into the differences between the organizations, however, I found I had way more preferences than I thought, and this was going to be way harder than I realized. 

It took me a few months to find the right organization, but after a couple false hopes I found World Race. Specifically their Gapless Gap Year program, which is a four or nine month opportunity to travel in a community of people my age to learn and grow together as we get to help the people around us. This coming fall I’ll be traveling to Albania and Italy, I’ll get to take classes on things such as Greatest Problems in Ministry, Practical Life Skills & Self-Leadership, and Ethical AI. We will also be serving with children and youth as well as elderly homes, and we will have opportunities to go share the gospel in surrounding villages and homes. 

This experience will help me grow in my faith and push me to go out of my comfort zone as I am in a new place doing new things with people from all over the world. I hope to make lifelong friends that I can learn from and share with. I am equally excited and anxious about this trip, but I think it will be a really important and transformative experience for me, and I’m so excited to share it with you!