Where is God calling you?

My name is Skyler.
This summer God took me on an amazing adventure to Swaziland. We hung out, talked, played, laughed and even cried.
Now by “we,” yes I mean me and God, but I also mean my teammates, the Swazi people, the Swazi kids, and the AIM staff. If you would’ve asked me a few years ago if I knew where Swaziland is, I would’ve asked if that is even a real place? Now, I can tell you it’s in South Africa but even more importantly, it’s in Gods heart and His hands. Never in my life have I seen a place so full of God. He was, and is, in the smiles, laughs, and the tears of the kids. He was, and is, in the Church, the AIM staff, and my team.
I’ve held off writing a blog because I’ve never done it and it’s scary. It’s scary knowing other people know your thoughts and feelings for this beautiful country and for life in general, but I’m learning its not as scary as it seems. For example, going on my first mission trip and it being 9,603 miles from home, yeah, that’s scary. The fact it was my first time being away from home for more then a week… and it was four weeks, that’s scary. Being with 16 people you’ve never met outside of Facebook or Instagram…scary.

Now if you know me then you know I love people with all my heart! I love the adventure of going to new places and having the opportunities to meet new people, even though I’m only 15 and this trip was the first time I’d ever left the country. At one point, I sat back and

realized that if I had listed out all the reasons I could’ve been scared, it would take you all day to read this blog and quite possibly, take till tomorrow. The crazy thing was, even though I had a billion reasons to be afraid and to say “No God, that’s too much for this 15 year old,” I had this peace that I believe only God could give. I had this wall of reasons not to go and it was only building higher and higher the closer the trip came, but only for a spilt second on the plane to Georgia was I actually scared. I guess when you’re 14, and dying to go on a mission trip and you want to see the world and share God more then anything else, it doesn’t matter how many reasons you find to not go. You still manage to find that one reason to go. I was 14 years old when I got on my computer one March night somewhere around midnight and stayed up till 3am(not my brightest moment) looking for a mission trip. Searching the internet, at like 2:30am, I found “Adventures in missions.” I found their ambassador program and I started scrolling down through the trips and saw Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, and all the other 2-3 week trips. To me all the Central and South America trips seemed too close to home because I live an hour or so away from the Mexican border. I live in that environment already and I’ve never really felt called to that part of the world. I know others are, so I wasn’t worried, I knew they are in Gods hands and if I feel called to go at some point then heck yeah I’ll go, but for now I feel called to Africa. When this (then) 14 yr old saw Swaziland… I can’t quite explain how I felt but it was almost like a flip switched in me. On that night I knew Swaziland was where I was supposed to go and

after a few months of bugging my parents I signed up and I went.
I guess one reason I didn’t want to write a blog was because I didn’t know what to write about. Now that I’m writing, I feel as though I’m writing to encourage others to just, go.

As a 15 year old leaving home for 4 weeks, being 9,603 miles from home, in the Southern Hemisphere with opposite seasons, a 7 hr time difference, and having to raise over 5,000 dollars…it was scary. It was very easy to look at those reasons to be like ‘nah God that’s too much,” but I’m here to tell you, its not. The one reason I knew I was going to be okay and that it wasn’t too much, is because I knew God called me. He wanted me in Swazi. He wanted me.

He’s calling you. Whether it’s Swaziland, your community, USA road trip, Guatemala, maybe Vietnam or maybe it’s something as big as The Gap Year/World Race, He wants you. If you’re not sure where to go but you know you’re supposed to go, pray. Ask God. God has crazy plans and for me, when the trips came out for 2018 I saw Ethiopia and another flip switched. I’ve applied and now I’m hoping to go. As of right now it’s next, maybe God has other plans for me, but for now that’s where God has called me.
Where is he calling you?