Well, I guess it’s time to explain what the heck is going on in my life! Some of you already know that I was accepted to Northwestern's medical school last fall. Exciting! I will most likely be committing to matriculate there. However, I have deferred that acceptance for the fall of 2013. Medical schools generally allow accepted applicants to push their accepted status to the following matriculation year if they have a plan for the year off that will enhance their future career as a doctor. For me, that plan is the World Race.

So, why do I want to do this instead of starting medical school right away?
 
I have spent quite a bit of time in Latin America on various mission/service trips over the past few years, experiences that inspired my interest in global health. My four trips to El Salvador have by far had the greatest impact on my life. It was the first time I realized, I mean truly realized, how God can transform lives of suffering and pain into lives full of joy. In El Salvador I formed relationships; I saw pain and suffering in the eyes of children I came to care about, I held them when they cried and celebrated with them when they received good news.
 
Kids who had watched their sister get raped
Kids who were forced to kill their best friend
Kids whose family members were killed in front of them.
 
And yet these kids have given their lives over to Christ and that has made all the difference.  Their past no longer defines their present. Firsthand experience has shown me how the love of God can change people's lives and bring peace. It was that realization that changed everything for me.Ever since, it has been hard reconcile the fact that I could make such an immediate impact going into ministry like that with knowing that I still want to be a doctor, a profession that requires 4+ more years of education. But I have come to think that God may not have me exclusively working in global health in the future, but rather in the intersection of global health and Christianity missions.
 
Medical missionary?
 
That is the main reason I have wanted to take a year off to do mission work before going into medical school, a year that will allow me to explore the missionary side of my future before I incorporate medicine.

Through my trips to Latin America I have also realized that I'm not content with life here in the States. I have seen what it is like to love Jesus when you literally have nothing to your name. During my trips to El Salvador, I spent a week each time focusing on God and relationships and it was absolutely amazing. With each trip, I felt like I got a glimpse of what it looks like to trust God completely.
 
I mean trust him with everything.
 
And I realized I have never had to do that.
 
I have been blessed with a loving family, two of the best parents anyone could ask for, money that gives me the opportunity to do things I want, awesome sisters...
 
Comfortable.
 
That's what my life has been.
 
But I feel God calling me to a life that will be far from comfortable. Last summer, my two-month trip to Guatemala was the closest glimpse I have had to what a life in Latin America would be like, but even then I had close communication with home and easy access to my bank account if anything went wrong. A year on the Race will force me to trust the Lord in new ways - with a massive amount of fundraising, with leaving relationships that have been so important to me the past few years, and with living on very little and trusting God will provide what is needed.

All that being said, it wasn't until last October that I truly started considering taking a year off to do the World Race. Last year as a whole was awful for me. During that time I wanted to get to graduation and medical school so that I could get on with my life. But in September God fought His way back into my life. He restored joy and happiness when I didn't believe that could happen. And in that, He began to lay it on my heart once again to take a year off before medical school.
 
So, here I am.
 
Committed.
 
Excited.
 
Hopeful.
 
Scared?
 
It's a year of challenging mission work, which is great, and I know there are incredible things to come with that. But however much I want this, it is still a trip that will take me out of my comfort zone and challenge me to put my trust in God in ways I have never had to before. I will be living on very little and be working in areas that aren't necessarily that receptive to Christianity. I will leave my friends and family for a year. Yet God has allowed me to overcome any fears I may have. He has helped me accept that the growth I will see in my relationship with Him and the people that will be impacted as a result of the trip is worth a year away from home; that those relationships that truly matter to me will be there when I get back and we will be able to pick things back up.

For those of you who read all of this, thank you for your interest in my plans for the upcoming year!  I am blessed to have such supportive people in my life; your prayers are much appreciated. As most of you know, I do need to raise a total of $15,500 for this trip. If you feel like you could contribute financially to my trip, there is a link to the left on the menu. Any amount helps!  

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” –Isaiah 40:30-31