I grew up the oldest of 12 children in a family that loved Jesus and encouraged me to pursue His will for my life. God began opening up my heart to international missions at an early age as we prayed for a different unreached people group each week as part of our homeschool curriculum. Never would I have guessed then that God would one day call me personally into the mission field. When my parents decided to adopt two special needs girls from Bulgaria, God further awakened in me a heart for the nations as I witnessed both of them walking in obedience to God. Their decision to adopt helped give me a better picture of the Father’s radical love as He saves us from sin and adopts us as His children. I came to Christ when I was 5 years old, but it wasn’t until I was in 8th grade however at a youth group church camp that I wanted to surrender to Him total Lordship of my life and follow Him wherever He would lead.

During high school I was deeply involved in my church’s youth ministry, learned to abide and rest in Christ, was discipled by many college students who shared with me their hearts for the Father and for missions, and I was blessed with the opportunity to serve on two domestic mission trips. In 2022 I was able to go to Mozambique, Africa with my church’s Missions Pastor to encourage a missionary family, serve a local pastor and his household, share the Gospel through storying the Bible in a remote village, and experienced first hand what true cross-cultural ministry could be like. That week in Mozambique was a time when God truly pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me to rely on His strength and not my own. Looking back, I can see where God was tilling the soil of my heart and beginning to sow the seeds of obedience that would lead me to where I am now.

In 2023 I went with my youth group on a mission trip to the Tees Valley in England and the only way I could describe my first week in the UK was “as if my soul had come home.” As we ran VBS in the morning for the local church we were partnering with and did park ministry evangelism in the afternoon, I felt the Father awakening my heart. I fell in love with the culture, connected really well with the youth I met, saw the lostness and brokenness of this post-Christian, post-modern nation, and felt God begin to burden my heart for the people there. On our second to last day in the UK, Tim Wye-Williams, the head of Tees Valley Youth for Christ took us on a hike up to a local mountain where we could see the entire Tees Valley and he talked about ministry there, read the Bible, and then we each broke off to pray individually.

Although I honestly cannot recall much of what was actually said that evening, the few things that stood out and were emblazoned on my heart was the fact that he told us that less than 3% of the youth there were believers and that there was a desperate need for laborers in the harvest in England. I knelt there on the mountain overlooking the valley, a valley beautiful and quiet, I looked out lost in the beauty of the North Sea in the distance, the coast with its windswept cliffs, the small towns of Teeside with its streets and cottages and factories, the River Tees descending westward from the moors and sheep pastures and scenery of the hills. It was one of those hikes where you ascend through fog and wind, but when you reach the summit the sun breaks out before you and illuminates what lies ahead. All was gold in the late day light of early summer. My heart was pierced by the beauty, but also pierced by the brokenness and the lostness that I knew was in the valley beneath me. Ezekiel 37 came to heart: “… dry bones hear the Word of the Lord… I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

When I returned to the states, God began to strip away the idols that I had of a college experience and of the “American Dream” as I prayed about where He wanted me after I graduated high school and if He wanted me to pursue a gap year to do ministry in England. After much prayer and counsel I laid my yes on the table and the Lord confirmed it by opening up the door to serve with Tees Valley Youth for Christ through UK/USA ministries. God has given me a deep and profound love of England, its culture, its heritage, and its people, and also a burden for the lost there and a desire to see hearts redeemed and a nation turned back to Christ. As the Lord is leading me on the greatest adventure of my life, stepping out to do ministry in a new culture, I know He goes before me, stands behind, is on my every side, prepares every heart ahead, and has already made the way straight.

Also a little bit about me… I will have no problem fitting in in England as I am an avid tea-drinker, love reading Tolkien and Lewis, have a fascination for English history, and am one of the few Americans who enjoys eating beans and toast (a classic British breakfast). I love poetry and music, play the guitar, banjo, bass, sing and I am hoping to write many songs and poems during my time in the UK, as well as leading worship at my local church. I also love coffee and cannot wait to try out all the British cafes. In my free time I I hope to explore the countryside, hike, fly fish, and read British literature.