If you would have asked me a year ago if I would be packing to head out for a year of mission work in Guatemala, Albania, Romania, Turkey, Jordan and Thailand, I would have said, “You must be crazy”. I did not anticipate the desire to leave my privileged life for a life of the unknown.

However, this time last year I went to launch in Atlanta when my family was sending Emmery off on her Kingdom journey. I watched, listened, and during worship reflected on how incredibly different Emmery and I have become. Our lifestyles, values, and view of the world, really almost everything, were extremely different. Over the past years, when our family was together, we would try to talk but it was awkward surface level conversation that neither one of us enjoyed. As I sit here at training camp packing my things for Guatemala, I am so thankful for the woman she has become. Witnessing the transformation in Emmery is the reason I wanted to go on this journey. Her trusting Him in her Kingdom journey gave me the strength to trust him and step out in faith as well. If you would’ve told me a year ago that I was look up to her or trust her opinion, I would’ve told you that you were insane. Emmery is wise, she knows the Lord, and she walks with him daily. God is SO good. I am beyond thankful that my big sister, who I have always loved, is here while I am at training camp. I have loved spending this time with her!