The Never-ending Adventure

                And I officially only have 17 days until I leave the country for almost a whole year! But my journey does not begin in 17 days... it has been going for years. Many of you know who I am and how I got here, but some of you don’t. Some of you have stumbled across this blog randomly. Some of you heard about me through friends, but perhaps we have never met. Welcome to my blog, and here is my story:

                I have lived in Dallas for fifteen years now, and I have loved it. I am Texan through and through and will miss the Lone Star State when I leave. When we moved here I was homeschooled, but soon entered a private Middle School. My parents wanted me to have a good education, but the primary reason they paid thousands of dollars a year was for me to develop my faith. Unfortunately this did not happen. Whether it was that several aspects of the faith were taught incorrectly or whether there was not a Catholic atmosphere, I would say my faith was much weaker when I left. I had absolutely no interest in Christ, but I knew what I wanted my high school image to be. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be a basketball star. My first week of high school was great.

                And then came the retreat.

                At the beginning of each school year, my home parish of St. Ann’s in Coppell hosts a retreat for the high schoolers. One of our parishioners owns a camp and generously lets High School Ministry use the facilities. My mother, who has been religious since her own conversion when I was four, wanted me to go. As a fourteen-year-old I did not have a choice, but I did not want to go.

                Thank God I did.

                I was certainly not a saint afterward, but it was the first time I thought that maybe church was something worth going to. I finally had a reliable group of friends who made me want to be better. Nothing changed in my life, but I had a good enough reason to go to youth group and that’s where seeds planted. Seeds that only needed to grow.

                The next year I was getting ready for Confirmation and I heard of a retreat called Franciscan LEAD, which stands for Leadership, Evangelization, and Discipleship. This was the first time I was really ready to change my life. Perhaps this could do it? The first few days were great, but Thursday night was life changing. We prayed over each other for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and that was the first time I have ever felt the love of God.

                God is love. If you have any Christian background, you have heard that. At that point I had eight years of Catholic education and two years of Catholic Youth Ministry under my belt; I knew that statement. Yet for a good three years I did not believe it. For the rest of my life I did not understand it. If you don’t understand love in your heart, not just your mind, it is impossible to grasp. Yet that night, that Thursday night, I felt the love of God.

                I have not been the same since then. My parents have acknowledged it, and I can trace every major decision I have made in the past seven years back to that night. Decisions like this recent one to join NET in Ireland this next year. It has been made with after lots of prayer and time, but really a desire placed by God to do something.

                Thank you for reading, and continue to pray for me as I prepare to leave in a week and a half.

                I’M GOING ON AN ADVENTURE!