*Rewind 10 or 11 Years*

When I was nine or ten years old I dreamed of being a pro skateboarder.

Ha, I wish I was kidding but I'm actually not. This dream of mine lasted about three months where I told my dad all the facts I could possibly find about skateboarding, I spent hours in my basement trying to learn new tricks. For a few months I devoted most of my time to learning as much as I possibly could about this new dream, but after a while and many cuts, bruises and frustrations later, the newness of it all started to fade and I realized that I no longer wanted to be a pro skateboarder I realized it was foolish and that it made absolutely no sense. Soon after that dream left I started thinking of what my next dream would be. Over the years it changed quite a bit, from a nurse to a doctor, vet, lawyer, journalist, teacher. But to a kid ten years seemed like a life time away and the idea of finally being an adult made the tiny child version of myself very excited of all the freedom and possibilities I would have. But now sitting here almost twenty years old, writing this, part of me misses that kid trying to learn skateboarding tricks with all the possibilities and dreams completely up for grabs.

*Fast-forward to the present*

I'm currently going to university to be a missionary, and quite honestly this is one of the biggest things that I can picture myself doing, I'm not sure to what capacity, for how long, or even where in the world I feel called to go. But I just love every piece of the missions trip process, I love the traveling, the preparing, the everyday life that we get to experience in country, the hard days and the good days. I love every piece. I love forming relationships and friendships with people from all over the world and just meeting them where they're at, I want to reestablish a self worth in them and really show them that their lives matter and that there's still hope in this world. I love the calling that God has placed on my life and this passion that I've found for it over the years, Its a beautiful journey and I'm excited to see it unfold a bit more each day.

So even though my dreams and my passions "changed" over the years, I really don't think they changed quite as much as I thought they would. Because if I look back on it, whenever I was asked why I wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a nurse my answer always was "because I want to help people" and back then I had no idea what missionary work was or what it entailed but I saw these jobs and saw that it was an amazing way I could help and change people's lives. See, over the years my dreams never really changed but rather they developed, God showed me by using my passions and my gifts what I was supposed to do. My dream of helping people is still the same, the goal is the same, but the way I do that has changed. Rather than helping people and "saving them", I now lead them to the healer and to the Savior. I give them hope and feed them truth.

I'm finally living and chasing after my dream. I really hope your doing the same.