September-December 2006
I spent the first semester of my senior year of college studying abroad in China, where I lived in the capital city of Beijing. Beijing is one of the biggest cities in the world and home to thousands of years of history. A few of the more famous sites to see in Beijing are Tiananmen Square, the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven, among many others. A piece of my heart will always be in China, and I would love to go back to Beijing someday!
#9. St. Thomas/St. John, US Virgin Islands
May/June 2006
For my parents' 3oth wedding anniversary, our whole family spent a week vacationing in the US Virgin Islands. We stayed at a resort on the island of St. John, one of the most amazing places I have ever seen and home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I wish my parents had 30th anniversaries more often!
#8. La Republica Dominicana
July 2004
The summer after my freshman year of college, some friends and I went on a sports mission trip to the DR with an incredible organization called SCORE International. We played a ton of basketball and shared the gospel all over the island country. It was a blast!
#7. Noatak, Alaska
May 2004
Also during the summer after my freshman year of college (it was a busy summer!), I took a trip to Alaska with several other students from Bethel College, most of whom were basketball players or members of the Chapel Band. We spent two weeks in Noatak, Alaska, a tiny village located 100 miles north of the Arctic Circle! Literally, the only two ways to get to the village were by bush plane or snowmobile. We flew in on a bush plane and spent two weeks running VBS and a basketball camp for the kids there. I'm convinced that God did some of his best work when he created Alaska, and it's probably the only place I have ever been to that is still almost entirely unadulterated by humans. A couple interesting funfacts from my time in Alaska: 1) The sun never went down while we were there--which was a lot better than the alternative of never seeing the sun!; 2) I walked about a mile out onto the ocean off the Alaskan coast, which was completely frozen!
#6. Honduras
April 2003
My senior year of high school, I passed on the standard spring break vacation and went on my second mission trip instead, to Honduras. The 6 months of mental and spiritual preparation for this trip, led by my youth pastor, Terry Bley, were a time of immense spiritual growth for me. The trip itself challenged my faith and furthered my passion for cross-cultural ministry. I believe God was laying the foundations for my future ministry throughout this trip.
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