Top 25 Places: #s 15-11

#15. India
January 2008
Through a series of events that only God could have orchestrated, I was blessed with the opportunity to be the youth speaker at a family camp in Raghunathpur, a small town in the West Bengal province of India. It was on that trip that God clearly confirmed my call to missions. I absolutely fell in love with the Indian people, and at first I was convinced that God was calling me to India. Here's a short excerpt from my journal while in India:

"I feel so incredibly blessed right now. The last few days have been some of the best of my entire life. I have been literally pouring my life out to the people here--especially the youth and children ... It is such a blessing to minister and to share God's love with the nations..."

It was through that experience that I seriously pursued opportunities in missions last year, which led me to South Africa this year. India continues to be on my heart often.


#14. Mexico
June 2007
This was my first mission trip as a youth pastor. I had the awesome opportunity to spend a week investing in the lives of some pretty incredible young people from St. Mark Missionary Church, while also investing in two Mexican families for whom we built homes. What a great experience!


#13. Hawaii
December 2006
Quite possibly the most perfect place God ever created. I got to spend a few days there with some good friends on our way back from China, and I used the opportunity to catch a few waves!


#12. Shanghai, China
October 2006
While spending a semester abroad in China, our group was blessed to be able to travel quite a bit. We traveled 13 hours by train from Beijing to Shanghai, where we spent a week being tourists. Shanghai immediately became one of the coolest cities I had ever been to. One of the biggest cities in the world (pop.>20 million), they call Shanghai "The New York City of China" because it's the biggest city in China and also the center of fashion and pop culture. Check out the futuristic skyline!


#11. Great Wall of China
September/October 2006
Quite simply the greatest man-made structure I have ever seen. Construction on the wall began in the 7th century B.C. and continued on for several centuries through many different Chinese dynasties. For anyone interested in history, this place is a must see. The Great Wall stretches over 4000 miles across the northern border of China. Simply amazing. I had the opportunity to go to the wall on three occasions during my time in China, spending the night in watchtowers on the wall two of those times. Pretty awesome!