Hi! My name is Jacquelyn and I am going on one of the World Race semester trips to South Africa in May 2022. I am really excited for the growth and preparation God has for me in these 8 months before I go on the mission. This opportunity is going to be so life giving and I know the days and weeks I am there will be a testament to His glory and will grow me as well. I am looking forward to serving the people there and getting to learn their culture.
For those of you who do not know me, I was born and raised in Brentwood, California and now live in Lincoln, California. I am 21 years old. My whole life I have known God and continue to grow in relationship and knowledge of Him. I can look back on my life and see how God was always by my side through everything I went through and struggled with, even in the times where my flesh was against God He never left me and gave me the strength to push forward. I was homeschooled from second grade through high school. Gymnastics was always my favorite sport I was in it for ten years and competed one year. The ocean is my favorite. I am a photographer and have ran my own business for four years since my senior year of high school. Over these past few years I have had the blessing of photographing many weddings. Couples are my favorite! Through this last year I have been taking pictures at my church. It is definitely an area I feel a deep fulfillment in for photography. For me it’s a form of worship, I feel like my camera is Gods eye and I get to take pictures of His creation and the beauty around us. A dream of mine would be to go on tour with a Christian band or organization to take pictures for them, capturing how God is moving through those events. I know that I want to do many things in life not just one job, but ultimately I just want to follow God’s call for my life and where He leads me in each season. His purpose and plans are far better than anything I could Imagine and in everything I do its always clear the hand God had in it. Currently I run my photography business, volunteer at church taking pictures and I am on the leadership team for our young adults group, volunteer coaching volleyball, just started a new job at a gym, and spend free time either playing volleyball or hanging out with friends and family.
Missions are very important to me. All four years of high school and the year after I graduated I did missions in Ensenada, Mexico. Our team would stay at Yugo Ministries and then go and build a house for a family in a week. Those experiences were so special to my heart and I know that I want to do missions through my whole life. We got to work alongside the families building their own home and it was amazing getting to know the hearts and lives of the people we were getting to bless. In turn we always ended up feeling way more blessed by the families even though we went to serve them. This year I had been praying and knew I wanted to go on a mission in 2022. I didn’t know if I wanted to go with my church or a different organization so I started researching mission trips. I came across WorldRace and was immediately interested but I didn’t look a lot further into it. In this time I also felt like God was calling me to go to Africa and I loved that Idea, so as I was looking for opportunities I had that in mind. Then I kept getting emails from WorldRace and I felt like I needed to look more into them and their missions. I ended up applying, had an interview, then got accepted! Now I am going to Africa next year! God is so good.
Thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about me! I want to thank each and every one of you all for your support, love, and prayers. This is just the beginning and I cannot wait to continue to share this journey.
