My story.
My name is Cassie and I am 26 years old.
I grew up in Indiana and graduated from Colorado Christian University in 2010 with a degree in elementary education, but the Lord had different plans for me than being a teacher. As I was praying about what to do after graduation, the Lord made it very clear that I was not going to live a "normal" life. One summer evening in 2009, I went to a women's service at my church. On the way there, I was praying for the Lord to reveal something to me about my future. There was a guest pastor from India, Harry Gomes, speaking that night and his message was about walking by faith. I felt like that was the Lord partly answering my prayer, but I was not sure what it meant at that point.
At the end of the sermon, the pastor started praying and I could not understand a word of his prayer, until the middle when he said, "I feel the Holy Spirit telling me someone in this room is going to be raised up as a missionary and travel all over the world to help people and children." BOOM. And I did not understand a word after that. I was crying so hard because I knew that was the Lord's answer specifically for me! After the service, three different women approached me separately and asked what was going on and what the Lord had spoken to me. When I told them what had happened, all three of them told me that my name or my face had popped into their heads when he prayed that part of the prayer! I was in awe!! I had never heard the Lord speak to me that directly before!
I had been looking into The World Race--an 11 month mission trip to 11 different countries. My free time (and even during class) was consumed by reading blogs of World Racers on the field. It had always been a dream of mine, but I never really thought I would do it because the thought of raising $15,000 was overwhelming. I had gone on a few one-week mission trips before, and struggled to raise the $1,500 I needed for that. But when I got this word from the Lord, I knew He would provide! I began the application process, had a phone interview, and was accepted later that week! I was scheduled to leave in July 2010 on a route to The Dominican Republic and Haiti, Asia, Africa, and Europe and I was beyond excited!
As I was finishing out my last year of college, I could hardly focus as all I could think about was The World Race! I was coaching volleyball in the Fall while taking a few online classes, and scheduled to do my student teaching in the spring of 2010 and graduate in May. I ended up dropping two of my classes, which I would be able to finish after student teaching. However, the trip was leaving in July. I knew that if I went on the trip and came back a year later, I would not be motivated to finish the two classes I needed to graduate. So I decided to leave on the October 2010 trip. It was scheduled to go to Central America, Asia, Africa, and India.
To make a long story short, our squad was never scheduled to go to Honduras, but my team was sent to Honduras for the first month of The World Race. We worked with a guy named Tony as he was starting up his ministry with street kids. I quickly fell in love with the country, the culture, and the people. As the month progressed, I realized my heart was drawn to Honduras. When we left at the end of the month, I was overwhelmed with the sadness and grief of leaving the people I had come to love so dearly. At the same time, I had peace because I felt God speaking to my heart that I would return.
I continued The World Race (although at times I wanted to quit and move back to Honduras), and when we finished in September of the following year, I flew straight back to Honduras before going home to see my family. I stayed for two weeks visiting the ministry, meeting new kids that had been brought in, and asking God if this was where He wanted me. He made it very obvious. I made my plans to go back to the States for three months to visit my family and friends and raise funds, and I would move back to Honduras right after Christmas.
I grew up in Indiana and graduated from Colorado Christian University in 2010 with a degree in elementary education, but the Lord had different plans for me than being a teacher. As I was praying about what to do after graduation, the Lord made it very clear that I was not going to live a "normal" life. One summer evening in 2009, I went to a women's service at my church. On the way there, I was praying for the Lord to reveal something to me about my future. There was a guest pastor from India, Harry Gomes, speaking that night and his message was about walking by faith. I felt like that was the Lord partly answering my prayer, but I was not sure what it meant at that point.
At the end of the sermon, the pastor started praying and I could not understand a word of his prayer, until the middle when he said, "I feel the Holy Spirit telling me someone in this room is going to be raised up as a missionary and travel all over the world to help people and children." BOOM. And I did not understand a word after that. I was crying so hard because I knew that was the Lord's answer specifically for me! After the service, three different women approached me separately and asked what was going on and what the Lord had spoken to me. When I told them what had happened, all three of them told me that my name or my face had popped into their heads when he prayed that part of the prayer! I was in awe!! I had never heard the Lord speak to me that directly before!
I had been looking into The World Race--an 11 month mission trip to 11 different countries. My free time (and even during class) was consumed by reading blogs of World Racers on the field. It had always been a dream of mine, but I never really thought I would do it because the thought of raising $15,000 was overwhelming. I had gone on a few one-week mission trips before, and struggled to raise the $1,500 I needed for that. But when I got this word from the Lord, I knew He would provide! I began the application process, had a phone interview, and was accepted later that week! I was scheduled to leave in July 2010 on a route to The Dominican Republic and Haiti, Asia, Africa, and Europe and I was beyond excited!
As I was finishing out my last year of college, I could hardly focus as all I could think about was The World Race! I was coaching volleyball in the Fall while taking a few online classes, and scheduled to do my student teaching in the spring of 2010 and graduate in May. I ended up dropping two of my classes, which I would be able to finish after student teaching. However, the trip was leaving in July. I knew that if I went on the trip and came back a year later, I would not be motivated to finish the two classes I needed to graduate. So I decided to leave on the October 2010 trip. It was scheduled to go to Central America, Asia, Africa, and India.
To make a long story short, our squad was never scheduled to go to Honduras, but my team was sent to Honduras for the first month of The World Race. We worked with a guy named Tony as he was starting up his ministry with street kids. I quickly fell in love with the country, the culture, and the people. As the month progressed, I realized my heart was drawn to Honduras. When we left at the end of the month, I was overwhelmed with the sadness and grief of leaving the people I had come to love so dearly. At the same time, I had peace because I felt God speaking to my heart that I would return.
I continued The World Race (although at times I wanted to quit and move back to Honduras), and when we finished in September of the following year, I flew straight back to Honduras before going home to see my family. I stayed for two weeks visiting the ministry, meeting new kids that had been brought in, and asking God if this was where He wanted me. He made it very obvious. I made my plans to go back to the States for three months to visit my family and friends and raise funds, and I would move back to Honduras right after Christmas.
Now, I have been living in Honduras for over a year and God continues to surprise me. When I moved down here, I really did not have plans other than to help with the ministry that Tony and Nidia had already established. Throughout this year, I met Genesis--a sweet, now 2-year-old, abandoned baby girl--and took her in as my daughter, Nidia and I started up our girls' ministry (working with the sisters of the boys who live with us), and the Lord put a dream in my heart to build a girls' home (and it is becoming a reality!). I cannot wait to see what else the Lord has in store for me here!