PLEASE READ

So there once was this girl, named Brooke (Yes I am talking about myself in the third person, just wait).
She had always felt an intense call on her life for God's work AND to help other people but she never knew what she was suppose to do, until one Summer her youth group were suppose to go on a missions trip to Mexico. And no, not Cancun & no, we were going to be sitting on the beach, sipping Margarita's. We went to some of the most poverty stricken small villages where the people lived on the bare ground with nothing keeping them from the temperatures reaching over the 100's but a thin tarp. Their water was undrinkable, they had one community bathroom for a whole town. Our hotel probably looked like a palace to most of these people, although there were holes in the walls, the sheets didn't match & the mattress was so hard I was pretty positive it was just a large board. I've never sweat so much in my life while I was there building & painting churches, I've never looked so terrible seeing

I had to get up at 4:30am & had no time to do my hair or make up (which I would've sweat off anyways), I had a terrible sunburn from the scorching heat, & unfortunately air conditioning was a luxury there BUT! I've never had so much fun in my life. I've never felt so at peace with myself & it was the first time I ever honestly thought to myself "this is what I'm suppose to be doing. This is what I was born to do.". Many of us felt that way & have been trying to plan a new trip back there. Many of us have even been studying Spanish so we will be able to talk fluently. But unfortunately those plans fell through time & time again between, us having jobs, school, lack of funds, & the drug cartel hitting all of the towns & villages we went to last time making it VERY unsafe to travel there right now. Dreaming of being a missionary is what I seem to always be doing these days. But I wont lie I feel stuck in a rut these days,

between being a full time nanny, trying to find a second job, trying to figure out where I'm going to move now that I'm eighteen & ready to venture out on my own, & where I'm suppose to go from here. Being eighteen & struck with the realization that I have no idea what to do from here & have no more time to think about it, its time to make decisions, is a numbing and scary feeling...

That is, until last night...

Last night I got a text from my best friend Rachel who is also called to the missions telling me about this awesome program called DTS. Once you get accepted to this program you fly to Germany & you live & train at this place for three months, after those three months under prayerful consideration you then decide where you'd like to missionary at for the next three months, out of their 300 locations or 'bases' as
they like to call them, located all over the World. You live in a house with other missionaries & you all work together toward one common goal, telling people about God, & helping people. When Rachel told me that she was thinking about going with our good friend Mich (who lives in Germany and is like a brother to us) I must admit, I did feel a bit jealous of the adventures she was going to be having. I've often thought about joining the peace corp. & even the military. I've always wanted to travel & to help people in need. Then all of the sudden she asked, "Do you want to go?". & all I could think was "more than anything in the World.".

After talking to my mother about this & pacing for hours last night around my living room I feel like this is exactly what I need to do & where I need to go. I trust this program & I trust that this is exactly when I need to do this & is exactly what I want to do.

The only problem? I have to have to close to three thousand dollars by mid- next month. That will include my plane ticket to Germany & my food & ect. for the first three months. And as a girl who only has two hundred dollars in her bank account, this is where I need help. I don't expect any of you to start busting out your check books & giving me hundreds of dollars but if you can even give a little, every little bit helps. & if you know someone who'd like to help sponsor me or even donate a little, please pass this information on.

ALSO, I will opening up a online shop within the next week to sell my headbands & that money will also go to helping pay for this trip so if you'd like to help that way, I'll have my shop information up here soon.

You guys are amazing & I love you all my readers! Even if you cant donate I appreciate you reading this.

I hope soon I will be blogging from Germany & India or who knows where else!