Thank you for visiting my support page to follow my journey of serving as a volunteer for the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program! Please read below about how I received this great opportunity and how I was led there in my own faith journey. If you feel moved to donate to my year of service, more details are located towards the end! Thank you!

Salaam-Aleikum! Hello and Peace be upon you! (in Wolof)

With great excitement I have accepted the opportunity to serve as a Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) volunteer in Senegal, starting in August of this year. I will be one of 25 young adults serving on behalf of the ELCA in 7 different country programs around the world!

This adventure began with a recommendation from my good friend, Hailey Brenden, who herself is a YAGM alum. Hailey served in 2015-16 in the United Kingdom for her year of service. Hailey knew of my goal of experiencing culture through travel and shared the impact that her experience on her faith and how she lives her life today.

I am blessed to have led a life of extreme privilege–filled with love, health, freedom, education, safety and support from family, friends, and mentors in these first 25 years. While I know there are many challenges that I could pursue in the United States, in this phase of my life where I am solely responsible for myself I choose to take the blessings I have been given and challenge myself to experience more of the world and connect with the communities we share it with.

My Faith Journey

In the the last 2 years I have reconnected and built up my own personal faith beyond my childhood religion. I grew up in a Lutheran ELCA church in my hometown of Crookston, MN with a congregation who are more like family than fellow members. While supportive and joyous to return to, this faith became mainly nostalgic and habitual to me and I realized that it was the community that I loved more than my relationship with God.

With age, I grew apart from religion as I saw it being used as a banner and weapon to hurt and discriminate against others in acts which felt like pure bullying and contradictory to many of the lessons I had learned as a child. I knew that God was still there but I tried my best to ignore and became complacent and avoidant of conflict in conversations regarding religion. I supported my friends in their faith but felt that I would never understand the close connection they had with God.

Over time God placed many a good friend, mentor, and coworker that truly lived through their faith passionately but, without pushing it onto others. Some gave wisdom, others an invitation to church—and more importantly to me at the time–Community. Each person acted as a pillar in my spiritual journey–standing strong in their faith through our shared experiences. I welcomed God into prayer and conversation and when I let it be my casual version of “Hey God” it finally clicked. Just like dominoes falling in a line, it was after welcoming God fully into my heart that YAGM was presented to me with all of life’s settings lined up ready and waiting for it.

While I have grown in my personal faith journey I want to emphasize that I am not going to Senegal to convert anyone. If you have read any of the previous words in this profile you can see that this is not my view of religion. I knew YAGM was right for me the moment I read these words that perfectly summarized my values:

YAGM volunteers serve under the values of Accompaniment. Accompaniment seeks to do the exact opposite of Colonial Christianity in every possible way. We go to listen, instead of to preach; we go to be instead of to do things for someone; we go to be converted into an experience of God that is bigger than we ever knew, and we yearn to uplift the voice of our neighbor, and never to diminish it.

I hope to live through my faith as others did around me and with kindness and empathy learn more about how others live and thrive differently in the world that we all share.

Fundraising
In part of accepting this call, I am asked to raise at least $6,000 to support the cost of travel, training, room and board, medical insurance, and a small monthly stipend that the ELCA will allot to me. If you feel moved, I am grateful for any level of support. Whether it’s through prayers, a financial gift, helping me spread the word, allowing me to present to an organization/church, or enjoying a meal or cup of coffee it would mean so much and I’d love to reconnect with so many of you.

Support me for one day, week or month!
A gift of $60 is all it takes to support my year of service! You can support me for one day for $60, one week for $420, or even a whole month for $1,800. The total cost for my year of service is $18,000 over about 10 months. I will be so grateful for your support in any amount. Thank you — your gift truly matters! Although I am still in the process of setting this up; please send me your email address or add me on Facebook if you would like to receive my newsletter that I will be sending out quarterly (minimum) to update everyone on my journey!

This page is set up to receive donations from individuals only. If you’re giving on behalf of a congregation or other organization, please visit ELCA.org/YAGMgive or get in touch with me for information on how to give via check. I would love the opportunity to speak or present to your group or congregation this summer or upon my return from Senegal.

About Young Adults in Global Mission
The ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program provides young adults, ages 21-29, the opportunity to grow in their faith and work in partnership with our global companions. Young adults in the program serve in churches, schools and social service ministries. Currently the program is engaged in work in Argentina and Uruguay, Central Europe (Hungary and Serbia), Mexico, Senegal, and the United Kingdom.

The total cost for one young adult in the program is $18,000. Each young adult is tasked with raising a minimum of $6,000 to help support their year of service. The ELCA commits to raising the additional $12,000 per volunteer through generous congregations and individual donors. If more than $6,000 in gifts is received, the additional funds will help support other young adult volunteers and the future of the Young Adults in Global Mission program.