Hey everyone! My name is Jess Burnside; welcome to my first ever blog post!!! My hope for this blog is to be able to share stories from my world race trip with everyone supporting me back home. For this first blog I just want to simply answer some of the questions you might have.
Who am I?
For those of you who may not know me, I am 18 years old from Orangeville ON, Canada. I love basketball, volleyball, rowing, hanging out with friends, going to youth group, doing camps, and sometimes… school!
I am so blessed to have been raised in a Christian home my whole life with my mom, dad, 2 brothers and my sister. There was never a point where I didn’t know Jesus. When I was younger, and even not that long ago really, I thought this was a boring and basic testimony, but now I see how it is so powerful that God has had His hand in my family for generations and it’s their faith that has allowed me to have the gift of knowing Jesus my whole life. I personally accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour when I was about 8 years old.
Along with my family, my youth group is a huge part of how my relationship with Jesus became personal and how I discovered for myself who Jesus was and what it means to serve Him. I have been involved in youth group at my home church since grade 6, and now am helping as junior high leader. I also serve in kids ministry and also work at our summer church camp. This past summer I had the amazing opportunity to do a 10 day mission trip to the Dominican Republic with my church. I have learnt so much through all of these experiences and I am beyond thankful to my friends and leaders who have become like family!
What am I doing?
I am going on a 9 month gap year mission trip with a program called the World Race! The World Race is a program though an organization called Adventures in Mission. Their mission is to awaken the church to radically follow Jesus and advance His Kingdom. Adventures in Mission has bases all over the world and partners with local ministries of all kinds in order to grow communities in Christ. The gap year program was created to give young adults an opportunity to discover more of God, themselves, our purpose as His children, and to follow the command of making disciples of all nations. This year will not be a year off but a way to launch into a lifetime of serving God and bringing glory to His kingdom!
Where am I going?
I will begin my journey going to Gainesville Georgia for training camp for about 5 weeks. Durning this time I will meet my squad mates who will become my family for the next 9 months. We will learn more about God, dive deeper into His Word and learn what life as a missionary looks like. We will live together, laugh together, maybe cry together, and definitely grow in our relationship with Christ together! Then we will launch overseas to our first country, Guatemala!
In Guatemala we will be working with locals to share the empowering message of Jesus Christ to the communities. We will teach English, disciple children and families, pray for those in need, and help provide for those struggling to meet their basic needs. All though Gods love!
Next we will travel to South Africa, known for soccer, safaris and beautiful coast line. While we are there, we will be working with children in the school, teaching and playing soccer! We will be meeting locals in the communities, praying for them and helping in any possible way.
Our third country will be Eswatini (formally known as Swaziland). 40% of children living in Eswatini are orphaned. Women are often left widowed with no means to support hungry children due to lack of education. If there is any country that needs the love and hope of Jesus, it’s Swazi! Here we will be meeting the needs of orphans, doing home visits to pray, and working in children’s ministry.
Finally, we will go to Indonesia, which is known as a very diverse country spread over thousands and thousands of islands. Here we will be sharing the love of Jesus in anyway we can.
(Side note: In all the countries we go to this is a rough idea of what we will be doing but nothing is for sure as we will see what is needed when we get there!)
When am I going?
I will be arriving in Georgia for training camp August 31, 2024 and will be heading overseas October 11. I will be gone for 9 months, returning May 22, 2025.
Although it is kinda terrifying to be gone, away from my family and friends and everything that is comfortable, I know Jesus will never leave me and weather I’m ready or not, God is ready to use me for His kingdom!
Why am I going?
This is a huge question, but honestly, I believe the Lord has called me to go, to serve, and to trust Him wholeheartedly. I struggled for a while trying to figure out what to do after high school and always felt the fear of messing it up. But when I randomly came across the World Race, I felt a peace, and excitement! After a couple months of saying to myself “this is crazy, I can’t actually do that!!” I felt God saying “You’re right you can’t. But I can through you!”.
So yes I am scared to go. But I will go to 4 new countries with people I don’t know, because I know God. I know He is good, I know He will provide, I know He will work in me and through me in amazing ways. And that’s all I need.
When I go to Guatemala and teach English, He will be there. When I go to South Africa and play soccer with children, He will be there. When I go to Eswatini and see children with no one and nothing, I will get to love them because He is right there with me. And when I go to Indonesia and do who knows what, He will be there. When I get homesick, tired, scared, sad, lonely, uncomfortable, He will be there. He will be with me and with that strength I can do anything. Including, going on a crazy 9 month mission trip, all for His Glory!
How can you support me?
Although I am going ‘alone’, leaving everything and everyone I know behind. I go knowing that I have an amazing, loving, and supportive family and community cheering me on and helping me through it all. So if you feel God asking you to support me, I really appreciate it. Supporting me can look like praying for me regularly, sending encouragement, sharing my journey with others, and/or financially supporting me.
In total, my goal is to raise 23,000 (CAD), which I know is a lot! But I truly believe God will provide for me. Absolutely every little bit helps, so thank you to all of you, no matter the amount, for believing in me! To financially support me you can follow this link to my fundraising page: https://adventures in missions.servicereef.com/events/adventures-in-missions-3/2024-world-race-gap-year-24g0901/participants/jess-burnside (Please note that if you donate through this link it will be US dollars you are donating, so keep that in mind!).
Please pray for peace as I prepare my heart to go, pray for my squad as they all get ready as well, and for the world race leaders. Please pray for God to move in me and give me wisdom and confidence to share my story.
Thank you so much for reading! If you would like updates and prayer requests while I am on my trip, you can subscribe to my blog. You can also follow me on instagram @jess7burnside where I also plan to share some of my experiences!
May God bless you!
Jess Burnside
