{"id":1423,"date":"2016-12-14T15:15:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T20:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1423"},"modified":"2016-12-14T15:15:54","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T20:15:54","slug":"senior-skips-year-for-mission-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=1423","title":{"rendered":"Senior skips year for mission trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alexis Motschall
\n<\/strong>The Tower Pulse
\nGrosse Pointe South HS
\n1st Place
\nDivision 1, News Writing
\nPersonality Profile<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t normal\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s not typical.\u201d These were the two phrases that initially went through Olivia Wouters\u2019 \u201916 mind when she was thinking about taking a gap year for a mission trip \u2014 but these two phrases didn\u2019t hold her back from making her final decision.<\/p>\n

After a two week mission trip to Puerto Rico in the summer of 2015, Wouters learned about the gap year trip with the Adventures In Missions organization, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mission trip to Puerto Rico was really eye opening,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cIt just let me know that there\u2019s more out there than just going to college right away.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Adventures in Missions website, the organization is a Christian ministry that sends thousands of people through youth, college and adult mission trips with a focus on prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore my trip I wasn\u2019t really religious, and to be honest I was a little hesitant to go on a really religious mission trip,\u201d Wouters said.<\/p>\n

Wouters went on the mission trip with Madelyn Fabry \u201816, who convinced her to give a religiously affiliated mission a shot, Wouters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went into it trying to have an open-mind, be optimistic and willing to change,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cI\u2019m not gonna lie, in the beginning of the trip, I felt really uncomfortable at times. We had to be extremely vulnerable and be willing to talk about anything and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first week Wouters and Fabry ran a Vacation Bible school at a woman\u2019s house for children in poverty, and the second week they ran a camp for the kids to learn about God, play games and hang out, Fabry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go into a mission trip thinking, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s going to be this amazing thing\u2019 but it\u2019s really hard work sometimes, and you have some really awesome experiences to, but sometimes you go into it thinking it\u2019s going to be this certain way but it\u2019s definitely not what you expect.\u201d Fabry said.<\/p>\n

The night before she left Puerto Rico, Wouters decided to get baptized, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the trip, I felt myself transforming and growing in my faith,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cI don\u2019t think I can tell you exactly what it was or if there was a specific experience, but I came home completely changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fabry was the one who baptized Wouters in the Caribbean Sea, Wouters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadelyn had a huge impact on me, I wouldn\u2019t have even been on the trip without her,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cHer faith has always been an inspiration to me and I am so glad that she was able to baptize me and witness me strengthen my relationship with God.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was in late July after the Puerto Rico trip when Wouters decided to tell her mom about taking a gap year for another mission, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my mom and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to do this,\u2019 and she was like, \u2018Are you kidding? You\u2019re crazy!\u2019,\u201d Wouters said.<\/p>\n

As Wouters and her mom researched the gap year mission, Valerie Wouters-Seagram said that she saw the determination grow in her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer desire has not shifted at all,\u201d Valerie said. \u201cShe has stayed really focused and this is what she wants to do.\u201d
\nAt the end of her junior year, Wouters said that she was stressed about where to apply to college and what to study.<\/p>\n

Wouters said that the influence from the summer mission and a love for travel aided her decision of doing the gap year mission after graduation.<\/p>\n

Wouters\u2019 mission is through the \u201cWorld Race\u201d branch of Adventures in Missions, which brings together groups of people between the ages of 18 to 22 who wish to go on a mission as a gap year, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will travel with a squad of about 50 people but will be split up into a small group of six to eight people, and do ministry with them in a separate location from the rest of the groups,\u201d Wouters said.<\/p>\n

This June, Wouters said she will go to a training camp at the Adventures in Missions headquarters in Gainesville, Georgia. Here she will be introduced to all of the participants in person who are leaving in August.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t met any of them (gap year participants) yet,\u201d Wouters said \u201cBut we have a Facebook group and we have been talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Aug. 4th, Wouters will leave for her nine month trip where she will go to three different countries and spend three months in each country, Wouters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first country I will be going to is the Balkan Region (Peninsula in Southeastern Europe),\u201d Wouters said \u201cAnd then the Phillipines, and South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wouters said she will not know what specific regions in the countries she will be going to until closer to the traveling dates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the mystery. I don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going to be going in the Balkan Region yet,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cWe find out, at the latest, a month before we leave, so I kind of have to trust that it\u2019s gonna all work out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the specific mission work will not be determined until later, Wouters said there is typically work in helping the local neighborhoods. In the past, the organization has worked with sex-trafficking victims in Asia and served at orphanages as ministry locations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love adventure and traveling and obviously this is a nice way to do it, but I\u2019m more excited for the ministry and how it will change and grow and affect me,\u201d Wouters said.<\/p>\n

Wouters will be able to contact her family through Skype and FaceTime, depending on how much internet is available in her current location, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking before I leave we\u2019re (her and her family) going to have a giant party and celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the holidays,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cJust spending as much time as possible with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she will contact her friends and family back home frequently, Wouters said she is going to disable her phone service so she only uses the limited Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the experience is to be disconnected, if I\u2019m still always texting people from back home I feel like it\u2019ll prevent me from growing in my faith,\u201d Wouters said. \u201cBeing away from home, it (texting) will make me feel like I\u2019m missing out on all this stuff, when the point of this is to experience new things and adventures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wouter\u2019s mom said she thinks the summer mission was just enough of an introduction to what is to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a spirit of adventure and passion for everything she has ever done,\u201d Valerie said \u201cShe\u2019s never really let fear hold her back from things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fabry said she got chills when Wouters told her of her gap year decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s really giving and she\u2019s one of the nicest people I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d Fabry said. \u201cShe\u2019s super approachable so I think that will help her when she\u2019s talking to people and making friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fabry said she will be asking for advice from Wouters when she gets back, but her own advice to give is in urging Wouters to be confident in her trip.<\/p>\n

Fabry advised Wouters to \u201cjust to be really bold and get out of her comfort zone, to make the most of her experience,\u201d Fabry said.<\/p>\n

Wouters has been fundraising in selling bracelets through the organization Threads of Hope, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a thinner (style of) bracelet and they\u2019re two dollars each, and then the thicker ones are four dollars,\u201d Wouters said.<\/p>\n

Fifty percent of the profits go to fund Wouters\u2019 trip, and the other 50 percent goes back to the people of the Philippines where the bracelets were made, she said.
\nSo far, Wouters has sold 150 bracelets, she said. Anyone interested in purchasing a bracelet can email her at oliviawouters@gmail.com.<\/p>\n

To follow her journey all the way until her May 2nd return to the states, Wouters will be writing a blog, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been sharing that (the blog) with my family and friends, and anyone can read it and see where I\u2019m at and how I decided to do this,\u201d Wouters said.<\/p>\n

Visit http:\/\/oliviawouters.theworldrace.org for a personal narrative on Wouters\u2019 gap year mission trip with Adventures in Missions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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