History

So this is a little more in depth section about my journey to where I am now.

Growing up in Klamath Falls, I had a very narrow view of the world. The town is not very diverse culturally and everyone is fairly similarly minded (at least from my point of view). I loved it and I never wanted to leave! Life was simple, and I felt really comfortable where I was in my life, but I think God has some other plans brewing. I had a desire to go to Multnomah University to study Bible for a year and then go back to Klamath, but alas, I ended just staying for 4 years!
Portland really started to open up my eyes to more of the diversity in the world as so many cultures and beliefs are spread throughout the city. At this point I never had a desire to leave Portland for the rest of my life, and I fell in love with the area as a whole. I never had a single desire to go overseas, and I especially didn't want to become a missionary! While attending Multnomah I also got in a car accident with Erin (my sister) on the way back to school from Klamath and my struggles with fear and anxiety began to weigh me down. I would get nervous and sick just taking a car ride from my dorms to church (20 minutes), and this is when missions was the farthest thing from my mind. I didn't think I would ever be able to travel to another part of the world, but yet God still had his plan rolling.
Over the next couple of years I began to get over my struggle with certain fears and was dealing with it better by literally praying for whole 5 hour trips for God to get me through. Slowly, I began to put all of my hope in God and give up the fear to him, and that is when he brought it on my heart to go overseas.
Its kind of funny because there wasn't a specific person that said something or a discernible time where I remember saying "I'm going to be a missionary," but at some point during the missions conference last year at Multnomah I had a desire to go. All of a sudden every mission table I saw seemed like an amazing opportunity that I could go and get involved in! (As I've said before, this is really odd for me)
I have always known that I want to coach as much as I can in any possible sport because there are no other times I feel more connected to peoples lives. I got to coach the JV Basketball team at Triad (my high school) a year after I graduated and realized how much I loved it, but I haven't had many opportunities since. Because I wanted to get involved, and because I wanted to coach, I simply began to "Google" sports and missions. About 4 or 5 different ones popped up that looked interesting and after emailing all of them Operation Mobilisation (http://www.om.org/) was the one that got back to me. The sports and coaching ministry in Hungary really seemed to pop out. (here is a page with more info http://www.om.org/en/job/s1871) At this point I was nervously excited, but this is where God had me practice my favorite thing in the world, patience.
I was originally hoping to go to Outbound (a conference that trains prospective missionaries) in September, then it was bumped to February, but I was finally able to go this April! The conference was in Atlanta (farthest away from home I've ever been) and during the trip I felt almost no fear or anxiety! My stomach did really well and I never felt sick like I used to do when I traveled. It also made the whole pursuit of missions completely real and I realized that God wasn't just testing me, but that I was actually going to go.
At this point I was planning to go to Hungary for a year starting in August, but the team at OM decided that I should do a "Vision Trip" to see if I can handle some of the stresses of living overseas in a completely foreign context, so after we figured it all out we decided I should go for 3 weeks on June 27th! (3 days after I get back from my youth groups missions trip) Which brings me to now!
If you took the time to read this, thanks! Your the best! More updates coming...
-Brian