Hey guys!

My name is Ali and I am going to be a junior at Middleton High School where I play saxophone in the jazz band. Besides music, I love sports and enjoy ski jumping, tennis, basketball and playing soccer with my friends (I’ve also been told I need to try out ultimate frisbee, maybe that will be my new spring sport 🙂 ).

Last year I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Honduras to work with kids living and working in the city garbage dump. It was life changing. My perspective has been flipped upside down, turned around and then twisted a tad more. My biggest mistake was going into that trip thinking that I was going to help the kids. They didn’t need me (although I like to think I was a fun addition to our team which worked alongside AFE, an awesome organization down there educating the kids and teaching them the love of Christ). God was (and is) doing crazy work in AFE, and the kids were the ones who helped me. The way they were all so genuinely happy and loving, even though by our standards they had nothing, blew my mind. Our team built a house and lead a retreat for the high schoolers, and I haven’t stopped thinking about those kids since we left.

Unfortunately, increased crime rates have cancelled high school trips to Honduras, but I believe where one door closes, another door opens. Honduras isn’t the only place God is working, or the only place I can build relationships. Prepping for this Romania trip has been really hard, but I am so looking forward to everything the Romanians have to teach us and to experiencing the ways that God is working through Open Roads ministry. I love our team and can’t wait to lean on them when the tough gets going. 

Thank you guys for all of your support! 

Ali