Introductions: I'm Jessica.

Hello!

I am Jessica Sparks. I am 20 years old and currently working part time while attending Folsom Lake College completing my general education classes, so that I can transfer to a Christian university. Some random facts about me is that I love the cold and especially the rain. I have been a vegetarian for 2 and a half years now and this mission trip to Panama will be my first time out of the United States. 

My first mission trip was when I was 16 years old. It was a week long trip to the San Francisco/ Oakland area in 2010. On that mission trip, we went somewhere new each day and worked with a different organization that helped the community in a different way. We worked with the homeless, kid's summer camp, a long term care hospital, a local food bank and a soup kitchen. We spent time with so many people and it was awesome to be able to share God's love and grace with everyone.

I will be honest, for me personally that trip was challenging. I was doing a lot of things outside my comfort zone at the time. But because of that, my relationship with God grew so much during that week. Those seven days made a huge impact on my life.  After that trip it started the process of me becoming more and more interested in getting involved in missions and eventually I decided that I wanted to make it a big part of my life, which is why I am now pursing an education to be able to plan and organize mission trips as well as regularly go on mission trips.

I met Rachel at Vintage Park Community Church and through the years we have become really good friends. The two of us even ran a girl's bible study for a little over a year before she moved away for college. Rachel and I both have a love of missions, so we have naturally talked about them and our experiences. I had mentioned to her that I would love to be able to go on more mission trips although with work and school I never had any time that would allow for it.  Earlier this month Rachel told me that while praying and thinking about this mission trip for herself she kept thinking of me and wanted to then invite me to go with her. I immediately knew I wanted to go. I had heard stories of her past mission trip there and I just knew I would love to go. After praying about it I just knew that I had to go. 

I have never had to fundraise for a mission trip before, but I have complete peace and trust that God will provide. I am so excited to be going and am even more excited to see how God will work through Rachel and I this December into January. I can't think of any other way I would want to be starting off the year 2015 then to be serving God in Panama.

Jessica Sparks