Hey guys! My name is Matea Jacobson and I have the amazing opportunity of going on the World Race with Adventures In Missions. I am headed out to South Africa and Eswatini for 3 months. I could not be more excited for this opportunity! If you asked me when I was 8 years old where I wanted to go in the world, I would have told you Africa. For some backstory, when I was 8, my family nearly adopted 3 kids from Uganda, Africa. Unfortunately it fell through but I’ve never stopped thinking about my siblings across the world. A couple years ago, I was given the opportunity to go to Aiswol, India with my church. There, we spent a week at an orphanage for kids with HIV/AIDS. It was absolutely life changing. A year later, I got to go again. Upon return, I felt the Lord calling me into missions for longer. I felt him tell me to abandon my plans for college and the typical young adult life. That first week home, I sat with my mom in my living room and told her what the Lord had been saying. She asked me one question; “If you could go anywhere or do anything next year what would it be?”. And my only response was “Africa”. We looked into opportunities and came upon the World Race. We saw there was a trip headed to Uganda and Kenya. Immediately, I felt a calling. I prayed on it for a couple weeks and signed up. Throughout the process, I kept praying that if this was Gods will He would make it happen and if not, He would make it clear that Africa was not in the cards for me. After a while, I was accepted! I began fundraising and telling everyone about it. Then, about a month before training camp, I was told the trip to Kenya and Uganda was cancelled. I had a week to decide if I wanted to transfer to a South Africa trip, a South America trip, or if the Lord was telling me to stay put. Again, I prayed. I asked everyone in my life for prayer and before the week was over, I was signing on for the South Africa and Eswatini trip. I could not be more thrilled for this opportunity! I am so thankful to all of you who are following along in this journey with me. The Lord has some amazing plans and I cannot wait to put them all on paper. I appreciate the prayers and support more than you all know. God is good!

- Matea