“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)

Hey guys! This is my first official blog post!! Whoop Whoop! How exciting am I right?! As my very first blog post, I felt it was only right to share the testimony of how God brought me to this point in my life and how He guided me to commit to serving on the mission field for 9 months through World Race! Sooo.. story time!

 Let’s start at the beginning: for most of my childhood, I grew up not being saved. I always knew about God, but I just never cared to truly know God. I had very low self-esteem, so the idea of something beyond me actually loving me was not something my brain was able to grasp. In fact, anybody actually possibly liking me was not something I believed was possible. So, I did what any other nine-year-old girl would do: I made my life plan. I decided that as soon as I graduated high school, I was going to move to London, get my doctorate in chemistry, and have no husband, no kids, and no pets. I would be alone, but to me, that was much better than being hurt. Not long after, I even became a self-proclaimed atheist. I honestly wish I could say I am joking, but I am not... I had a friend whose parents were atheists, so I decided to become one myself. I thought: “Well, since I exist, it would make much more sense for me to ‘just happen’ to be here instead of somebody truly wanting me to be created.” It was only a couple of years after making this choice that my family decided to move from my hometown, Marshfield, Wisconsin, all the way to Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was about eleven years old at the time. 

Change was not something that I did very well; in fact, it was very hard for me to process. Even though this move was only two hours away from everything I knew, I still felt as if my entire world was falling apart. I began isolating myself, and I ended up falling into a deep depression. I spent the first year or so after moving alone, sad, and hating myself more each day. My self-image got so bad that at one point I began intentionally avoiding mirrors so I didn’t have to see myself. After that year, my family found a church, and of course, my parents really wanted me to go. That did not sound like a good idea at all. But, as the people pleaser I was, it did not take much resistance for me to go. So I went for a while, faking a smile so others would be happy. It wasn’t until my first worship night that I had my first encounter with God. I remember the music playing and hearing everyone just worship God. I thought that if this God was so real and lovable to these people, maybe, just once, I could try to talk to Him. So, I walked to the altar, got on my knees, and prayed for the first time. It was then that I saw Jesus in a vision. He was on the cross, His face was in terrible condition, and He just stared at me. Despite His pain, He was obviously in, all I could see was love in His eyes. It was so real that my heart couldn’t deny what was clearly happening. I accepted Jesus into my heart and was officially saved that night! I was twelve years old.  A few months later, I ended up getting baptized with my parents and my sister. 

Everything at this point was good! My life was filled with hope and purpose, and despite all the change happening, I felt so much peace because I knew that God had me, I was HIS daughter. Not long after getting saved, the Lord gave me a dream. In this dream, Jesus came to me and said, “Hey Kielynn, I have called you to something great. Someday I want you to go and share my Name to all of the nations! You will become a missionary and reach those who have not been reached yet. Let it all be done for MY glory!” The next day I woke up and thought: “Awesome! So…God, what even is a missionary..?” This was the day that my life was no longer about me, but about God. I mean, sure, I already made plans I thought I wanted, but God had given me plans He knew I needed. So how could I disobey Him? 

Obviously, at this time, I was only twelve, so there was a very long gap of waiting and seeking the Lord. After some time, at the beginning of 2024, I was allowed to attend my very first mission trip! Being fifteen meant my options were a little more limited. So, I could either go to Wales, which is in the UK, that was my dream!! Or the Dominican Republic, which could be a nice trip too. Instead of praying, I asked what my friends were doing. Most of them were going to the Wales one. So, to me, it was obvious that Wales was where I needed to be. But when I finally prayed about it, God said that He was asking me to go to the Dominican instead. I was crushed and disappointed. Why was God doing this to me? Well, remember that He always has the better plan. When it got to the day of leaving, I felt so sick. I wanted to back out, but I decided to trust God anyway. And… funny story, we never made it past Georgia! Yeahhh, all the flights to the Dominican got cancelled, so the trip was off. Despite originally feeling sick about it, not going at all crushed me too. I woke up the next day and just cried all morning. I told my parents I would never go back to Georgia. Remember this, this part of the story is crucial. Being my dramatic self, I thought that I would never be able to do another mission trip again. About two days later, I got a call from my youth pastor’s wife. She called wanting to know if I would like to last-minute hop on the Wales trip that was leaving in three days. Of course, I said yes!!! Wales was my dream!! I fell in love with that place; It was through that trip that God showed me the blessing that comes with being obedient. At the time, it all made sense. I believed that Wales was it, but God is a Redeemer, He restores EVERYTHING!! So, in January 2025, I actually was able to go to the Dominican Republic! That was such a good trip, too. To be honest, I think I loved the Dominican trip more than the Wales one. But that doesn’t matter; what does matter is that I did fall in love with both places. Which kind of was a problem… because I was convinced to live in both places! This was a dilemma, so I did the only thing I could: I brought it to God and surrendered it to Him. I spent most of 2025 in prayer about my future and what all that holds. Throughout that year, I didn’t know what the future held necessarily, but I knew that whatever it held, it would be good, as Jeremiah 29:11 from the NLT says: “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” 

Once it got to November of 2025, so only a few months ago now, I learned about the existence of gap year programs! One of my best friends and I considered doing YWAM (Youth with a Mission) together. After prayer and discerning, we both felt that wasn’t the program we were called to. So I dropped the idea of gap year programs for a few weeks and began praying about the short mission trip options at my church. I felt God was giving me the number five. So, I did what I usually do, and I put my own spin on God’s words. I decided that He wanted me to go on five of my church’s mission trips. I ended up picking five that I felt would be good and more affordable trips, and I thought that was the plan. Boy, did God switch my plans up quickly. A few weeks later, I learned about World Race. I found their nine-month gap year program that goes to five different countries! Once I heard about this program, it felt like all the puzzle pieces of my life were finally connecting! After spending all of December in prayer about this, I started the new year off with an interview for World Race! I ended up getting accepted, and now I am here! Oh, and remember what I said about Georgia? Yeah, World Race’s training camp I will be at is located in Georgia! So, I have learned to never say never to God. You would be surprised at what is truly possible with God!

And that is my story! I am going on World Race because I am taking steps of obedience to follow God’s plans for my life. I believe the first steps of my missionary calling begin in this program. These nine months of my life will be an exciting journey! I’ll be in Italy, Nepal, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia. With probably many ups and downs, God will be shaping and growing me into the woman He has created me to be. May He get all the glory during my time away! 

Thank you for taking a little bit of time to read my story and how God is moving in my life. I plan to have many more posts before I leave and during the time I will be gone. If you feel led to donate to this trip, you can give through this link!: I am officially 10% of the way there! PRAISE GOD!!! 

 Donate to Kielynn Clark for 2026 World Race | Gap Year 26G0904 - Adventures in Missions (powered by ServiceReef)

If you have any questions, comments, or just want to chat about my journey, you can reach me at my phone number: (920)-246-9210, or my email: Kielynnsclark_316@yahoo.com. Thanks again for reading :)