Alumna Carmen Albrecht, 2017

During my time at the school, I learned so much truth about the Bible and saw it applied through my teachers and friends. In school, I learned so much about what it meant to be a Christian. In classes, we talked a lot about being obedient when God calls. Another important truth I learned was God was faithful to us when we were faithless. This truth changed my life and I decided I would be obedient and faithful to God. After I went on to college I decided that I wanted my life to count so that God would be glorified by my actions.

This desire to serve God and longing to make Him known took me on some crazy adventures. God has been calling me to go to Africa since I was 10 years old, but I thought it would be once I was more qualified. But this past summer God gave me the opportunity to serve in Ghana. I served in two different capacities: as a social worker and as a teacher.

While I was interning at the Department of Social Welfare in Ghana, I worked with three main population groups:  disabled, elderly and orphans.  One day my coworker and I went to a cured leprosy village to distribute funds to them.  This was a very special experience for me because the people that lived there were hurt by society and felt like second-class citizens, forced to live in an outcast society. I quickly realized how much emotional support these people needed. It was my responsibility to help people to the center and register them. Many of them had not received physical touch in years.  In many cases I was able to pray for them and speak truth into their lives that Jesus doesn't seem them as outcast.  We also worked with abused and/or neglected children, those in financial crisis and those having marriage problems.  The best part of it all was everything in the office revolved around how Jesus would solve problems and we would openly pray in the workplace with clients -- and this is a government-sponsored program.  Come on Jesus!!!

This desire I had to make my life count and glorify God has only begun. God has amazing plans for every person in this world and too often we get distracted by our own agenda. But if we choose to let God invade our lives, we have much better things coming then we could have planned or imagined.