HEYYYY!! My name is Lilly Tregilgas! I am 19 years old and I am currently in the pursuit of going on a 9 month long mission trip. I will be departing Minnesota in less than two weeks on August 28th. I will be heading to Atlanta, Georgia for training camp as my first destination!! I will be doing some stateside ministry before I head over to my first country. When I do, I will be traveling to Jamaica, Italy, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia. My date to arrive back to Minnesota will be as of now, May 12th. I’ll be posting about once a week on this blog, once my trip starts! You can subscribe so you know when I post and I hope you can follow along on this journey the Lord called me on!! 

As I was going through my senior year, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and that was attending the University of Northwestern for Ministry and do the “college experience”. I started to realize I unintentionally did not include Jesus into the equation and started to feel unsure about my next steps. I decided in May to fully surrender my desires to God and ask Him to direct me in the path that he has for me. I found the World Race and after praying long hours about it anad letting go of what I wanted, I felt abundant peace with the decision to pursue this step. I am fully relying and trusting the Lord with this next step and know that if this is something he is calling me to pursue, then I need to respond in obedience. I had many worries that I wouldn’t be able to get all ready for this big transition. Then, I realized I needed to stop and trust the Lord. That was the only thing the Lord was asking of me. I have always had a heart to serve people and have intentional conversations with anyone that God puts in front of me. Within this trip, I am hoping to grow in ways that I not only want to grow in, but in ways the Lord is calling me to grow into. I know the Lord will stretch me in ways that will be challenging, but most importantly beneficial. While I am on this trip, I will be serving with a squad of about 40-50 people and cannot wait to see how He works!!

While in this process of fundraising and all the preparation that goes into getting ready to leave, the Lord has been teaching me many things and revealing many things to me. He has been showing me that my plan is so small compared to what he can and will do for me. The Lord has been calling me outside my comfort zone and into trusting him through these new obstacles and blessings. I have seen that I was striving for my comfort zone and I am seeing through this process the Lord is calling me to higher goals and experiences that will stretch me in a growing way. The Lord has been teaching me to await for his timing because his timing is perfect. The wait is not easy, but it is so beautiful when I do wait. I need to trust and be patient in so many ways for this trip and in life.

Thinking about leaving is starting to feel a little sad because I will miss seeing all my friends and family, being in my beautiful community here at home, and apart of so many amazing blessings the Lord has brought to me. But, with obedience comes sacrifice. I must lay all my desires at the alter and surrender my plans to the Lord to fully be obedient to where the Lord is calling me. I will miss everyone back home very much, but I know I will gain some beautiful friendships and community while I am away as well!

I have been looking forward to this trip since I applied and got accepted in late May, although with excitement comes some nerves too. Any and all prayers mean so much to me. If you could pray that I stay obedient to the Lords timing, direction, and calling that would be amazing! Also, that I find peace and joy in all ways leading up to this trip, on the trip, and even after. As of right now, I am packing, praying, and socializing. As many of you know, I am a big people person and I absolutely LOVE my community, so I am soaking up as much of my community time as possible. As for fundraising…I am 77% fundraised!!!! LIKE C’MON! I know the Lord shows up, but he did 30 times what I expected with this! When starting the process of this trip I needed at least 50% of my total amount to depart August 28th, and I reached that goal and MORE! I still have $4,523 to fundraise and I know with my whole heart the Lord will provide! I am so grateful if you feel it in your heart to donate to help in the mission that God has called me to! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to these answered prayers, getting to my fundraising goal, and taking the time to listen and disciple me. I am so grateful for all my people who are helping with this process and getting me ready to go in less than two weeks!! 

Please be praying for me, my team, and for the people we will be serving! Feel free to reach out to me at anytime with questions or encouragement!!

I am excited for this upcoming opportunity and can’t wait to share more as I get started!

With Love,

Lilly :)