Four years ago, I applied to work at Covecrest, a Catholic summer camp in Tiger, Georgia, for six weeks. I knew I wouldn't be teaching kids archery or canoeing but honestly I had no idea the adventure I was getting myself into. When I arrived they said 'welcome home' and explained that my title of "missionary" was much more than the Christian way of telling me I wouldn't be paid. That summer I discovered the identity I have in Christ and the beautiful mission of reaching out to teens with that same good news.

As I approached my senior year of college and graduation, I knew I wanted to be involved in ministry after school. I had interviewed, visited, and committed to work and live with a homeless ministry in the government projects of Washington D.C. when God reminded me of something very important. The summer after my first year on staff at Covecrest, I planned a week-long mission trip to Mexico with some of my fellow staffers as a sort of reunion. While I couldn't actually go on the trip my family hosted the missionaries on their way back into the US through Houston. As we ate pizza and talked about mission, I met a 16-year-old girl who was only a little less than forced to go to Mexico with her family.  It was hard to believe the girl who sat in my living room that night was the same young lady who so reluctantly got in the vans to leave a week earlier. A short term mission had completely changed this teens life. She talked about not only loving her family in a new way but her desire to return to her own high school and live out the gospel of Christ.

That night my life changed too. I knew that what God was doing in the hearts of teens through mission and through Life Teen did something amazing in my heart too. I remembered with joy the way Christ crashed into my own life and transformed my heart when I said yes to serving the youth of His Church and wondered how it could have possibly taken me so long to say yes to Life Teen Missions.

Since joining Life Teen Missions in 2011, I've seen God rebuild and restore teens, families, parishes and high schools. I've witness teens discover beautiful vocations to marriage and to religious life and realize the beauty of the sacraments in the Catholic Church. This year I will be staying at Covecrest, our formation mission base, to help form and lead the female first year missionaries. I will continue to pray, work in our local parishes, host and speak at retreats, and learn to be the woman of God He created me to be.
 

By supporting missions, you make all this possible. There is no donation too small as long as we give all our to Jesus (Lk 21:1-4). Please prayerfully consider how you and your family could be a part of the mission this year and help me respond to God's call to lead teens closer to Christ.The process is fast, easy, and secure. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Please contact me with questions, prayer requests or just to say hello: lizzie.gormley@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter: LT_LizzieG.