H-D-CAL grad readies for World Race mission trip despite setbacks

A recent Hampton- Dumont-CAL graduate is navigating the tricky landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic in hopes of helping those in need across the world.

Briana Grover, a 2020 grad, is making the final preparations to attend this year’s World Race, a nine month Christian mission trip that sends students to multiple countries in the name of service and outreach.

To go on the mission trip, Grover has to delay beginning her freshman year of college. While she said she’ll have to put those memories on hold, the chance to explore the world while helping others is a dream she’s had since childhood.

“Ever since I was younger, I always had maps hanging up in my rooms and destinations, and something was always in me to want to travel and go and change the world and see other cultures,” she said. “It was a hard choice because it wasn’t the sane one…but after I got the support from my family and people in the community, it was fantastic.”

Grover’s original plan called for her to go overseas in September, but due to the pandemic, she will begin the World Race with a four month discipleship in Georgia before hopefully heading to Costa Rica in January, then Guatemala and end in Swazi-land. She said that her trips to each country are dependent on the status of the pandemic in the locations.

Grover’s path to the trip has been riddled with uncertainty and adjustments due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

She said she was given the choice to go through with the trip this year, with the afore-mentioned schedule change, or wait until next September. Many of the friends she made through the World Race to this point elected to wait until next year, but Grover said she never really questioned if she should go this year or not.

“This is definitely some-thing I had my heart set on,” she said. “It was really hard on me to decide what I’m going to do. I could’ve waited until the next year and done the full nine months or just decide to trust God in it and see what He has in store for me.

“I decided to take the risk and see what I could learn there to hopefully further help my education in missions,” she added.

Now with her heart set on attending the World Race this year, Grover is making final financial and mental preparations. She has experienced an outpouring of support. Grover said she appreciates both the financial support and words of encouragement received from community members.

“That (money) was a huge thing that was stopping me from applying…but I’ve been getting constant support from countless people and businesses and people I’ve never heard of before,” she said. “To know that people are out there that are willing to help you follow your dreams and pursue your dreams is just amazing.”

Grover said another thing that has helped her prepare is conversations with people who have attended the World Race, including 2019 H-D-CAL grad Ana Westhoff. Westhoff returned from the trip in March, nearly two months shy of completing the nine month journey due to the pandemic.

Over the course of seven months, Westhoff had the opportunity to live and work in orphanages, teach children English, help establish gardens, play games with villagers and so much more that gave her further appreciation of the different walks of life living within the world.

“Each country taught me so many things,” she said. “I had to grow in so many areas I didn’t know about and what that looked like was just choosing joy every day.

“We knew our ministry was spending six hours a day digging through dirt, planting, pulling out weeds in the heat and it was not something at first that you’d get excited about,” she added. “I think for me what that looked like was thinking that the Lord picked me to sit here in the middle of this dirt to pick weeds and bring His kingdom down.”

Grover said she followed Westhoff’s journey through blogs and social media, which is what inspired her to pursue the trip for herself. Westhoff said that it’s surreal to think her experience has started a movement locally to get involved on a global scale, but she’s happy her story has served as inspiration.

“I think it’s crazy and I can’t even describe it because I didn’t go into it knowing it was going to happen,” she said. “I think that describes how the Lord works. You do things for Him and when you’re working for Him and living life according to Him, other people will follow and other people will want to do it as well.”