I'm Kylie Mcmillan. I'm from Boiling Springs, South Carolina and I'm 17 years old and I will be 18 in November.

I grew up in a christian home and every summer my church would go to this camp called "Camp Longridge". When I was 9 years old I was when I got saved and it happened to be at Camp Longridge. I got saved with my twin brother and my cousin. I was like every other kid that got saved and I just said "the prayer" and I was now so called "saved".

A few years go on and I'm about 12 or 13 and this is when I really grasp the understanding of faith and what it means to be saved. During this time my parents were getting a divorce, and this time instead of running from God I ran to God. My sister played a big part in this time, she was kinda like my mentor , I looked up to her and her walk with Christ. That summer I got to go to my first FUGE camp. I will always remember this camp because on cry night my youth pastor said “I'm Proud of you Kylie”. I have no idea why he said that, but that hit me hard. I couldn't even tell you why I was crying.

Before you know it COVID hits... during this time was the closest I've been with Christ. Why? Because there were no distractions, I had so much free time and I used that time to grow in Grace. I also got asked to be a part of a student led ministry called Narrow Path Ministries. It was on all social media. Me and a friend of mine would make videos of us sharing the gospel and post it everywhere. This got me used to the idea of talking to others about the gospel.

These were the moments I knew I didn't wanna follow the "American Dream". I grew up playing basketball my whole life, well I tried softball but we will leave that there. I always had a dream to play basketball in college and maybe even in the WNBA. Little me dreamed BIG. Although I probably could have chased that dream and never would have done what God has called me to do, in the back of my head I've always would love to be a missionary. I never knew how to tell anyone, because I thought I had to go to college and then go work a 9-5. You never know until you chase after something.

Now high school starts, and these are supposed to be the best times of your life. Well for me it's the opposite, because I feel as if high school was holding me back. Freshman year was alright because we would go to school for like 3 days max. I thought that was amazing. I started doing a face-time call like once a week with my friends and we would all take turns doing a devotion. Sophomore year was a little rocky because I lost a lot of friends with putting God first, they didn't really live a lifestyle that I wanted to surround myself with. Now I am more than halfway through Junior year and so far it's been amazing! Before the start of the school year I was pretty bummed that school was getting ready to start back, until one Wednesday night my youth pastor talked about how we should look at this school year as being missionaries in our hallways at school. That changed my perspective of the whole year. This year I came out about my dream, and shared with others that I wanted to be a missionary and I didn't hold back. I immediately got straight to work. I decided I wanted to graduate early which meant I would have to quit basketball. Going into this school year I knew it was going to happen. I was excited, sad, mad and all the emotions that you could imagine. This was the end of 13 years of the sport that had my heart, but I ended I think on a great note.

Sorry about the side track, but Here I am God has led me through so many of my mountains and valleys, big or small. The biggest thing he has taught me lately is humility. Humility is free of pride, and I struggle with pride. I am not better than anyone, I'm just a girl who heard about a dude not just any dude but a dude that died for me and cares enough to personally know me. Sorry for all of the side tracks I may have taken, but thank y'all so much for reading this if you got this far.

Doing this mission is kinda my step in life. I've always had a heart for missions whether it's internationally or locally. I will put my whole heart into it. I love learning about new cultures, meeting new people, learning new dances, making memories, and the best of all Praising the Lord. After 3 months in South Africa, I will be going to a college for 4 years and from there only God knows.