When I told my mom about this trip she seemed a little unsure about my decision to go. Then I showed her my profile. She took one look at it and said "Real Life??? That is just so cool."

I spent most of my life growing up in the Assemblies of God. We moved to the Decatur (Illinois) area when I was 8 and started attending Real Life Assembly of God. That church was and always will be my home church. We loved the name "Real Life" because we were just that: REAL. Most of us didn't dress up for church, we didn't try to make ourselves into something we weren't. We took what Jesus said very literally: come as you are. That was actually our motto. "Come as you are and discover the difference."

You might ask what this has to do a missions trip to Peru. There are a few reasons that I chose to go to Peru. One is that I have wanted to go on a missions trip for a LONG time. There is one reason that I don't even know. I have no idea why, out of all the trips, I chose Peru. I've always wanted to go to Africa so when something said to choose Peru I just thought it was the strangest thing ever. But here I am, preparing to go to Peru and spread the Gospel. The last reason: Real Life. Real Life has always been in my heart. When I saw the name of the college age group, I thought to myself "well that's cool. It would be amazing to be able to go on one of those trips." My mom has been supporting me more and more since she learned about the name of the college age group. She believes that it is conformation that I am supposed to be on this trip. She told some friends just today about me going to Peru and then told them the name of the group. These people had also attended Real Life AG with us, and they thought it was just the most amazing thing.

For me, Real Life is more than a group of college aged kids going on a short term missions trip. It is a church, a family, a way of life. God wants us to be real. Only then can He work in us. If we dress up in our "Sunday best" and do the "church thing" we aren't doing anything. If we can't be real with God, how do we expect to reach the lost? I will warn you that I am real. I'm not into the whole "dress up for church, put on smiles, and then go home" thing. I'm into the whole "show the world how amazing Christ is and let them see that they don't have to be perfect to be saved" thing. I want to reach out to the lost. I want to be a radical, on fire for God Christian. I want to be real. I want to live a Real Life. And I hope that you all do as well. So, who's ready to go win souls for the Kingdom?