Brianna to Colombia 2024

Hi, my name is Brianna Quilitzsch, and I am planning to serve on a missions trip to Colombia in May 2024 with my school. Currently, I am studying for my Bachelor’s in Piano Performance at Liberty University.

I would describe myself as hard-working, and I get so much joy by encouraging and helping others. In junior high, my church’s Vacation Bible School program had the 6th-8th grade students form groups where we worked in neighborhoods and local communities doing service projects for families - yard work, staining a deck, cleaning and weeding a horse farm, and ultimately encouraging and blessing the families. This was where I believe I first truly experienced the joy of serving people. After I outgrew the junior high service projects, I volunteered to serve in VBS by being a crew leader, tasked with leading a team of kids to each station and helping them engage in learning about the gospel each day. The kids always have so much fun and are so sweet in their curiosity to learn. It is always a blessing to be a part of continuing their interest in learning as young minds. I started reminding myself that “the greatest reward of service is seeing the joy it gives others.”

I have also worked at Chick-fil-A for the last four years, and, being naturally on the shy and quiet side, my experience has helped me grow as a person and build a diligent character and enthusiastic attitude to eagerly serve the guests with a smile.

The Colombia trip will be in the cities of Cartagena and Bogota, and the volunteers will be interacting with children at two different schools - teaching them various subjects and participating in their culture. Serving on this trip would mean a lot to me, as I will be interacting with the children and teaching them music, a life passion of mine; as well as participating in the Colombian culture and learning new things, a part of my heritage. My maternal family is from Colombia, and some of them stayed with us for a few months.

In November, I attended the interest meeting and then applied for the trip. I did not feel confident due to high interest rate and my lack of experience in participating in missions trips, so I prayed about this opportunity as I awaited my application status. My application was reviewed and I was asked to interview. From my perspective, the interview did not go as smoothly as I was hoping it would, but I prayed and prayed. If I was accepted after this interview, it was surely the will of God and not by my own interviewing skills. Even as I went through this period of uncertainty, I really felt God opening the doors for this opportunity to experience the Colombian culture and show Christ’s love to those children. I recently received a confirmation that I was accepted for this missions trip!

The trip is May 12th, 2024 to May 19th, 2024. The $2900 will cover the travel cost, CQ Assessment, and the passport application fee.

Thank you for taking the time to read, pray, donate, and share. Anything helps, and please keep praying and share this post! Thank you!