YWAM Missionary Work

Hello, my name is Abby Dannenberg. I'm 18 years old and just graduated high school. The past four years of high school has been a roller coaster. I grew up in a small town called Zeeland and went to Vriesland Reformed church every Sunday morning with my family. When I was a kid, I didn't enjoy going to church on Sunday mornings. All it was to me, at that time, was singing, greeting random strangers, and listening to the old guy up front speak. As I grew older, I joined many different church activities like: youth group, Sunday school, VBS, etc. It wasn't until middle school when I started to grow a passion to serve. I went on a couple mission trips to Ohio working at a local church and missions program. By helping out the locals, it made me realize I had a love for God and what could be done through him. My faith grew more and more everyday. Eventually I got into high school and my whole perspective changed. I still went to church, but a daughter church of Vriesland Reformed called The Foundry. I also went to the same youth group but for high schoolers now, called Vertigo. Every Wednesday night we went to youth group and worshiped, listened to the message, and had small group time. I began to look forward to every Wednesday night. As high school went on, I faced many different tests and trails. During the four years of high school, I lost four loved ones. I lost my half sister, my freshman year, to brain cancer. My friend, Zach, commited suicide my sophomore year from being depressed. Junior year my grandma passed away of old age and my senior year, my grandpa passed away from pancreatic cancer. This all raised a lot of questions that I had about God and faith. Questions like: how could she be taken away at the age of 5? Why couldn't Zach overcome it if the saying "if God puts you to it, he can get you through it" is true? Why couldn't I have more time with my grandparents, they didn't even see me graduate? Etc. I realized that because I couldn't figure out the answers to these questions I started to lose my faith which left me feeling empty. It was so hard to handle the grief on my own that I started to rely on the love of my friends to build me back up. It wasn't until my senior year mission trip that I realized the reason for my loneliness and sadness wasn't because I was alone but because, I wasn't filling the void in my heart with the love of God. With more prayer and devotion I have found myself feeling whole again! God has shown me a new path, which is to be his hands and feet in Belize and to serve him and his people! Please partner with me in making God known to people around the world!