Some seniors may just be starting the job hunt, but senior Brittany Obee has already committed to “God’s plan” to work with The World Race, a mission trip through 11 countries in 11 months.

Obee will depart in July and travel throughout the world doing mission work in Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, India, Nepal, Mongolia and China.

Sixty-five people will travel across the countries and Obee said tasks will vary from day to day. Despite the uncertainty, she said she is confident that God will find work for them.

“The World Race definitely relies on the fact that it’s wherever God leads us to help other people,” Obee said.

Obee said she had been thinking about doing something like this for a while.

“It has been on my heart and on my soul to travel the world,” Obee said. “I just think that there is so much more; there’s more purpose to life than…the 9-to-5 job.”

The World Race application process consisted of a two-hour phone interview and a basic form to fill out.

“They were like, ‘Give me 10 reasons why you would be fitted,’ or ‘Give me 10 people in your life who have changed who you are’ … all of these things that I needed to get in deep, deep touch with myself,” Obee said.

The World Race representatives contacted Obee the day after the interview to tell her she had been accepted into the program.

“They were like, ‘You are the perfect candidate,’ and they were screaming on the phone with me, and I was dancing around,” Obee said.

Although working abroad was an exciting prospect, Obee mentioned fear still played a role in her decision process.

“I live with some sort of fear,” Obee said. “It’s not that I’m going to die tomorrow, and it’s not that I’m going to get cancer and die. It’s just I have this fear ever since I found the Lord that I’m not going to experience everything that he has created on this planet that I truly love. There is nothing more that I love than the beauty of the Earth.”

The program costs roughly $15,000. Obee plans to raise money through fundraising and her photography business.

Senior Chris Nathan said he applauds her bravery, and notes that a lot of people don’t get to experience what she’ll be doing in July.

“Most people are too afraid to make such a huge commitment,” Nathan said. “It sounds like she will experience things that some of us never will.”

Obee said she can’t wait to have a better understanding of the world.

“This passion that I have to love and understand people is going to be the main reason and the main focus in my life for an entire year,” Obee said. “I can’t even find anything that is more ‘me’ than this, and so I just know that this is God’s plan for me.”

Jacob Cunningham, coordinator of the Volunteers In Action and VISION programs at St. Thomas, said students experience a variety of benefits from a program like The World Race.

“I see huge growth in terms of being able to understand the immense diversity of the world, see all of the worldviews, see all of the religious views, see other political systems,” Cunningham said.

Obee said this journey will help her see what God has in store for her next.

“I think that this is definitely where I am supposed to go, and I think that I’ll learn where I’m supposed to go next through this,” Obee said. “I will hope to cultivate my heart to love to everyone and anyone with no judgments or ideologies.”

Kayla Bengtson can be reached at beng2004@stthomas.edu.