In the summer of 2010 I went on my second missions trip to Saint Louis, Missouri. I never thought i’d be back last time I had gone the previous year I was falling in love with the city. My parents weren’t too thrilled. They told me I was never going back there, God had different plans. During this trip my life would be changed forever. We were doing a VBS for 1-12 year olds and I got the middle school group. One of the boys in our group came from a broken home, may have been abused, hated his father, etc. He didnt want to be there at all whenever we taught something he wanted to be rebellious. During the craft part of the night he held safety scissors to another kids neck and said he’d kill him. This boy was 12..I told the head of the VBS and our group began to pray about it and for this boy. By the end of the VBS he became saved. He had us sign his bible, he signed our shirts. ( I still have the shirt) He said He was going to read his bible everyday and go to church with his father (remember now, he hated his dad and now he was saying he’d bring him to church! GOD IS SO GOOD!) This boy was so thankful and his joy just rocked my world. Seeing the complete transformation was insane. God really did something in him and in me. Later, I felt God speaking to me telling me, “Natalie this is what you’re gonna do. I want you to commit your life to Urban and Youth ministry. You may get burnt out. You are going to see a lot. But you have a heart and passion for these kids and for what they are going through. I am going to use you.” I was stunned and suddenly overjoyed. I came home and told people at my church and my parents. Everyone said I was nuts and that I wasn’t gonna actually do it because I was too crazy. I struggled with it for awhile..Meanwhile I was just started public school and thought about being a lawyer and nothing seemed right. Senior year I thought about being a counselor, thats close right? I took three psych classes that year and was excited to go and be a psych major. God had different plans. In March God showed me to one of my future professors and I told her my heart and she said just take a into to ministry class and see if it fits, So I came in August and took the class and I just knew that I was supposed to be in ministry. I changed my major and added a minor in urban studies, still i felt off. A couple months ago I talked to a program director for U4C ( a program you have to do for Urban Studies) and I told her I wanted to do inner city youth ministry and she told me I might want to double major. As of yesterday I am now double majoring and I am so happy. God has tweaked my plans bit by bit revealing to me how everything was to fall into place. While all this happened my parents have argued with me about my career choice and how I will be broke all my live. My dad somewhat respects my descion and has told me if this is what I wanna do then its my choice. He cares, He wants me safe, so does my mom. But thats a different story, she thinks arguing will change my mind. Yesterday I got some advice from a professor about praying for her the way I did for that boy. Because God can do anything. I just know it will all fall into place and I am not worried about it. This is the story of how I came to urban ministry. :)