At the age of 17, it is safe to say that senior Valerie Lopez has already accumulated more mileage than the majority of her  peers and even more than some adults. Lopez has traveled to both Guatemala and Uganda, and this past summer she added Turkey to her list of overseas countries that she has served in.

“I’ve never done a mission trip like this before with teenagers,” Lopez said. “I’ve never been to Asia or the Middle East before, so it was a new part, a new country, and a new continent. I was really excited!”

Lopez traveled with members of her youth group from Grace Community Church in June to Istanbul and Antalya, Turkey to participate in a partner exchange program with teenage Turkish students, where Lopez helped teach English and got to create strong friendships with the students.

“We did a whole week of helping them in their English classes and we got to do tourist kind of things together, just so we could have fun together instead of just learning English,” Lopez said. “As Christians, we also wanted to let that side of the world know what it is like to be a Christian and what it is like as a teenager to follow in those steps even when it’s hard.”

Lopez was initially unsure if she wanted to travel to Turkey as opposed to returning back to Uganda for a second summer after serving young children there in the summer of 2013, but she ended up choosing Turkey after plenty of consideration.

“I really felt like the Lord wanted me this past summer to do something with teenagers,” Lopez said. “Last year I went through a really tough time and I was in a vulnerable place. Out of it I have become stronger and my faith has become stronger, and I want to make sure teenagers see that. I just wanted them to see that you’re going to go through stuff but you have to push through and not be dependent on others. I really want to gravitate towards being an example.”

Lopez became close to the Turkish students that were a part of the partner exchange program, and is preparing for some of the students to come and visit her this January.

“As I was praying towards the end of the trip I really felt like the Lord put in my heart ‘be ready,’” Lopez said.

After thoughtful consideration, Lopez came to the conclusion that she needed to be aware of distractions and how she acted after coming home from Turkey.

“I came back stronger in my faith not just for myself but for them [the Turkish students],” Lopez said. “These Turkish girls are going to be watching and I’ve built such strong relationships with them. I would hate to be the reason why they’re like: ‘Oh, she’s just another American.’”

Lopez said the Turkish teenagers she met picture Americans as they act in many popular movies, and that she worked hard to show them how she and her other companions were different.

“The whole team just wanted to love on them so that they would understand what God’s love is because that’s the image we really want them to see,” Lopez said. “And they did see.”

Lopez, who plans to go on another mission trip to the same regions of Turkey this summer before attending the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor, hopes to become a nurse in order combine a career with a passion for mission work.

“I want to be a pediatric nurse,” Lopez said. “ I want to use nursing as a way to be a missionary. I love to be used in any kind of way to bring people to know more about Christ. I just love helping people and I will always want to pursue that.”