Well hello there! My name is Sydney Rae Hilderbrand. Growing up a lot of people called me Syd... 

I just turned 19 January 3rd. I am from Douglasville, GA (about an hour and a half from AIM). I am a freshman at Columbus State University in Columbus, GA and I plan to major in Business Management with a minor in Marketing. Columbus is only 30 minutes from Auburn, AL so if you live anywhere near there PLEASE let me know! (: 

I take classes Monday- Thursday and I have Fridays off. I work at a franchise called Your Pie, it's gourmet pizza and is ran a little like Subway. There are also 4 of these located in Athens, GA (about 30 minutes from AIM). I work 3 days a week and average around 18 hours a week. I am very blessed to have my parents pay for my school, so I feel that it is my responsibility to pay for anything else. lol. I also love my job... and I love to work... haha.

During my spare time I sit around in my dorm. Most of you probably know that being a freshman in a new town leaves you with about 2 CLOSE friends... and that's it. haha. I LOVE sports!! In middle school I played basketball, softball, and ran track. In highschool I played basketball, volleyball, and polevaulted. I am a quick learner so if any of you play a different sport I would love to learn how to play! I am also a computer nerd. I am very interested in graphic design and photography. I love designing logos, flyers, tshirts, ect. 

I consider myself to be very crafty. I love DIY projects and creating something out of nothing. lol. I do have a boyfriend named Jared. We have been dating about a year and 3 months, but he lives in my hometown so I don't get to see him very often. With my degree, I have a dream of opening my own business. I hope that while we're in Thailand I will be able to see what the girls really need and hopefully by business will be able to help them in a tremendous way. 

Trips. Trips. Trips. I have been involved in a youth group since I was in the 6th grade. I have been to many church camps and mission trips. My church was very involved with World Changers. Through WC, my youth group has been to St. Louis, Missourri, Puerto Rico, New York, and Canada. While we were there we helped people fix up their home. It ranged from roofing to yardwork working 4 days from 8am-5pm. These were deffinitely amazing trips to go on! 

I am SO excited to see how God is going to use me in a foreign country. Sex trafficking has been on my heart for so long and I finally built up the courage to lay everything down and go do something about it. I am hoping that my testimony will help me reach other girls my age because I can some what relate to them. Of course everybody has a past, but I am finally strong enough to talk about it. I am slowly starting to see God work through my story and I am so excited about putting it in play in Thailand! I am nervous about the whole language barrier thing. I don't want to be held back because I can't understand someone or they can't understand me.