My friends peer pressured me into blog writing for their own selfish reasons, but in the end we will all benefit. I will be leaving for Port-au-Prince, Haiti in a couple days and spending 5 weeks there. Much shorther than I had planned, but the Lord always has the upper hand and a great vision for my life. Here is a little background on how I got to this point.
My grandmother (Bettye Summers) had the biggest heart for people of the whole world. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the many places she has gone to do missions all while keeping everything in line back home. She loved her Lord so much, and spent her days just waiting for that day to be with him. So to her it was second nature to just tell the world about this great love. I grew up hearing stories, watching her go places, seeing her live a life soley for Christ. She was the WMU coordinator at church for forever. Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention and was Tennessee WMU President. She did everything she could for missions. And it was through her heart that the Lord revealed to me at an early age of 12 years old that international missions was in my future. Now there came a time when Gran could no longer travel out of the country, but that did not stop her from sending others out and trainging them to spread the Good News. She lived out the Great Commission for 65 years, from the time she trusted Christ at age 11 to her joining of the Lord last July at age 76.
I spent many years yearning to leave the country on mission trips to help the helpless and forgotten. But year after year God took away opportunities and shut doors. It was hard to understand, and at times I wondered if international missions was still what he had planned. Then November of 2009, I attended the missions conference at my church in Knoxville, Calvary Baptist, as a summer missionary from a summer stint in Colorado with Campus Crusade. Here Dr. Clint Doiron spoke about his adventures in Haiti and what all was being done there. At that moment I knew I had to go. Then just two short months later the earthquake happened, and my heart was broken and heavy for a country that I had never visited and knew nothing about. I wished with everything I had that God would provide a way for me to go down there, but none came. So I prayed. If I couldn't go then someone who could needed prayers of protection and safety. I began praying for the rescue workers, the government, and the people. This was such a devastating time for this beautiful country.
Next thing I know I hear whispers that Calvary was trying to get worked out a missions trip for the college and church wide for Spring Break 2011. I jumped with joy! It was like a dream come true! At that moment I began talking with my parents about the idea, and talking with other students about the idea of going. Support began coming out of the woodwork and by just a few people I had all my support to go! I spent the last few weeks before going praying that God would really speak to me about what I had only heard whispers about for so long. He really began giving me a heart for Haiti.
It was finally time for the trip! I could almost cry with excitement as it was time to board the plane. I was filled with overwhelming joy and happiness as I began seeing treetops and mountains as the plane landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. They had warned us that when we got off the plane we would be bombarded with people trying to take our bags to help us and drive us to where we needed, but to stay cautious and just say no. As soon as we walked into the big open ware-house look of a room to get bags and things I was completely mesmerized by everything. The people, the way they interacted, the intense difference in culture, I was in love. It felt like home, and I had been there all of 15 minutes. There was never a culture shock, it just seemed natural. As the week went on we did clinics, played with children, went to church, and did all we could for Haiti in those seven days. Before I had been there half of the week I was already trying to find out how I was coming back. It was never a matter of "if" but "when".
This brings me to where I am now. Lo and behold the missionaries there were wanting to start an intern program for college students to come in the summer. What a coincidence! I immediately told Michelle (one of the permanent missionaries there) I will be there, just tell me when! I have spent the last three months really getting everything in line. It has been up and downhill struggle with things leading up to the trip with dates, job, money, and life. Satan really tried to bring me down, but only God can prevail and come out on top. Over abundance of money came in, I stopped working, and the fight with the Lord on when came out perfect. It has really began hitting me how much a sacrifice it is that I am going to do this. But it has made it that much more sweeter knowing that above all else God. And that's really what I needed to be taught this last few months.
