Growing up in a Christian family,serving God was always one of my desires. I’ve always had a desire to help people in need,to really truly share the love of God. Being young and not able to make big decisions on your own is one of the hardest things,but being called by God to do something incredible is one of the best feelings. Now, I haven’t gone on any HUGE trips or anything,but its the little things that count. You don’t have to even go outside your city to impact people and share the love of God.
A few years ago my youth group went to a place called The Blessing Barn. The purpose of this barn was for people to drop off anything they didn’t want. Whether it was furniture,clothing,dishes…anything at all. Anyone who was in need of those things could just come by and get it. We went there and emptied out the ENTIRE barn and hosed it down and put everything back in. Now you’re probably thinking…What was the point of that? Obviously we did it all for free,we weren’t asking for anything from it..not even a Thank You. We did it to share the love of God.
Last October and also in April of 2005, I went with my church down to Mississippi to help out with the Katrina Relief. We stayed in these dorms for a week. Cold showers,hot rooms,hot weather. We drove down there,it took about two days. We arrived at night time so we couldn’t really see anything. But waking up in the morning was amazing. Before hand we were told that the ocean was about two streets away. We were thinking they meant like two blocks. NOPE;you cross over one street, then another and your in the sand. It was beautiful. But if you kept walking…you began to notice things in the sand. Things like clothing and pieces of a house…we even found bones. Walking down the street,there were just piles of stuff…branches,siding,clothing…anything. You look over at the tree’s and bags and clothes are in the tree’s. The Walmart there…completely washed out. It was just mind-boggling to look at everything…its like; How can you not be thankful for the life you’ve been given?
I started to look at this trip in October[2008] Looking at the cost…we weren’t really sure if it’d be happening. So I just continued to pray about it. A few weeks after,I was talking to my brother-in-law,Luke,on facebook. He looked at the page and said,me and Hannah will pay for your airfare down to GA and back. And I was like…what?! Then my brother came along and said he’d be willing to put in a couple hundred bucks. Then everyone I talked to at my church said to go..just do it. Then I went to a chinese restaurant[this is freaky and amazing] and my fortune in my fortune cookie said,”You have the ability to change the lives of many people.” The word to learn in Chinese was SALT! Think about it…I was freaked out. So this trip is a dream that I never thought would come true…and I am SO thankful for everything.
