Mission from Haylee's Eyes Part 2

Day 4 ;
After leaving the quiet town of Spiceland we headed on our way to Bloomington, Indiana! When arriving at the hotel the ladies waited patiently to reunite with their close friend, Debbie Mitchell. Debbie was God's Girls Ministry's first intern graduate, so it was definitely exciting for the ladies to see her again. After all the hugs and kisses, we headed off to explore the beautiful city of Bloomington! Out of nowhere a huge storm approached us, which was not exactly the best thing for me. I chose the wrong day to wear a dress and sandals let's just go with that. While running looking for a place to cover our head we came across a man by the name of Mike. It felt as if God sent Mike to us for protection. He walked beside us until we found a dry safe place to stand under. Mike wouldn't leave us by ourselves instead he started a conversation and got to know each of us. We later found out Mike was a comedian, which makes a lot of sense because he definitely had a great sense of humor! When Mike heard we were here to do random acts of kindness he jumped up and said "I love those." And handed us 8 dollars which I thought was very considerate. Mike stayed with us until the rain died down and we went our separate ways. He was definitely our entertainment for the night. After getting back to the hotel damp from rain, the ladies needed coffee (go figure) so we asked at the front desk for more packets. A man named Bernard brought us up some coffee and extra towels. I knew we had to give him a tip so I immediately thought about the money Mike gave us! Everything happens for a reason, that was an obvious example of that.

Day 5;
Sunday morning we all listened to the encouraging words from pastor Norris at City church. She preached beautifully and had everyone's full attention. You could tell everyone in the room loved their church dearly, and they were all part of a family. After hearing the word we asked Debbie how we could bless her. We ended up taking Debbie to Walmart and buying her grandchildren all the school supplies they needed. This took a weight off her shoulders and allowed her to have one less thing to worry about. After saying our goodbyes to our friend we headed off to St. Louis, Missouri!

Day 6;
The next morning we decided to go downtown and explore the city of Saint Louis! We visited the Arch and the St. Louis Cardinals field. After all the sight seeing we decided to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe! Which had the best macaroni ever! We were now off to Joplin, Missouri to see Alita, a great friend of the ladies. I was very excited to meet her and her husband. When arriving to her house, Alita had a lovely dinner prepared along with her dear friend, Judy, who would be joining us. Judy had such a bright spirit and a great sense of humor, I'm so glad I got a chance to meet her. Both of these ladies have cancer. Carol shared a presentation on natural ways to fight cancer and the effects of chemo and radiation. I learned a lot. Like I need to drink more water and maybe add some healthier food choices, too. We took communion together and I got to read the scriptures for communion. It was good.

Day 7;
After waking up from a sleepover at Alita's we were packed and ready to say our goodbyes, but first of course we needed to take pictures. "Carol, this Is this the best you've ever looked." said Alita, Carol thanked her and said she had recently had a makeover. Alita seemed very interested and said she needed a makeover, too because Carol was glowing. Saying our goodbyes was rough for Alita, you could tell she really enjoyed our company. We were now on the road to Little Axe, Oklahoma! About 5 minutes after leaving Alita's we passed a JCPenny! Ding ding the alarms in our mind were going off. We had to get Alita a gift card to Sephora to get her makeover done. We brought it back it to her and she definitely appreciated it and cried a lot. She is scheduled to get a makeover this Friday.

Day 7 continued;
Finally we arrived in Little Axe, Oklahoma. Here I met 3 people that changed my life.
I wasn't expecting anything extreme to happen, I knew we were meeting up with a few people at a relief center, but I had no idea they would impact me so much. When we first arrived we sat down in a room all together. They introduced themselves as Greg, Bobby, and Duane. We listened to their stories about how much the town has grown since the tornado last year. We all walked outside and split up to get a chance to talk to them one on one. Greg came to me and had a long conversation about how much he loved his community. Here I developed such an admiration for him. He was so easy to talk to. It takes awhile for me to open up and actually have a nice long conversation, but it just came natural that day. We took everyone to dinner to El Niño's Mexican restaurant. We were here for the longest time just talking and laughing, It was something I enjoyed so much. Getting to know each one of them is why this trip is so enjoyable. It gives me an opportunity to come out of my shell and make many new friends. These 3 people opened my eyes and warmed my heart. I will never forget them.

--Haylee