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

Mission from Haylee's Eyes

This is one of the proudest moments of my life! This is my granddaughters view of our trip so far. Please enjoy!!-Lesa

 

THE MISSION FROM A 15 YEAR OLD'S PERSPECTIVE

 
Throughout the past three days I've experienced moments that will stay in my heart forever. It's beyond amazing to be able to touch many hearts and see all the beautiful smiles. Getting to visit April and her family in the breathtaking mountains of West Virginia was most definitely something I will never forget. During prayer I noticed tears flowing down her cheeks, at that moment I knew coming out here was something she needed greatly. Before leaving her farm I could tell a weight was lifted off her shoulders. All she needed was for someone to remind her how beautiful she is and how she is raising such a precious family. I hope one day in the future I'll be able to visit her again and see how much her family has grown.

On day two in Ohio we blessed two families inside of a Walmart. I highly admire my grandmother for being so courageous and brave, she confidently walked up to a family of 6 and got to know each of them. God called her to this family for a reason, after talking to them for quite some time we realized they just lost someone very dear to their hearts and were traveling to the funeral the next day. After hearing this news we blessed them with a $100 visa gift card to help cover any expenses during their traveling. After being handed the card, tears of joy came flooding down her face. It really warmed my heart knowing that we just made that families day. The second family we blessed we met in the check out line. While standing in line I immediately felt like we needed to bless the family directly in front of us. It's extremely ironic because as soon as that thought processed in my mind my grandmother turned around and asked "should we bless them?" Then I knew it was a given that this family needed to be blessed. My grandmother caught his attention and asked "sir can I asked you a question without you getting offended?" He replied "is it my pants?" We all got a kick out of that! Eventually she asked him if we could pay for his groceries. You could tell he was shocked he didn't answer right away, he just paused and stared. Of course he didn't let down the offer! God knew exactly what he was doing when he led us to this family, we learned the couple were getting married next week under a beautiful bridge. This allowed them to put more money towards the romantic wedding.

It is now day three of the trip we were headed towards Bloomington Indiana. God led us to the perfect place. We discovered a steak house in Spiceland, Indiana. Little did we know we were about to change someone's life. We had a beautiful waitress by the name of Jane. She had a friendly smile and a heart as big as their sweet potatoes! I could tell Jane had some sadness in her eyes and after thinking, I knew we had to do something for her. After finishing our meal, Jane came over and asked us to pray for her son. And that was a request that we love to accept! As soon as we were finished praying I looked up and I saw no more sadness in her eyes. She was glowing from the inside out! That just proves how the power of prayer is so helpful and life changing. We later blessed our new friend with a $100 dollar tip. I know we made a huge impact on Jane's life, and we made a great friend in the process. I can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the trip. God has many plans, he blesses us each and every day.

 

 -- Haylee Elledge