Decision to Move

As of this past weekend, I have worked with LOVEtheLOU twice. Both times have been life changing.

The first time I went on this mission trip with my church, the Crossing, to St. Louis was in October. Being raised not far from the Lou, my parents were wary. People get hurt in the city, and they didn't want anything to happen to their only daughter. It's funny because nothing bad happened, in fact the exact opposite happened. My life was changed.

When my group arrived to LOVEtheLOU on the north side of St. Louis, we were given a tour of the area. The first thing that grabbed my heart was this tree on the sidewalk near the road. It was decorated with toys and things for a child.

Someone posed the question, "Why is the tree decorated?"

That's when we learned that a child was shot and killed near it, and that was the community's way of remembering him. This bit of information stayed with me while we worked on cleaning up what is now the community garden. I couldn't believe people would shoot an innocent child. Why would they do that?

The next heartbreaking thing we discovered was a house that is missing its back wall and the second floor has collapsed. Turns out, it has worked as a shelter to kids who have nowhere to go at night.

How could that be? The floor has fallen and it doesn't even have four walls! It's not fair.

At the end of this trip, I talked to Lucas Rouggly about working with LOVEtheLOU when I graduated college. He was welcoming of course, but God had a different plan for me.

During spring semester at Western Illinois University I was feeling a pull away from my university. I knew I needed to leave, but the reason had not yet been made clear. I was scouring the web for a new college to attend. Nothing was working until I was contacted by Lucas asking if I still wanted to come down and help.

That's when I looked to the sky and said, "God, I see what you are doing. I will make this work."

From there, I have applied to SIUE and attended my second mission trip to LOVEtheLOU. SIUE accepted me and my second trip only affirmed my passion to move down state and help LOVEtheLOU.

Perhaps the final tipping point was getting to work with the kids of LOVEtheLOU's community and seeing how wonderful and passionate they are. That as well as hearing a small sermon given by Miss Tina.

She talked about how we as a nation needs to turn toward God and listen to Him, for only He can save us. Only He is important. She also mentioned how we need to use the gifts that God has given us. Miss Tina didn't know it, but at that time, I truly needed to hear those words. She brought tears to my eyes and in the end I had to give her a hug.

From just these two encounters with LOVEtheLOU, I know that moving is the right thing. I know that this is where I need to be. I couldn't be happier about my decision to follow God's plan for my life.