1 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:17,440 All right guys, we are back at it. 2 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:19,920 How are y'all doing today? We've got sister Michelle 3 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:25,320 Pinton, sister Lexi Holloway, we've got myself Brooke Bosing, 4 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:30,160 and then we've got our special star of this episode, Kyla 5 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:34,040 Penton, who has been away for quite some time, but she is back 6 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:39,080 home. We've kind of got a special 7 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,960 group with us today, obviously mom and daughter. 8 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,520 This episode is really focused on the heart of being a 9 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:52,360 missionary and with our church being a home missions, you know, 10 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:57,240 church, we've kind of had that first initial feel of it here in 11 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:02,080 our small church growing into from, you know, the very start. 12 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:05,960 Nothing that we had to to now we're I feel like we're we're a 13 00:01:05,960 --> 00:01:07,680 pretty big size church at this point. 14 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,120 We've got so many vast ministries and people from all 15 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:17,160 walks of life. So just really excited for what 16 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:23,000 this season is for us. But I guess Sister Michelle, go 17 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,360 ahead and get us kick started. Introduce. 18 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:31,560 Well, we already know who you are, but let us into the life of 19 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:37,600 Miss Kyla over here. Well Kyla was our surprise baby. 20 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,680 I used to say when the boys were little that they were my alpha 21 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:45,880 and Omega, but God saw differently and in fact 22 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,920 everything about her birth was just miraculous. 23 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:56,440 I knew that something was wrong with me, but I never, I took 24 00:01:56,480 --> 00:02:00,280 pregnancy test, even had blood work and even to the day she was 25 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:03,960 born, every pregnancy test turned out negative. 26 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:08,600 Oh my gosh. And so I was already 16 weeks 27 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:12,040 when it was confirmed by an ultrasound that we had a baby 28 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:13,960 girl on the way. We didn't even know we were 29 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,920 pregnant until that point. And because we had one Doctor 30 00:02:17,920 --> 00:02:19,880 Who kept telling us, no, I wasn't. 31 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,400 And then, you know, you just trust your doctors, right? 32 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,200 And I'm like, I'm pregnant or I'm dying. 33 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:35,280 Something is wrong and wound up in an ER on ironically, on April 34 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:39,440 Fool's Day. And the doctor said, let's just 35 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,880 do an ultrasound and we can confirm or you know, right now. 36 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:45,760 And it was of course a female doctor and she did the 37 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:48,440 ultrasound and she said, well, do you want to know what it is? 38 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:57,480 And so then so from that point on, you know, I was already, you 39 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:01,280 know, passed the first trimester and it was just a whirlwind. 40 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:12,840 And then when I was, I guess about 24 weeks in the pregnancy, 41 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:20,040 a lady, Sister Marilyn should not who was mightily used of God 42 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,520 in the prophetic, she was bedridden at the time. 43 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,320 She had someone from her church to drive her all the way to the 44 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:32,280 Oklahoma campgrounds because she had a word from God for me. 45 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,160 And at this point we had not found out what she was because 46 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,040 we were very overwhelmed with the fact that I was 16 weeks 47 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:47,440 pregnant. And so sister should not I say 48 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:50,040 it was 24 weeks. It might have been more like, 49 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,000 you know, 22 somewhere around there, but that doesn't matter. 50 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,720 But so someone brought sister should not to the campground and 51 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:08,600 she called me to her bedside and she said, Sister Penton, God has 52 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:14,120 his hand on the baby girl that you're carrying and the enemy is 53 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:15,920 trying to kill her. Wow. 54 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:23,160 So she told me to go and to have the elders of the church pray 55 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:29,080 over her. And for whatever reason, I went 56 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:34,280 to the ministry of our church, but it wasn't taken very 57 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:38,120 seriously and because I was new in the district. 58 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:44,120 I didn't really know the gravity and the fact of how God had used 59 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:49,720 sister should not all of those years and that if she said she 60 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:52,160 had a word for you. You could pretty much bank it 61 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:55,280 had comes directly. You know it was a word from God. 62 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:05,680 Well, 32 weeks she came and just almost did not make it it. 63 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,600 Well, I say that, but the fact of the matter is we learned so 64 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,560 much of that time. And I remember sitting on the 65 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:21,800 Interstate I-35 in traffic and just crying out to God on behalf 66 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:26,720 of my daughter because at this point she was about seven days 67 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:32,200 old and nothing worked. They were keeping her alive by 68 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:36,720 machines. There had been no sign of 69 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:42,760 activity whatsoever that anything was happening. 70 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:49,240 And in fact the doctor had met with us and said we need to 71 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:53,360 know. We need, we need something, we 72 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:56,120 need a miracle. We need to know that, well, I 73 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:58,080 mean, we can keep our own machines for the rest of her 74 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,280 life, but nobody wants that, you know. 75 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:05,520 But we need to know that there is some sign of life. 76 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:12,520 And so we had a that that Friday night we had had a Allstate 77 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:15,480 youth rally. The young people and that 78 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,960 district joined together and prayed for Kyla. 79 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:24,280 Meanwhile, I was at home with the boys, my husband was with 80 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:28,800 her and I'm on my way to the hospital the next morning. 81 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:39,080 And as any mother would be, I was so distraught because I knew 82 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,440 that unless God did something, we're going to lose her. 83 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,920 And I remember sitting on the Interstate stuck in traffic and 84 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:55,120 praying and saying, Lord, I trust you. 85 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,320 But I was like, God, you know I don't. 86 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:03,000 You know my heart, but I'm going to keep saying this until I 87 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:04,040 really do. Right. 88 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:07,200 Yeah. And I remember a song on that 89 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:09,200 came on the radio. It's so old now. 90 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,080 It's old. But then it was brand new. 91 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:16,320 And it said, I'll go through the fire if you want me to. 92 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,840 And said this road may not be the road that I would have 93 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,120 chosen, but I will. I will go where you lead. 94 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:25,640 I'll walk wherever you lead. And I'll go through that fire if 95 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,040 you want me to. And I remember just screaming 96 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,920 out, and this was before cell phones for people no longer look 97 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,800 at you crazy if you're talking to yourself in the car. 98 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,640 And I just say, kept saying, God, I trust you, God, I trust 99 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:46,400 you, God, I trust you. And until when I tell you a 100 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,120 piece that passes all understanding came into that 101 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,960 vehicle. There was such a piece that came 102 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:58,880 over me. In fact, it was not just a 103 00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,600 piece, but a strength that I gained in that vehicle. 104 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,520 I remember exactly what I had on. 105 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,480 I don't know why I was stressed like this, but you. 106 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:12,600 All will lie. Because I'm going to the 107 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,720 hospital just to sit in the NICU all day. 108 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:18,280 And I had this skirt on that had these big orange flowers. 109 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:20,440 It was a straight skirt. And I remember getting out and 110 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,400 just smoothing the wrinkles down. 111 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:28,200 And I had on these Navy blue heels and I know it's funny. 112 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:31,320 Good hospital outfit. Yeah, good hospital outfits. 113 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,120 But I remember getting out of the van and I just straightened 114 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:40,600 my skirt and I didn't hurry to the NICU like I had every other 115 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:44,320 day, because the Lord had given me such, so much peace that in 116 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:51,240 my mind he had taken her. There would be no other reason 117 00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:53,000 for the Lord to give me that much peace. 118 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:57,000 And when I get up to the NICU, my husband comes out and he's 119 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:02,280 crying. And of course, you know, I just 120 00:09:02,280 --> 00:09:08,520 think she's gone. But in fact, she came alive so 121 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,560 much so that they had to actually, she exerted so much 122 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:18,160 energy that they had to actually put her basically in a medically 123 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:22,040 induced calm coma to calm her down. 124 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,560 Because she came alive. She'd never cried or anything. 125 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,680 All or nothing? Yeah, it was all or nothing, I 126 00:09:28,680 --> 00:09:31,080 guess. And she just was just kicking 127 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:35,440 and screaming and just exerting so much energy that in in that 128 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:40,800 just that 12 hour period, she had lost a pound. 129 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,000 Wow. And I know And so it's a. 130 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:47,760 Lot of moving. Yeah, it was a lot of moving, a 131 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,560 lot of energy. Of course, she was so tiny, it 132 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:56,120 probably didn't take much. So while when I think about it, 133 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:59,920 while I was in the car just giving her over to the Lord, he 134 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:01,720 was already at the hospital working. 135 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:07,040 But I had to learn to trust him. Yeah, which ultimately has 136 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:09,200 prepared us for all the other things. 137 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,760 I mean, this child has gone through so much. 138 00:10:11,760 --> 00:10:14,880 Oh, my goodness. And it was a few years ago. 139 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,280 I remember Sister Anne Klein Dance called me, and she said, 140 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:20,680 Michelle, maybe she called me Sister Penn. 141 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:23,720 I don't remember. But she said you can cancel the 142 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:28,040 enemy's assignments against her. You have the authority to do 143 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:32,560 that. And I'm telling you, I got so 144 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:37,040 bold in the Holy Ghost because I remembered what sister should 145 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,200 not had told me all those years ago that God had a work for her 146 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,600 to do and that the enemy was trying to kill her. 147 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:45,920 And so I did. I just in the boldness of the 148 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:51,520 Holy Ghost, I just said, Satan, I cancel your assignments 149 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:55,720 against Kyla. And the very next day she and my 150 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,720 daddy were driving down Hwy. 72 just right here by target. 151 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:03,440 They were coming home from Target and they're at the 152 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:13,240 intersection of oh railroad bed and Hwy. 72 and this man ran a 153 00:11:13,240 --> 00:11:19,800 red light and it should have hit her but instead he flipped over 154 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,680 her car and hit hit a car and then flipped over her car. 155 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:28,120 Somehow another, the other man was killed and my daddy who at 156 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:32,000 that time did not have the Holy Ghost, he said, Michelle, it was 157 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:37,040 just like the Red Sea parting, not one piece of debris and 158 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:41,680 there was debris all over the highway. 1 of the wheels. 159 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,360 Then this is just for my father telling me that he said one of 160 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,480 the wheels off the car came rolling toward the windshield 161 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,400 and it stopped right before it hit the windshield and went the 162 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:54,840 other direction. Her car had not one scratch on 163 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:56,280 it. Wow, praise. 164 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:02,040 God and we just, I just rejoiced because to me that was evidence 165 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:09,400 we have power in the name of Jesus and and we can exert that 166 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:13,520 authority and that power over our children and over our 167 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,880 families. And I think just from all of the 168 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,600 things that she has been through and it has been a lot. 169 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:21,800 We could write and probably will one day. 170 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,400 I'm gonna write a book because you just will not. 171 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:25,720 Just this week. You've. 172 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:35,760 Been home one week after being in a this country in Africa and 173 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,680 she didn't get one scratch on her and I guess because I was 174 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,760 praying everyday Lord let your angels go with her because I 175 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,640 knew she was walking everywhere she went practically and getting 176 00:12:45,640 --> 00:12:50,000 into cars and Uber with where I who knows who in the country and 177 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,040 being a young girl and I was praying Lord let your angels be 178 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:56,400 with her lest she should dash her foot and she's been home one 179 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,160 week I'm going to start praying again because she. 180 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,240 Shipped her tooth and broke her. Elbow in one week when she went 181 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:08,360 home. But all of that to say, I had 182 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,600 such a piece while she was gone. I really didn't worry. 183 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:14,560 I got upset a few times about certain, you know, about 184 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:18,760 different situations, but I never worried and doubted that 185 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:23,360 God was going to take care of her because I think it was that 186 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:29,320 piece and that trust that I had learned 24 years ago that I can 187 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:30,680 trust God. And I believe it. 188 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:35,600 Just that trust has translated and everything that she's gone 189 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,960 through. But also just even in starting 190 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:45,480 the church, I just, I that piece that I got that day on I-35 191 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:50,680 sitting in traffic in Oklahoma City has been with me ever 192 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:52,960 since. I know that no matter what, I 193 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:57,720 can trust God. Yeah, what a testimony so good. 194 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,120 And what a God we serve because, you know, he didn't have to give 195 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:03,280 you that moment. You know, he could have just 196 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:06,920 given you that peace and, and let you, you know, go ahead and, 197 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:09,000 and see that Kylo as well. But you had that moment that you 198 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,040 broke. And a lot of times I feel like 199 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:13,520 we don't, we feel like we have to stay strong. 200 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:16,360 And so we don't experience that peace because we're like, I'm 201 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:18,200 just going to bear, you know, I'm going to hold it and I'm 202 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:20,480 going to carry it. But it's when we break in front 203 00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:23,080 of God that he's like, OK, let me help you pick up the pieces 204 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:24,920 now. But we take that, you know, 205 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:26,640 opportunity away from him sometimes. 206 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,520 Absolutely. Before we kind of get into your 207 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,960 trip, your most recent trip, I did kind of just want to ask you 208 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:36,960 like if you want to go just briefly how you kind of felt 209 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,280 like you knew you were going into missions. 210 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,520 So I will say for me originally I. 211 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:47,640 Knew. Because my parents were called 212 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,800 to Alabama that I would be called to ministry eventually. 213 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,880 Cause like, oh, absolutely. Just because like at like 3 214 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:56,800 years old, I was like, OK, so this is what we do. 215 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,000 We go to random places and we start churches. 216 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:02,560 OK, that's what we do. All right, got it. 217 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:08,160 And so I guess in my like childhood brain was like, OK, 218 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,440 well, let me figure out all the people that need churches and 219 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,880 stuff like that. And so I remember I was about 220 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:19,240 six or seven years old. I told my mom, I'm called to a 221 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,640 French speaking country. Know, know in my heart, I'm 222 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:25,440 called to a French speaking country. 223 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,040 Didn't even have the Holy Ghost yet. 224 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:31,520 And then my mom was like, OK, cool. 225 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:35,280 And you know, 'cause I like 6 or 7, you know, just a kid. 226 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:40,440 And I would not stop talking to her. 227 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:42,840 They're like, hey, I'm called to a French speaking country. 228 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:44,440 I need you to put me in French lessons. 229 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:45,600 Find, find a teacher. You're. 230 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:48,280 Like, I'm serious. Yeah, I I've been dead serious. 231 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,400 Like I know. You would not stop. 232 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:54,040 Like, I need to learn French, mom. 233 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,800 I need to learn French. And I'm just, I'm thinking in 234 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:58,840 my, you know, all of my adult wisdom. 235 00:15:59,520 --> 00:16:02,600 Well, we had just read the book Madeline and she had just 236 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,880 watched the movie. And I'm like, OK, whatever. 237 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,080 Yeah, it was just an interesting thing now. 238 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,160 It'll it'll fade. Out and I'm telling you from 239 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:16,680 that moment, man, she just loved all things French I mean she we 240 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:22,000 she her room was decorated like Paris and she remember she 241 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:26,280 started wearing the hats and the and every kind of French food 242 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:29,400 you can imagine if it was on the menu she bought it and it just 243 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,280 you know go to the grocery store and she's looking for the and 244 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:35,440 you know all the French cookies and I just kind of much. 245 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,160 Time in the international aisle. And I'm just like, this is going 246 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,200 to pass. But she would not stop. 247 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:42,680 And she's like, I've got to learn French. 248 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:44,960 Please, mom, I need to, I need a French teacher. 249 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:49,400 And so finally, I mean, the Lord just opened the door and and I 250 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,040 didn't do it out of ministry. I did it to shut her up, you 251 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,680 know, OK, it won't hurt you with my thing. 252 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:58,440 Learning a new language will never is always a plus, right? 253 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:05,160 And like, of course, like, I got the Holy Ghost 8 years old and, 254 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:10,480 you know, prayed about it and still, like, I never quite lost 255 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:14,440 that feeling of being called 2 missions. 256 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,119 I just didn't quite know where I was like, well, OK, well, the 257 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,040 French is something I'll try to keep up. 258 00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:22,400 Maybe God will use that eventually. 259 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:28,040 And then whenever I was about on to say 15 years old, I was going 260 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:33,600 through, you know, everyone has those moments of like, not 261 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,240 exactly living for God. And I had kind of made the 262 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:39,760 decision in my heart, OK, whenever I turn 18, I'm gonna 263 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:42,280 leave. This is not for me anymore. 264 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:53,040 And we are NYC. And like, the sermon was like, 265 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:57,600 this is that. And Brother Emery was preaching 266 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:00,840 and he told us, you know, to receive visions. 267 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:04,040 And I know I was like, OK, we'll see if this is actually real, 268 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:08,640 you know, And whenever, like, I did the countdown, did 269 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:14,960 everything he said to. And I remember whenever it 270 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:19,760 happened, everyone else was, you know, rejoicing, crying, all 271 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,440 that sort of thing. And I was not in it at all. 272 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:25,440 I was like, OK, so this is definitely fake. 273 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:30,000 And I, that was the first time I ever heard God audibly speak to 274 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,120 me, He said. I'm not showing you anything 275 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:37,480 because you are not living for me. 276 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:39,880 You haven't chosen to live for me yet. 277 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,520 Wow. And you know that point? 278 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,080 Yeah, I'm, I'm crying. You know, it's like, OK, so this 279 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,160 is real. And I like breakdown. 280 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:54,080 And then God shows me he, he showed me like potential past, 281 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:59,120 like careers that I could take. And then he showed me missions. 282 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,640 Is that OK? Which one do you want to choose 283 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:04,280 now? I'm going to give you the 284 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,280 option. Which path are you going to 285 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,480 choose now? And of course, I chose ministry 286 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:17,320 and he showed me just little bit I joke and come like screenshots 287 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:21,200 of like potential things that I could be working in. 288 00:19:21,240 --> 00:19:26,680 Yeah. And I had no idea what any of 289 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,120 them were like. Some of them I figured I figured 290 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:34,200 out where God would send me and I've been to some of those 291 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,840 places already in ministries like in mission trips and stuff 292 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:45,440 like that, but some of them had absolutely no idea. 293 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,320 It's still have no idea what part of the world that is. 294 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,160 I think it's good to interject because I think a lot of us know 295 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,760 where you've been, but maybe the listeners don't quite know like 296 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:55,960 how did you get started into missions? 297 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,280 Where all have you been? Because we, we know exactly your 298 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,200 history. But to hear how you got started 299 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,560 in that and where exactly you went and the experiences you had 300 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:09,480 in each area, kind of kind of speak on that a little bit. 301 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:12,600 Yeah. So the first place that I went 302 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,640 was Austin, TX through Apostol Youth Corps, which I know 303 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,120 whenever we think of missions, we don't necessarily think the 304 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:23,240 US, we think of like other countries. 305 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,960 But in this trip, we actually got to go to several home 306 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:32,480 mission churches, which very much so reminded me of our early 307 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:37,840 days in Lifegate. And like some of our people were 308 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,040 making comments. We're just like, oh, we feel so 309 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:42,360 uncomfortable. There's only like 10 people at 310 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:44,480 this church. And it's like, oh, I thrive in 311 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:46,480 that. We're going to humble you real 312 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,240 quick. Exactly like one of the churches 313 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,120 that we went to, like literally like quadrupled in size just 314 00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:56,400 because we were there. Oh wow, yeah. 315 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:03,280 And so we got to like, help them build churches. 316 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,480 We helped one person, like, completely renovate their 317 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,160 church. It was so hot that day that 318 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,200 everything was melting. Oh man. 319 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,440 Awful to. Play with Texas. 320 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:15,120 Hot is different than regular hot. 321 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,160 Exactly. Hosted block parties, you know, 322 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:22,240 just teaching Bible studies, all that stuff. 323 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,600 How old were you? I was 17 and that. 324 00:21:25,600 --> 00:21:26,760 Drew And that was your first one. 325 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:31,400 Yes. And then my second one, I was 18 326 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,560 and we went to another Abbaso Heath courtroom. 327 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:42,160 It was for France. And so we got to travel in Paris 328 00:21:42,360 --> 00:21:46,120 and about four or five different cities in western France. 329 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,800 That is awesome. Just ministering, doing whatever 330 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,000 they needed us to do, doing music we couldn't. 331 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,480 They had preachers, but we had to translate them. 332 00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:58,760 And I. Bet it was a different 333 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:01,600 experience for you from here in the US. 334 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:05,800 We know the culture, you kind of know what to expect to go to a 335 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:10,400 total different country where, you know, spiritual liberties or 336 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:15,240 may not be as open as they are here or just free and people 337 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,000 have to be a little bit more reserved or you approaching 338 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,520 people, how did they accept your message or or even you 339 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:23,560 approaching them about it? And I know most countries would 340 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:25,720 be like, no, no, no, you know, I don't want to hear that. 341 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:28,600 Shoot, we're here. We're some of us are like that 342 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:33,280 here, you know, and. Like in France, it was really 343 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:38,280 odd because like, you know, we have our ideas of what France 344 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:43,520 specifically is like. And I remember like one of the 345 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:47,800 people, they warned us, they said, hey, listen, they're, they 346 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,840 are, can be a little rude, you know, compared to Americans. 347 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:57,160 And I remember thinking like interacting with them, it's 348 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:01,480 like, oh, they're not rude. They're just, they don't do 349 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:03,640 small talk. Very direct. 350 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,040 Yeah, they're direct. They ask real questions, and if 351 00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:09,560 you're not being real, they want nothing to do with you. 352 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:12,680 Yeah. And so it was very challenging 353 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:18,520 to, like, have to put forward that, like real behavior there 354 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,560 'cause you can't just be like, hey, how you doing? 355 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:25,840 Yeah, know about Jesus. Can't put on that Southern 356 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:27,400 charm. Exactly. 357 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:34,520 And then the next I was saw Keith Corps trip I went on was 358 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:44,240 to my OAT and 2023. So I was about I was 21 at that 359 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:49,960 .20 turning 22. And that one was interesting 360 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:51,800 because we were there starting a church. 361 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:57,160 There had never been a church in my OAT before and it had start 362 00:23:57,160 --> 00:24:03,040 like I think the missionary had only started doing Bible studies 363 00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,720 maybe like two or three weeks before we got there. 364 00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:11,000 Wow, really? So it was very brand new and 365 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,400 they were, they tried to get like a church building for us 366 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,000 and they found one that they could rent out. 367 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:24,880 And it was actually a mosque. And the persons who was the 368 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:30,520 landlord over it said, no, I do not rent out to anyone that's 369 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,760 not Muslim. So you cannot rent out our 370 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,800 church. And our missionary got really 371 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,040 bold and said, how about I give you a Bible study and see what 372 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,520 happens? Let's just see. 373 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,080 Like, just just hear us out. Yeah. 374 00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:50,160 And he gave her a Bible study. She got the Holy Ghost and got 375 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,520 baptized. And she's like, yeah, of course. 376 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:56,760 Here's my mosque and all of the people that actually went to 377 00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,880 attended the mosque was like, well, we don't want to go find a 378 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:03,360 new place to worship. And so they just became 379 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:05,000 Apostolic. I guess I'll get with the 380 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:06,080 program. I'll convert. 381 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:08,920 Exactly. So we were talking about it that 382 00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,160 like in one service they went from having only like 3 people 383 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,440 to having 25. Wow. 384 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:16,480 That's awesome. It is. 385 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:18,320 Were they? French speaking. 386 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:22,120 Also, yes, they were completely French speaking. 387 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,720 Yeah, I did want to ask, other than having to learn French as 388 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:29,560 the language, what was some training or education that you 389 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:34,760 had to pursue before departing and how useful was it when you 390 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:39,880 actually got on the field? So in terms of education 391 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,160 beforehand, it was mostly stuff that I had to do research on my 392 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,280 own. And with my OAT, it's such a 393 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:53,400 small country that I couldn't find any literature on it. 394 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:58,680 Like I found one, like surprisingly, one newspaper 395 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,760 article that was actually in my doctor's office. 396 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,080 And so like, I took it, read it, got all the information, took as 397 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,200 many notes as I possibly could. It's almost like a sign, like 398 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,280 you know you're going to go like here it is. 399 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,640 Exactly. It was like, oh, this is 400 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:17,040 perfect. Literally in my hands and then 401 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:18,080 see. God will give you all the 402 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:20,040 resources you need. You don't have to go too much 403 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:22,840 out of your way. In a day and age where we don't 404 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,120 even read newspapers or magazines anymore. 405 00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:27,240 To even see it, there it was. So wild that's. 406 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:29,400 Cool. Like I remember like I just like 407 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:31,520 mom was with me and I like Hannah was like, do you see 408 00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:33,840 this? The excitement. 409 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,520 And then like and then like France, it was easy to find 410 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:40,880 stuff. For Austin, it was easy to find 411 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:47,320 stuff for. My most recent trip was Senegal 412 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:53,760 for six months and that one I was kind of scared to research 413 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,320 because it was different than any other trips that I gone on. 414 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:02,400 Because, you know, in Austin I was only there for two. 415 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,440 I'm only there for a week and France and my OAT, I was only 416 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,720 there for two weeks and then this one, I was there for six 417 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,360 months and I was like, oh God, I don't want to find anything, but 418 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:15,040 I was going to freak me out. Psych yourself out. 419 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:17,480 Exactly. I don't want to change my mind. 420 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:19,080 Well, I want. To know also like how did you 421 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:23,760 discern from a short term trip from one week to two weeks to a 422 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:28,440 long term calling to I mean six months like that's a long time. 423 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,000 Like if you think of yourself dedicating to anything for six 424 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,760 months, the first thing our flesh goes to is we can't do 425 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:36,560 this. That's a. 426 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,120 Long time, yeah. But and to completely get out of 427 00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:43,200 your comfort zone, you're not not your bed, not your home, not 428 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:47,240 your food, your people. I mean, you kind of step in the 429 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,080 daily to an unknown. So what would be the discernment 430 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:56,880 that you that that from the trip that was two weeks in my O to I 431 00:27:56,880 --> 00:27:59,040 think I want to take a six month trip next time. 432 00:28:00,440 --> 00:28:04,280 That I actually credit to Sister Adams who is actually the 433 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,800 regional director. Well, she and her husband are 434 00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:14,440 regional directors over Africa. We were very blessed and this 435 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,000 was totally a God thing. Every single person that I 436 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:22,680 needed to approve of my application to go on AIM was on 437 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:24,680 that trip with me. Oh wow. 438 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,880 And so it's like the regional directors over South Africa and 439 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:35,560 their regional directors over the entire country, like entire 440 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:39,120 continent. South Africa or West Africa? 441 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,720 It was South Africa. Luckily, the Sullies who I 442 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:47,600 actually got partnered with are the regional directors and we 443 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:49,840 already knew them. They were, they were the only 444 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,520 ones not on that troop, but. Senegal is West Africa, right? 445 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:53,480 Yes. Yeah, OK. 446 00:28:53,640 --> 00:29:00,520 But from my understanding, they need approval from more than 447 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,560 just one regional director. Yeah, so God was already making 448 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,880 all of those connections way in advance. 449 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:08,480 Exactly. And. 450 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:15,760 I didn't know that. Yeah, whenever, whenever we were 451 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,480 in my OAT, we were only there to be. 452 00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:23,040 We're only there for actually 5 days because Mayotte is semi 453 00:29:23,040 --> 00:29:27,480 access challenged. There's only one factor that 454 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:29,800 doesn't make it an access challenged. 455 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:35,040 Well, two, we can talk about it. And the second thing is that you 456 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:40,160 don't need a visa to get there. And it's it's not a dangerous 457 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:45,920 country though. But whenever we went there, 458 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,920 though, we had to kind of disguise ourselves as tourists. 459 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:55,320 So we, we were in France for about 3 or 4 days doing 460 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,240 everything that a tourist would do. 461 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,920 You know, we went to the Louvre, we went to the Eiffel Tower, 462 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,920 took as many photos as we possibly could. 463 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,840 And then we made it to my oats. And whenever we made it to my 464 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:13,160 oat, they really wanted us to, you know, get the heartbeat of 465 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,960 the country. And so they gave us Bible 466 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:20,200 studies every single night. And those Bible studies were 467 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:25,640 some of the most intense Bible studies I've ever been a part of 468 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:30,960 because it wasn't just them, like the regional directors did 469 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:35,680 it, but they also made each of us give a Bible study. 470 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:41,880 So like every single day. It was one of the AYC years and 471 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,120 one of the preachers that was on the trip giving a Bible study. 472 00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:49,400 That's awesome. And Sister Adams, actually, I 473 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:50,760 don't even know she remembers this. 474 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:57,200 She came up to me during one of the Bible studies and said, you 475 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:01,520 know that God is calling you to this and you know, you need to 476 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,200 commit, so you need to submit your application. 477 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,880 You know what you got to do? I was like, OK, that's all I 478 00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:11,800 need to know. So sometimes God's going to hit 479 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:16,720 you over the head with exactly. So I'm pretty sure like the week 480 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,960 I got back was whenever. No, no, I waited a little bit 481 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:25,080 longer because I'm a little stubborn and submitted my 482 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:30,080 application and sure enough it it got accepted within two 483 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:31,120 weeks. I mean getting. 484 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,480 Typically it was like a month or two, a month or two before. 485 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:39,040 You would even. Hear back and yeah, she heard 486 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:42,400 back just. I mean, you just see God opening 487 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,280 immediately all those doors one after another. 488 00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:49,760 And my husband was not really on board, honestly, because he's 489 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:54,320 not thinking, oh, this young lady is called to missions. 490 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:59,040 He's thinking, my daughter is wanting to go to a different 491 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,200 country and live for six months. Yeah. 492 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,000 And even in that a lot of times the first time a namer goes, 493 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,280 it's only for three months and then not six months. 494 00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:13,720 And he made the mistake of saying the only way that I will 495 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,480 be comfortable with this if he get if she gets appointed with 496 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:19,280 Craig and Lynnae Sully. And we're like, what are the 497 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:22,280 chances? And I even said, babe, if it's 498 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,560 God's will, you're going to have to be good with it regardless. 499 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,080 And who did she get appointed to? 500 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,880 Craig and Lynnae. Sully, I was like, OK, I got. 501 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:33,720 You. I got you. 502 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:37,600 Don't worry about it. That's awesome. 503 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,080 So then how did you get to after you got to Senegal, like what 504 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,160 was kind of the one of your first things that you did there? 505 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:52,480 Well, whenever I got there, they kind of put me to work 506 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,520 immediately. So naturally, yeah, which is 507 00:32:55,520 --> 00:32:57,440 great. I'm OK with that. 508 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,840 So like I immediately started working in Sunday school teams 509 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,840 and to which all of the little kids are so funny because they 510 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,080 do not care about the language barrier at all. 511 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:13,640 And we're just trying to ask me questions. 512 00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:15,880 And I was like, sister's all you got translate for me. 513 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:17,840 We'll place rights. It's fine. 514 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:18,360 Yeah. It's OK. 515 00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,200 Yeah. And you? 516 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:26,240 Me, yeah. And then like they asked me, I 517 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:28,600 was like, hey, we have a regional conference. 518 00:33:29,840 --> 00:33:31,920 We need you to come with us if you can. 519 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:39,280 And so I was like, OK, great. And so I went there and my job 520 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:43,360 there was to help out with the MKS and you know, ring all these 521 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,120 MKS, make sure they're acting right in service and ended up 522 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:51,480 just being one. But it was great and just 523 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:54,520 filling in in whatever teams that they needed. 524 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:54,920 That's. Cool. 525 00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:59,560 What, like cultural norm, surprised you the most when you 526 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:07,040 first arrived, if there's any? There it definitely is a 527 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,400 different world. I was actually just complaining 528 00:34:11,400 --> 00:34:15,480 to Brooke about earlier about the traffic was insane. 529 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:19,800 If you had a 2 lane Rd. there'd be 4 lanes of traffic on it. 530 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:25,600 And the people there were, they were excellent. 531 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,800 They were really nice. Some of the nicest people I've 532 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:33,480 ever met, to be honest. But there were just several 533 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:36,639 things that definitely weren't American. 534 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:43,920 Like their building structures were completely different than 535 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:48,679 they are here. No AC pretty much anywhere. 536 00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:56,440 And it's just so hot. Yeah, I think, I think one of 537 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:01,440 the things that like really got me was I left the US drinking 538 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:03,280 nearly a gallon of water every day. 539 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,920 And I was like, OK, I'm good. And then I got to Senegal and 540 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,800 got extremely dehydrated and had to double that water intake. 541 00:35:12,800 --> 00:35:14,160 Oh. My goodness, what was the 542 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,400 temperatures like 'cause it was over summer? 543 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:24,200 Yeah, it between 90° and 120. But you're you weren't there. 544 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:26,640 Were you there during their summer? 545 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:32,280 Yeah, because I miscalculated like I thought what season meant 546 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:36,280 winter? Apparently it means summer and 547 00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:43,040 their winter time is the dry season and so their their 548 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:47,640 seasons are divided into 6 months and so it's just two 549 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,400 seasons a year. Wow, wow. 550 00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,160 Interesting. Yeah. 551 00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:57,880 But the car, it's right on the other side of the Atlantic 552 00:35:57,880 --> 00:35:58,920 Ocean. Right. 553 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,200 Yeah, it is the furthest West in Africa that you possibly get. 554 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:06,520 Literally the point you see on the map of the continent of 555 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:13,440 Africa on the West side, that is Dakar that really and we 556 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:20,040 actually even walked out to the point that the last bit of 557 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,600 ground on the continent and that was so incredibly. 558 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:27,200 Yeah, that's insane. Very pretty, too. 559 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,640 Very beautiful. It is an extremely beautiful 560 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:33,200 country. Like, in my opinion, yeah. 561 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,040 Some people might like, look at it and be like, oh, there's 562 00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:40,440 like, like, OK, there's a lot of, like, destroyed cars 563 00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:42,960 everywhere. And like, some people might look 564 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,360 at it and be like, oh, there's a lot of junk on the side of the 565 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:48,480 road. And I was like, oh, it's, it's 566 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:52,000 just pretty. Yeah, it's all about 567 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,400 perspective. Exactly. 568 00:36:55,080 --> 00:37:00,360 How did you build trust with the locals that may be skeptical of 569 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:07,000 outsiders if you're approaching them, whether just be not even 570 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,400 for ministry purposes? Did they ever have a little bit 571 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,720 of a, you know, they kind of take a step back and like, oh, 572 00:37:12,720 --> 00:37:14,200 who are you? What do you want? 573 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:20,120 Definitely. I got the stereotype just 574 00:37:20,120 --> 00:37:25,840 regular white American and so in their minds it meant rich, it 575 00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:31,360 meant snobby, and it meant that I was better than everyone, 576 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,720 which is not how I be myself at all, especially with the money 577 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:40,000 portion. She was on a very limited 578 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:43,280 budget. Exactly like surviving off of 579 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:53,600 faith, but with I was able to establish relationships with 580 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:59,000 like my landlord, actually someone on our corner store 581 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,720 where I would get my water and all of my guards. 582 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:08,720 I was able to establish relationships with them because 583 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:17,120 they kind of figured out that I wasn't just there. 584 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,320 Like I was there for a reason. It wasn't like. 585 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:21,560 Purpose. Yeah, it wasn't like just work 586 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:25,920 brought me here 'cause they get a lot of like Americans over 587 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:28,680 that, work for the embassies and stuff like that, and they're 588 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,960 just working. They're just there to represent 589 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:40,040 America for the most part. But my guards, we would 590 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,720 actually, me and my roommate, whenever I had one, we would 591 00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:48,760 every time we come downstairs, we'd always ask them, you know, 592 00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,200 in French, hey, how are you guys doing today? 593 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:54,760 And actually try to have conversations with them. 594 00:38:55,920 --> 00:39:00,120 And that gained a lot of respect for us. 595 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:04,720 And it was actually awesome enough that one of our people 596 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:09,480 that doesn't speak French because we found out that 597 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:13,720 there's a village language called Wolf that isn't even 598 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:17,000 written down that a lot of people speak. 599 00:39:17,640 --> 00:39:23,920 And he decided that if we can't, if we can't speak his language 600 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,000 and he can't speak ours, that he's just going to teach us his. 601 00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:34,720 And so he would, every day, he would stop us and ask us in his 602 00:39:34,720 --> 00:39:37,760 language, how are you doing? Make us respond. 603 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:42,280 And then, you know, he would use his, you know, gestures, you 604 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,360 know, like, if it's like, you know, if it's two of you, it's 605 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,000 this. Yeah, if it's one of you, it's 606 00:39:47,000 --> 00:39:49,320 this. Then he would, you know, gesture 607 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:51,200 outside. Oh, this is the time of day. 608 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,200 This is this how you say it? He was training you. 609 00:39:54,240 --> 00:40:01,040 Exactly. And so just, I think what helped 610 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:04,920 us was just consistency. Like every single day we were, 611 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:09,760 we treated each other like we treated each other and the 612 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:13,240 locals the exact same way. There was no difference between 613 00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:16,440 how I treated my roommate versus how I treated them. 614 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:20,280 Yeah, sounds like just showing people that you actually care. 615 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:21,920 Like you said, there's some people that go over there, 616 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,040 they're just for work and then they're going to go home. 617 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:26,640 But that there's, you know, that you really did care about the 618 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:28,600 people and, and the place you were at. 619 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,640 I mean, that can be true here as well. 620 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,120 And people, yeah, people don't care what you have to say until 621 00:40:34,120 --> 00:40:35,480 they know you care about them. Don't. 622 00:40:35,480 --> 00:40:37,440 Care how much you know until they know how much you care. 623 00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,920 Exactly. And that was ingrained in you 624 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,000 your whole life. So it's kind of easy. 625 00:40:42,720 --> 00:40:45,800 It's so amazing how God kind of prepares you for all the things 626 00:40:45,800 --> 00:40:48,320 you need to know. And like, you know, pastor and 627 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:51,360 Sister Pinton's story, like obviously you're a part of that. 628 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,280 And then I'm not, not not taking away from your story, but 629 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:56,960 there's so many aspects of it that if she wasn't raised in 630 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,960 your household and didn't experience your story, then you 631 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:01,360 wouldn't been prepared for your own. 632 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,720 And it's just so wonderful how how God kind of just intertwines 633 00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:08,280 all of our stories in that way and prepares us for all the 634 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:10,200 doors that are eventually going to be open that we don't even 635 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,320 know. And if we did, we'd probably be 636 00:41:12,320 --> 00:41:13,120 scared, right? Yeah. 637 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,360 I'm not ready for that. Absolutely. 638 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,920 And then like in our church, I cut, I did the same way. 639 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,120 They actually made me start their youth group. 640 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:27,680 There wasn't a youth group before I came. 641 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:30,560 And so I became their youth pastor just for the short time 642 00:41:30,560 --> 00:41:35,000 that I was there. And one of the things that 643 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:40,560 helped me gain trust between my girls was just being vulnerable 644 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:41,640 with them. Yeah. 645 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,920 I cried with them. They cried with me. 646 00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:51,120 And it established a relationship that, like, I 647 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:52,840 wasn't trying to talk down to them. 648 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:59,040 Not that I think that anyone in their congregation was, but it 649 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:03,840 helped them realize, oh, this. She is real. 650 00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,160 Yeah. And she wants to know what we 651 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:10,840 have to say. And I'd texted Sister Sully in 652 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,400 the middle of my first lesson because, like, one of our girls 653 00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:19,600 absolutely broke down and cried. And I was like, I think I messed 654 00:42:19,600 --> 00:42:22,280 up. This is going really well or 655 00:42:22,280 --> 00:42:23,520 it's going really bad. Oh man. 656 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:32,240 Yeah, yeah, as Kylie would tell us stories and then I know you 657 00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:35,800 all know that that I went over and I spoke at the ladies 658 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:38,200 conference there. But what some people might not 659 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,760 know is that the Lord even orchestrated this because they 660 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,520 had asked me to come speak like a two years. 661 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:49,320 We didn't know that, Kyla. Would be there. 662 00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:53,360 We had no idea because her getting appointed and going it 663 00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,480 was a really quick turn around. In my opinion though, it just 664 00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:58,400 felt like it. But we didn't. 665 00:42:58,400 --> 00:43:01,520 I didn't know when I said, yes, I'll come that she would 666 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:03,920 actually be there. But God knew, and we also knew 667 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,360 my mama's heart, that. I would absolutely I. 668 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,520 Would need that. But I know, Lexi, you probably 669 00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:14,760 remember this, but I teach a course here. 670 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,160 I'll it's the world literature course. 671 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:23,440 And one of the things that I bring out is that the human 672 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:27,520 experience is universal. And that's, you know, we read 673 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:31,480 all of these short stories and plays and we talk about in that 674 00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:36,840 course how that everybody is the struggles are the same, that, 675 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,680 you know, the human experience is universal. 676 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:47,080 And I think nothing has made that more real to me than seeing 677 00:43:47,080 --> 00:43:52,240 her work in Dakar, meeting the people that she was working 678 00:43:52,240 --> 00:43:58,040 with, you know, and, and just being in the presence of God 679 00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,960 there. I mean, you immediately, I 680 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:06,920 immediately felt at home. I could not speak one iota of 681 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:10,440 the language. I tried to learn one thing 682 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:12,200 because I picked up on them saying it. 683 00:44:12,200 --> 00:44:15,680 And then when I finally got brave enough to use it, Kyla 684 00:44:15,680 --> 00:44:18,240 said, Mommy, do you say that during the day, not at night? 685 00:44:18,240 --> 00:44:21,480 And I was like, oh man, I thought I had you were this 686 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:23,360 close. I was so close. 687 00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:27,680 But they would worship and of course, you know, I have a ear 688 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:31,920 for music and so I would just be singing the words on the screen. 689 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:36,840 My dialect was terrible. But but I didn't even have to 690 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,480 know what the words were, right to know what the meaning was. 691 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:45,080 Yeah, that makes sense because the worship and the just the 692 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,320 complete, I don't even know how to describe it. 693 00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:54,160 It. It's just something universal 694 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,800 about the presence of God and the Holy Ghost. 695 00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:00,640 Unites us. It does. 696 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:03,360 It unites us, every tribe and every nation. 697 00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:06,960 It's just, it was just the most amazing thing and, and the to 698 00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:14,520 see her working there when I came in, of course, I don't 699 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,520 know. I thought initially it was like 700 00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:20,080 they just knew. It wasn't very hard to figure 701 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:26,400 out who I was in the group. But one of the things that one 702 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:28,280 of the ladies, it was translated to me. 703 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:35,600 They treated me with such high honor and respect, but it was 704 00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:40,560 because I was Kyla's Mama and they would call me Mama, you 705 00:45:40,560 --> 00:45:43,600 know, and, and it was because. Mama. 706 00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:49,480 Michelle Mama Michelle because I they loved her so much that 707 00:45:49,920 --> 00:45:53,920 there was just a just the way they treated me was just 708 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:58,160 unbelievable. But it wasn't because of me. 709 00:45:58,560 --> 00:46:02,040 It was one because of God and, and the love of God, but also 710 00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:05,680 the love that they had for Kyle. It was so amazing and the love 711 00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:09,280 that she had for him, them. It was just, I mean, it's just 712 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:13,640 God, you know, we are the people of God no matter what. 713 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:16,000 As I said earlier, every tribe, every nation, right? 714 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:20,120 And that was just the most beautiful experience I have ever 715 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:22,160 had. I think just being in that 716 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:25,560 atmosphere where you are, you know, right away, this is a 717 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:26,760 family of God. Yeah. 718 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:31,720 One thing I would like to mention too, just a little side 719 00:46:31,720 --> 00:46:37,680 note, what I absolutely loved about that church is whenever it 720 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:42,160 came to music, and this is kind of convicting for us, is that 721 00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:46,040 they would sing it in whatever languages were spoken in that 722 00:46:46,040 --> 00:46:49,600 congregation. So in a single service we could 723 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:53,680 get 5 languages in by in song form. 724 00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,680 Man, that's awesome. Well. 725 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:01,960 There's always the risk when you ever you do a missions trip, 726 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:06,160 especially to a country that what is the percentage of of the 727 00:47:08,560 --> 00:47:11,240 spirituality? Is it Muslim? 728 00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:16,360 98% Muslim I think is what it was very high. 98% Muslim. 729 00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:21,600 Whenever you first go over there or I don't know how often that 730 00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,680 they are used to, you know, Apostolic or really any other 731 00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:27,560 denomination that's there. Were you ever faced with any 732 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:32,480 kind of opposition or danger, or you or yourself or or someone on 733 00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:39,520 your team that was there? From what I know, none of us 734 00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:45,960 faced any of that because in a lot of ways, with the country 735 00:47:46,200 --> 00:47:52,160 being as high a percentage of being Muslim, it's almost the 736 00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:57,520 same as a lot of people in America identifying as 737 00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:00,760 Christians, where like they'll go to church like once or twice 738 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:06,560 a year and then identify as a Christian and that's kind of 739 00:48:06,560 --> 00:48:10,760 similar to how they were. However, we did have a 740 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:16,720 interesting situation with someone passing through from an 741 00:48:16,720 --> 00:48:21,360 Access Challenge nation that we had to house him for a couple of 742 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:27,240 days and all he did was read the Bible because he couldn't bring 743 00:48:27,240 --> 00:48:28,680 it back home. Wow. 744 00:48:28,680 --> 00:48:32,720 And so he read and memorized as much as he possibly could, and 745 00:48:32,720 --> 00:48:37,760 then we sent him back. You know, is that the the same 746 00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,600 guy that came through when I was there or was that we? 747 00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:42,760 Had we had two people like that? Yes. 748 00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:48,960 Because there's another guy that he, they basically were staking 749 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:52,320 him in and out of different situations. 750 00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:57,840 And I don't know how much we probably can't say very much, 751 00:48:57,840 --> 00:49:04,280 but it was, it was so convicting to me that I have the 752 00:49:04,280 --> 00:49:08,280 opportunity every single day to share the gospel And I don't 753 00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:14,360 outside of my, I really, because I basically eat, sleep, I don't 754 00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:18,760 sleep here much, but here, this is my job. 755 00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:20,920 I work here. I work. 756 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:31,120 I'm hardly even outside of these walls in all honesty and just 757 00:49:31,120 --> 00:49:36,560 the opportunity to share the gospel and taking advantage of 758 00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:42,480 every opportunity we have to, to read our Bible, to, to study, 759 00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:50,000 to, to share the gospel. It was just the most convicting 760 00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:53,760 thing in the world. I mean seriously, the most 761 00:49:53,760 --> 00:49:55,920 convicting thing I have ever experienced. 762 00:49:56,440 --> 00:50:01,920 To see someone so hungry for the word. 763 00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:04,320 Yeah, and we just take it for granted. 764 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:10,600 And we even, we even had a Bible that we translated into Arabic 765 00:50:11,200 --> 00:50:15,760 so that it would make it easier for those people and access 766 00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:21,160 challenged nations to read it and be able to preach it. 767 00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:26,800 In fact, I think the one that we had was like only one of very 768 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:31,080 few in the world. Man, that's crazy. 769 00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:35,520 Was there any a time anytime on the field where like your faith 770 00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:38,960 was tested? For sure. 771 00:50:38,960 --> 00:50:42,040 Yeah, you're. Like what can I say? 772 00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:51,000 For sure there this is something that I didn't broadcast and just 773 00:50:51,000 --> 00:50:55,480 something I just had to pray about was that whenever it got 774 00:50:55,560 --> 00:51:01,800 to the last two months, two months of my trip, we realized 775 00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:10,080 that my budget wasn't exactly accurate, especially whenever my 776 00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:13,560 budget would help. My budget to stay accurate was 777 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:15,680 that I would have a roommate for my entire trip. 778 00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:23,080 Well one of my roommates left, which not like anything like it 779 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:24,480 was her time. Her time was up. 780 00:51:24,960 --> 00:51:28,840 She had to go back to the US and replacing her. 781 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:35,480 That roommate canceled her trip, which I understand and it's 782 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:38,480 probably not God's timing and I pray that one day she will come 783 00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:41,120 back or that she'll go on a different trip. 784 00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:46,760 But for the time being, like, she didn't come. 785 00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:48,280 Yeah. So it left that gap. 786 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,400 Yeah. And I don't, I that was three 787 00:51:51,400 --> 00:51:56,360 months left of my trip and I did not have the finances to even 788 00:51:56,360 --> 00:51:58,080 stay in my apartment. Yeah. 789 00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:08,680 And so I ended up running out of money and just struggling to get 790 00:52:08,680 --> 00:52:13,840 by. It got to the point that we're, 791 00:52:13,840 --> 00:52:18,680 it was like the last month of my trip and I had pulled out the 792 00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:26,560 last of the money that headquarters has and I was like, 793 00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:30,200 OK, let's see how I can make this. 794 00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:35,640 Because at that point I had, I had to move up my trip because I 795 00:52:35,640 --> 00:52:39,920 was supposed to be getting back this week actually, but I had to 796 00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:41,680 move up my trip. And I really feel like it was a 797 00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:45,160 God thing that I moved up whenever I did. 798 00:52:46,720 --> 00:52:51,760 And, you know, it got very frustrating in those last two 799 00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:56,200 months where I was like, OK, why is this going like this? 800 00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:59,280 Why don't I have enough money to get by? 801 00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:03,480 What is going on? And, you know, just really 802 00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:08,240 having to pray just like God. I just got to make it because I 803 00:53:08,240 --> 00:53:12,920 didn't have a car there. And also what happened in the 804 00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:17,400 last month is that the bridge that I would walk to get to 805 00:53:17,400 --> 00:53:22,440 church got torn down. And so I had to get a taxi to 806 00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:26,680 get to church every single day, whereas I lived close enough to 807 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:28,760 the church that I could just walk there. 808 00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:32,040 Because of the bridge. Yeah, because of the. 809 00:53:32,040 --> 00:53:33,880 Bridge. Yeah. 810 00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:39,560 A different route. Because like what the the bridge 811 00:53:39,560 --> 00:53:41,360 does is it goes over a highway, right? 812 00:53:41,800 --> 00:53:43,320 I really don't want to cross that. 813 00:53:44,480 --> 00:53:47,920 You know, it wasn't, it wasn't necessarily my favorite thing to 814 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:53,320 do. So with that ended up adding on 815 00:53:53,640 --> 00:54:00,360 more expenses that I just didn't have before, but I made it, you 816 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:06,000 know, people, actually a few people that had no idea that I 817 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:10,680 was even going through financial issues sent me money through 818 00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:12,800 Cash app. I don't even know how they got 819 00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:17,880 it to be honest, but it was very sweet that these people came in 820 00:54:18,360 --> 00:54:20,760 and I one person literally just put on their so this is for your 821 00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:24,240 taxis for the next month. I was like, that's so nice. 822 00:54:24,240 --> 00:54:28,040 And you had no idea that I was going through this. 823 00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:31,680 And it kind of like helped me. Like it let me know. 824 00:54:31,720 --> 00:54:33,560 Like God is still watching out for me. 825 00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:35,680 Yeah, he will provide. He's still providing. 826 00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:39,400 I, I had gone to Mississippi Ladies Conference and I was just 827 00:54:39,400 --> 00:54:44,720 talking to some friends of ours, my childhood best friend and her 828 00:54:44,720 --> 00:54:48,520 sister ironically, was my one of my mom's best friends at one 829 00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:52,520 point and had they had taught Sunday school together. 830 00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:59,040 And I remember Teresa just coming to me and saying, how's 831 00:54:59,040 --> 00:55:02,320 Kyla doing? And the next thing I knew, she 832 00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:08,680 had written out a check, you know, just to hear give us to 833 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:14,240 Kyla, you know, and, and just little things like that. 834 00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:19,480 And, and we're so appreciative to everybody who donated. 835 00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:23,960 And one, one of my friend girl that you know, she's younger 836 00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:27,640 than I, but she got on Facebook and said, OK, everybody, you 837 00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:29,840 know, you know, Michelle, this is her daughter. 838 00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:32,200 Let's all donate. And there were people that I 839 00:55:32,200 --> 00:55:35,520 went to high school with that I haven't seen in. 840 00:55:36,000 --> 00:55:41,480 I mean, I've been on high school for a whole time, 40, I don't 841 00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:44,440 even know how many years, but I've been married for 35. 842 00:55:44,440 --> 00:55:46,880 So it's something up there. Yeah. 843 00:55:47,800 --> 00:55:54,800 And people I've not seen in that long who and donated money, you 844 00:55:54,800 --> 00:55:58,440 know, for for her trip, and I mean for her experience. 845 00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:01,160 It's not her her dad kept saying a trip, but she was living 846 00:56:01,160 --> 00:56:02,360 there. It was more than a trip. 847 00:56:02,360 --> 00:56:06,240 It was a, you know, a divine appointment, a season. 848 00:56:06,440 --> 00:56:08,920 Right. That kind of leads my question 849 00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:12,040 into like funding for a missions trip. 850 00:56:12,040 --> 00:56:14,760 If you had to tell somebody who feels like they're calling is 851 00:56:14,760 --> 00:56:18,520 into missions, obviously sustainability, that's the very 852 00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:21,360 first question that people have to bring to, to the table of 853 00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:24,800 like, well, whether it's a week or six months or, you know, 12 854 00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:28,000 years somewhere, you have to kind of plan ahead for that. 855 00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:31,760 So I know that for quite some time you did the Little Thrift 856 00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:33,960 Shop Ladies conference, you had your booth. 857 00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:38,320 What are some other ideas that you had put together that helped 858 00:56:38,320 --> 00:56:40,240 with your funding for some of these trips? 859 00:56:42,120 --> 00:56:45,880 For me, a lot of my funding came from jobs that I worked like I 860 00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:50,360 worked, I picked up as many jobs as I possibly could and still 861 00:56:50,360 --> 00:56:54,760 maintain a sleep schedule so that I could fund this trip. 862 00:56:54,760 --> 00:57:00,000 And I know a lot of people they'll do like these like 100, 863 00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:06,040 like calendar give a like not giveaways, but like they'll 864 00:57:06,040 --> 00:57:09,360 assign like a number to like a day. 865 00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:12,440 And whenever you get to that day, you give that amount of 866 00:57:12,440 --> 00:57:17,960 money if you sign up for that. And that raises a lot of money. 867 00:57:19,560 --> 00:57:21,840 I think it's like $5000 that that can raise. 868 00:57:22,280 --> 00:57:23,520 Fundraising. Is not easy. 869 00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:25,440 It's not. Especially when there's a lot of 870 00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:28,360 Labor involved. If it's just you, I mean 871 00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:31,520 obviously you can have people who are willing to help, but. 872 00:57:32,200 --> 00:57:35,400 And like, I know a lot of my friends that are on AIM, what 873 00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:38,440 helps them and their trip is that they get as many people as 874 00:57:38,440 --> 00:57:42,400 they possibly could to pledge money. 875 00:57:43,400 --> 00:57:48,640 And that's typically how they fund their trips is they'll be 876 00:57:48,640 --> 00:57:51,600 like, OK, how much money are you willing to give me each month 877 00:57:52,080 --> 00:57:54,040 or, and how many months are you willing to give me? 878 00:57:55,120 --> 00:58:00,080 Give it to me. And like there are some people 879 00:58:00,280 --> 00:58:05,640 that like one of our Aimers that was with me, which is Sister 880 00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:10,400 Jean, that was how she funded her trip was only through 881 00:58:10,440 --> 00:58:14,680 pledges. And even if she didn't have 882 00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:18,800 enough pledges, God always worked through her. 883 00:58:19,520 --> 00:58:24,440 She honestly, I'd joke with Mom that I wish I could trust God as 884 00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:30,920 much as Sister Jean does because there's one point where she 885 00:58:31,520 --> 00:58:34,960 looks to me just like, yeah, Kyla, I don't have enough money 886 00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:37,200 to make it till next month if people don't donate. 887 00:58:38,120 --> 00:58:41,520 And then like the next week, if she tells me, well, someone gave 888 00:58:41,520 --> 00:58:46,560 me $3000, I was like, OK. I was like speaking and into 889 00:58:46,560 --> 00:58:48,520 existence, like, yeah, can't do it. 890 00:58:49,280 --> 00:58:50,600 They don't. Please do. 891 00:58:50,880 --> 00:58:53,200 When faith starts, yeah. Exactly. 892 00:58:54,280 --> 00:58:59,120 I think, too, one of the things that that Kyla might have 893 00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:03,960 learned while she was there was that you definitely learn to 894 00:59:03,960 --> 00:59:09,240 live frugal. Things that we don't need. 895 00:59:10,120 --> 00:59:12,520 Yeah, I really don't even need it for our body like. 896 00:59:12,520 --> 00:59:14,760 Coffee every day and waste a lot of money. 897 00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:18,720 They waste a lot of money. And I think that is one thing 898 00:59:18,720 --> 00:59:24,520 that she really learned over there was that when you just 899 00:59:24,520 --> 00:59:28,840 kind of put the thing, you know, in priority of what's important, 900 00:59:28,880 --> 00:59:34,000 you know? But also, I just want to give a 901 00:59:34,000 --> 00:59:38,760 shout out to anyone who may be listening and it's considering a 902 00:59:38,760 --> 00:59:42,000 trip. If you're from Alabama, our 903 00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:46,920 ministries here in the state. Kyla got funding from Nam, North 904 00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:51,920 American missionaries. They sent her money, Global 905 00:59:51,920 --> 00:59:54,040 Alabama Global Mission sent money. 906 00:59:54,360 --> 00:59:58,760 Ladies Ministries sent her donated as well. 907 00:59:59,200 --> 01:00:04,000 And so when we are giving to like Christmas for Christ and 908 01:00:04,000 --> 01:00:09,000 when we are giving to like our global missions offerings that 909 01:00:09,000 --> 01:00:13,280 we give all the time and when we give to like Mothers Memorial, 910 01:00:14,360 --> 01:00:16,840 we are using it within our state. 911 01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:20,160 We are using that money to help these students that God has 912 01:00:20,160 --> 01:00:23,080 called them. There are so many scholarships 913 01:00:23,080 --> 01:00:27,200 available that I know all the departments we want to help in 914 01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:31,480 whatever capacity we can to, to these young people who do have a 915 01:00:31,480 --> 01:00:37,240 call of God on their lives and want to experience mission, 916 01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:41,440 whether it be a home missions or, you know, you know, it's not 917 01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:43,760 called home missions anymore, but North American missions 918 01:00:43,760 --> 01:00:49,640 locally or abroad. So that is one way of investing 919 01:00:49,640 --> 01:00:51,920 in the Kingdom. Just knowing that that when you 920 01:00:51,920 --> 01:00:56,400 give to these ministries outside of our local assembly, you're 921 01:00:56,560 --> 01:01:02,160 you are helping to finance people just like Kyla who have a 922 01:01:02,160 --> 01:01:06,000 column of God on their lives. I do got a couple of kind of 923 01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:10,280 real quick. Since you've been back, I want 924 01:01:10,280 --> 01:01:16,440 to know what is your funniest translation fail since, you 925 01:01:16,440 --> 01:01:19,360 know, being there for several months, whether it be well, it 926 01:01:19,360 --> 01:01:21,720 could really be any of them. Austin here. 927 01:01:21,720 --> 01:01:23,920 I mean, I mean, I don't know Spanish. 928 01:01:23,920 --> 01:01:26,160 Somebody's put somebody Spanish in front of me and I would be 929 01:01:26,160 --> 01:01:28,720 like, no, Habla Espanol, like no. 930 01:01:29,520 --> 01:01:32,880 But let's hear what you got, Kyla. 931 01:01:33,200 --> 01:01:37,440 So this actually it, it's one of those smaller ones that 932 01:01:37,440 --> 01:01:40,840 happened. It was on my first AYC trip to 933 01:01:40,840 --> 01:01:43,200 France. You know, I was like, I've taken 934 01:01:43,200 --> 01:01:45,880 French, I know what I'm doing, I know how to order. 935 01:01:45,880 --> 01:01:48,840 This is great. And so we're at our first 936 01:01:48,840 --> 01:01:55,520 restaurant and I didn't realize that if you ordered a soda like 937 01:01:55,520 --> 01:02:00,720 there, sometimes they don't give you cups to put in. 938 01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:05,120 Like sometimes they would just give you the the cold can and 939 01:02:05,520 --> 01:02:07,920 that would be it. And so I asked her. 940 01:02:07,920 --> 01:02:13,040 I was like hey can I have a class to put this in but I 941 01:02:13,040 --> 01:02:17,640 misused the word glass and asked for a beer sign and said so I. 942 01:02:17,800 --> 01:02:19,400 Asked her. So she got. 943 01:02:19,920 --> 01:02:22,440 Very confused. She was like, I don't think this 944 01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:25,800 is what you want. And like the girl said, that's 945 01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:28,080 not what it means. I was like, oh, oh God. 946 01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:33,400 So we got it fixed up and she brought me what I wanted. 947 01:02:33,560 --> 01:02:39,280 That's oh man. What about do you have any local 948 01:02:39,280 --> 01:02:42,800 food that you missed while you were there that you were excited 949 01:02:42,800 --> 01:02:45,280 to come back to? From here. 950 01:02:45,280 --> 01:02:49,480 From here or you can go reverse the the question and was there a 951 01:02:49,880 --> 01:02:53,120 a dish there that maybe you were kind of skeptical about but 952 01:02:53,120 --> 01:02:56,520 really ended up liking it and you know, you want to try to 953 01:02:56,520 --> 01:03:05,040 make it here. So there is, I think we're here 954 01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:08,920 that I missed while I was over. There was simply accessibility 955 01:03:09,320 --> 01:03:14,800 because there was only one place that we could go to that had, 956 01:03:14,800 --> 01:03:17,840 well, two places that had takeout. 957 01:03:19,120 --> 01:03:22,120 Wow. And like, or at least two places 958 01:03:22,120 --> 01:03:28,680 I knew of that had takeout and it was a Lebanese food or KFC. 959 01:03:29,320 --> 01:03:34,240 That was it Yeah. That was exactly which is the 960 01:03:34,240 --> 01:03:38,920 funniest brand I saw there because I out of all things from 961 01:03:38,920 --> 01:03:45,480 America, y'all got KFC Exactly. But yeah, so it was like 962 01:03:45,480 --> 01:03:49,280 accessibility was what I mostly missed, not like I missed 963 01:03:49,400 --> 01:03:53,120 certain foods, but it was mostly just being able to be like, 964 01:03:53,120 --> 01:03:54,440 let's go through a drive through. 965 01:03:54,440 --> 01:03:56,880 Yeah, convenience of it for sure. 966 01:03:58,040 --> 01:04:03,880 And then alternatively, there were several foods that were 967 01:04:05,080 --> 01:04:06,880 brought over there. Like one thing that one of our 968 01:04:06,880 --> 01:04:13,320 girls did was that services were so long, they could be anywhere 969 01:04:13,360 --> 01:04:17,800 between 4:00 and 6:00 hours long on Sundays. 970 01:04:18,800 --> 01:04:26,120 And our music leader, Grace, every single, every single 971 01:04:26,120 --> 01:04:31,920 Sunday, she brought banana bread, but her banana bread 972 01:04:32,040 --> 01:04:36,760 looked like donut holes really, but like like oversized donut 973 01:04:36,760 --> 01:04:40,360 holes and like they were, it was so good. 974 01:04:40,920 --> 01:04:43,680 I wish she would send me the recipe for that. 975 01:04:44,760 --> 01:04:50,400 And one thing though, that was that I was skeptical of though, 976 01:04:50,680 --> 01:04:55,000 was they told us we cooked a meal after service. 977 01:04:55,000 --> 01:04:56,720 This was actually before mom got here. 978 01:04:57,360 --> 01:04:59,560 They told us we cooked a meal after service. 979 01:05:00,480 --> 01:05:04,600 I was like, OK, cool. So they give, they, they bring 980 01:05:04,600 --> 01:05:09,560 out this table for us, put all the ministry team at one table 981 01:05:10,040 --> 01:05:14,760 and they put out this large plate and then give each of us a 982 01:05:14,760 --> 01:05:20,400 spoon and we're all, we're all supposed to share that one plate 983 01:05:20,400 --> 01:05:25,840 of food. And so like it had like, oh, 984 01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:30,320 it's not like quinoa or rice. It's still couscous. 985 01:05:30,600 --> 01:05:34,480 Yes, couscous. They had couscous and like 986 01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:39,040 chicken on it that had the specific spice that they call 987 01:05:39,040 --> 01:05:44,960 Pima, which it just means pepper, but it's like a green 988 01:05:45,320 --> 01:05:48,760 like sauce. This is so good. 989 01:05:48,760 --> 01:05:49,800 Really. In which we. 990 01:05:50,000 --> 01:05:56,360 Would find that, but yeah, that is why I wish I would drink, 991 01:05:57,680 --> 01:05:59,240 yeah. What about do you have any 992 01:05:59,240 --> 01:06:02,840 souvenir that you got that you won't part with? 993 01:06:04,160 --> 01:06:06,400 Like. Like if you got a souvenir from 994 01:06:06,400 --> 01:06:10,760 there that maybe has a special sentimental purpose from 995 01:06:10,760 --> 01:06:15,320 someone, one of the, you know, children that you were with in 996 01:06:15,320 --> 01:06:19,960 the Sunday school classes or, you know, maybe a visitor that 997 01:06:19,960 --> 01:06:24,960 came through or you know, any kind of souvenirs that are that 998 01:06:24,960 --> 01:06:28,320 are cool. Actually my favorite souvenirs 999 01:06:28,320 --> 01:06:33,560 that I got is I actually got a few outfits made personally for 1000 01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:35,360 me. That's cool. 1001 01:06:35,360 --> 01:06:39,080 The one actually wore Sunday, I had no part in designing it. 1002 01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:45,320 The person actually just wanted to surprise me and so she took 1003 01:06:45,320 --> 01:06:52,880 my measurements and on Sunday I had this like handmade dress. 1004 01:06:53,560 --> 01:06:56,080 So like she like hand beaded it herself? 1005 01:06:56,800 --> 01:06:59,120 That's so sweet. Made like the shower this past 1006 01:06:59,280 --> 01:07:03,960 Sunday. And they, they did that for 1007 01:07:03,960 --> 01:07:10,720 another outfit of mine. We had a concert and they wanted 1008 01:07:10,720 --> 01:07:12,920 everyone in the music team to look alike. 1009 01:07:13,080 --> 01:07:15,240 Yeah. So they just took, once again, 1010 01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:18,760 they just took my measurements and just made it for me. 1011 01:07:19,200 --> 01:07:21,520 And so there's a few outfits that I have there like that. 1012 01:07:22,200 --> 01:07:23,960 It's another. Testament to like that whole 1013 01:07:23,960 --> 01:07:28,680 family and unity feeling, yeah. And like on the last Sunday I 1014 01:07:28,680 --> 01:07:31,640 was there, they actually this is something very special. 1015 01:07:31,640 --> 01:07:33,360 I didn't know they were going to do this. 1016 01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:37,720 Every ministry that I had taken part in presented me a gift. 1017 01:07:38,360 --> 01:07:45,640 So the children gave me a hand bound, leather bound Journal of 1018 01:07:45,640 --> 01:07:50,400 Africa. Then it was the music team that 1019 01:07:50,400 --> 01:07:56,880 gave me the dress and my my youth girls bought me sandals. 1020 01:07:58,880 --> 01:08:00,640 But it's a little cold to wear that right now. 1021 01:08:02,240 --> 01:08:03,600 They got you set up for summer though. 1022 01:08:03,800 --> 01:08:05,760 Exactly. You'll see them as soon as 1023 01:08:05,760 --> 01:08:09,800 summer rolls around. I appreciate hearing your story. 1024 01:08:09,800 --> 01:08:14,000 I, you know, kind of testified last Sunday, but that was very 1025 01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:15,560 brief. So kind of getting that more in 1026 01:08:15,560 --> 01:08:17,279 depth story. It's really awesome. 1027 01:08:17,359 --> 01:08:25,359 It was definitely just to me from the time that she left and 1028 01:08:25,359 --> 01:08:28,319 just seeing. And of course, thank the Lord 1029 01:08:28,319 --> 01:08:31,399 for FaceTime. Yeah, Oh my word. 1030 01:08:31,880 --> 01:08:34,319 I don't know how I would have made it without being able to 1031 01:08:34,319 --> 01:08:36,800 see her. So do they have readily 1032 01:08:36,800 --> 01:08:42,399 available Wi-Fi and such? It depends. 1033 01:08:43,520 --> 01:08:50,600 My apartment had Wi-Fi most days, our church had it most 1034 01:08:50,600 --> 01:08:53,240 days. We also had we had power outages 1035 01:08:53,240 --> 01:08:56,399 all the time, so it just depended on whether or not we 1036 01:08:56,399 --> 01:09:00,200 had power. Tell them about how the power is 1037 01:09:00,200 --> 01:09:02,240 paid for. Yes. 1038 01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:08,800 So we don't pay like in America. You give like bills and stuff 1039 01:09:08,800 --> 01:09:10,359 like that. For what you've already. 1040 01:09:10,359 --> 01:09:15,760 Used for what you've already used in Senegal, you pay for how 1041 01:09:15,760 --> 01:09:19,240 much you think you're going to use, estimate it, and so you 1042 01:09:19,240 --> 01:09:21,840 have to. Four to six hours services. 1043 01:09:21,880 --> 01:09:23,920 Yeah, exactly. So you have. 1044 01:09:24,240 --> 01:09:26,279 Even it in your apartment and you go ahead. 1045 01:09:26,359 --> 01:09:28,600 Yeah. And you have a little box that 1046 01:09:28,600 --> 01:09:34,359 you're given and you have to download an app on your phone or 1047 01:09:34,520 --> 01:09:42,319 go to a like one of the little corner stores and you have to 1048 01:09:42,680 --> 01:09:49,600 figure out your your, I think, I think they called it a router. 1049 01:09:50,720 --> 01:09:54,880 You had to figure out your number for your electricity, and 1050 01:09:54,880 --> 01:09:58,960 you had to give it to these people and tell them, OK, I want 1051 01:09:58,960 --> 01:10:04,080 10,000 franc for this week. And the thing about is that 1052 01:10:04,080 --> 01:10:07,080 however many units that is for that week could vary. 1053 01:10:07,080 --> 01:10:08,800 Yeah. Because if it's at the beginning 1054 01:10:08,800 --> 01:10:12,960 of the month, that might be 120 kilowatts. 1055 01:10:13,560 --> 01:10:15,800 Wow. But if you're in like the second 1056 01:10:15,800 --> 01:10:18,720 or third week, that might be 60 kilowatts. 1057 01:10:19,440 --> 01:10:26,440 And so you have to pay that and then it'll start flashing 1058 01:10:26,800 --> 01:10:30,200 whenever the whenever you're running out, and then you have 1059 01:10:30,200 --> 01:10:34,480 to pay for more. Wow, I could not. 1060 01:10:35,960 --> 01:10:42,480 Yeah, about running, turning on her lights and I think you only 1061 01:10:42,480 --> 01:10:45,000 ran your AC light. A night that would. 1062 01:10:45,040 --> 01:10:47,080 Be a lot of times you'd be walking in the dark, that's for 1063 01:10:47,080 --> 01:10:48,320 sure. Exactly. 1064 01:10:48,400 --> 01:10:50,880 And like, I was worried about, I was like, man, what if it cuts 1065 01:10:50,880 --> 01:10:55,120 off in my fridge is like starts melting because it was hot 1066 01:10:55,120 --> 01:11:01,880 enough there that I lost power for like an hour or two once. 1067 01:11:02,680 --> 01:11:07,760 And I go to my kitchen and my fridge is leaking because my 1068 01:11:07,760 --> 01:11:12,320 entire freezer had already defrosted and everything in my 1069 01:11:12,320 --> 01:11:16,960 freezer had already melted. And so I would like, it'd be 1070 01:11:16,960 --> 01:11:20,440 like, OK, so now I have to keep up with this because if my power 1071 01:11:20,440 --> 01:11:23,520 goes out, all of my food is rubber. 1072 01:11:24,160 --> 01:11:28,120 You know, I think one thing that was so interesting there is to 1073 01:11:28,120 --> 01:11:33,520 get the unhealthy food like we have prepackaged was way more 1074 01:11:33,520 --> 01:11:34,640 expensive. Yeah. 1075 01:11:36,960 --> 01:11:39,680 Yeah. It's just, I wish it was like 1076 01:11:39,680 --> 01:11:44,560 that here because she ate very healthily while she was over 1077 01:11:44,560 --> 01:11:48,280 there. But for me, the thing that just 1078 01:11:48,280 --> 01:11:53,000 blew my mind was that no matter what restaurant we went to, 1079 01:11:53,000 --> 01:11:55,720 whether it was just like a corner bodega or something like 1080 01:11:55,720 --> 01:11:58,600 that, or a fancy, fancy restaurant, which we went to, 1081 01:11:58,600 --> 01:12:01,640 one really beautiful fancy restaurant, I took her out for 1082 01:12:01,640 --> 01:12:06,480 her birthday. Nutella is always on the menu. 1083 01:12:06,920 --> 01:12:09,440 Really. That was very interesting, Very, 1084 01:12:09,440 --> 01:12:11,880 very interesting. That's the French influence. 1085 01:12:12,880 --> 01:12:14,840 Yeah. I guess one thing we didn't 1086 01:12:14,840 --> 01:12:17,880 cover that I thought was really cool seeing the videos was 1087 01:12:18,360 --> 01:12:20,760 riding camelback. Oh yeah. 1088 01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:23,040 Yeah. Tell us a little bit about that 1089 01:12:23,040 --> 01:12:25,680 experience real quick. So the first time that you'd 1090 01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:27,400 ever done it? Yes, it was. 1091 01:12:27,400 --> 01:12:33,360 So it was actually at a lake that is so high in salt that it 1092 01:12:33,360 --> 01:12:38,360 turns the water pink, and so the water was very pink whenever we 1093 01:12:38,360 --> 01:12:39,880 went. You can float on it. 1094 01:12:40,240 --> 01:12:43,840 We didn't because of all the you know, you don't want to because 1095 01:12:43,840 --> 01:12:47,640 about but it it actually. It's like the Dead Sea in the 1096 01:12:47,640 --> 01:12:52,840 Dead Sea. And so there they had, they had 1097 01:12:52,840 --> 01:12:56,200 camels there. And we're like, why not? 1098 01:12:56,200 --> 01:12:58,840 We're over here. Anyway, in Rome. 1099 01:13:00,080 --> 01:13:01,920 And like, whenever I found out that there was going to be 1100 01:13:01,920 --> 01:13:04,360 camels there, I immediately told the missionaries, like, we're 1101 01:13:04,360 --> 01:13:05,720 getting my mom on it. I don't. 1102 01:13:05,720 --> 01:13:10,120 Care what one way or the other. I will pay all of my money. 1103 01:13:10,120 --> 01:13:13,200 I will fast for an entire month if I need to, but we're getting 1104 01:13:13,200 --> 01:13:16,200 my mom on a camel. That's fantastic. 1105 01:13:16,400 --> 01:13:19,680 And so it was very, it was very fun getting on there. 1106 01:13:20,000 --> 01:13:23,920 I feel a lot of sympathy they for all of the people in the 1107 01:13:23,920 --> 01:13:27,760 Bible that had to do that for everyday because like it was way 1108 01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:33,120 more comfortable than riding horseback, surprisingly, but it 1109 01:13:33,120 --> 01:13:35,120 still wasn't exactly. Comfortable. 1110 01:13:35,120 --> 01:13:37,120 He was like, no, I disagree on that. 1111 01:13:37,120 --> 01:13:42,920 Like because the camels have very heavy steps that any step 1112 01:13:42,920 --> 01:13:45,560 that they would take and shake your entire body, you know, and 1113 01:13:45,560 --> 01:13:47,320 leave you bruised. It was great. 1114 01:13:47,600 --> 01:13:54,800 Though, and my camel was limping a bit and so I kept feeling like 1115 01:13:55,000 --> 01:13:59,560 I was like I was going to fall because I was like leaning, you 1116 01:13:59,560 --> 01:14:03,920 know, and the God come up and, you know, spotted him on his 1117 01:14:03,920 --> 01:14:06,880 backside and he straightened up. But then all of a sudden I'm I'm 1118 01:14:06,880 --> 01:14:09,440 back up right. And every time the God was 1119 01:14:10,120 --> 01:14:13,280 looking, he'd get a little bit lazy and I thought, I'm going to 1120 01:14:13,280 --> 01:14:15,840 fall off this camera and. They're normal. 1121 01:14:15,840 --> 01:14:18,120 They're tall. They are enormous. 1122 01:14:18,280 --> 01:14:20,120 I mean, their teeth are enormous. 1123 01:14:20,600 --> 01:14:23,720 It is unbelievable how big these camels are. 1124 01:14:24,520 --> 01:14:26,880 That's awesome they were giving us attitude too. 1125 01:14:27,240 --> 01:14:29,160 All like the groaning and stuff like that. 1126 01:14:29,160 --> 01:14:31,840 I swear my suicide eyed me multiple times. 1127 01:14:32,560 --> 01:14:34,640 They it was interesting. It was fun, though. 1128 01:14:35,000 --> 01:14:36,320 Oh, yeah. I don't know that I would want 1129 01:14:36,320 --> 01:14:37,840 to do it again, but I've done it. 1130 01:14:37,840 --> 01:14:40,200 It was, it was a good experience, yeah. 1131 01:14:41,640 --> 01:14:44,120 Well, I think that's really all that we've got to cover. 1132 01:14:44,400 --> 01:14:47,080 Kyla. I guess the last question is do 1133 01:14:47,080 --> 01:14:50,880 you have any upcoming or in the foreseeable future? 1134 01:14:50,880 --> 01:14:54,120 Any other trips that you're prayerfully thinking about? 1135 01:14:55,120 --> 01:15:00,240 So I do know that for certain. I will, I will go back. 1136 01:15:00,800 --> 01:15:04,240 I don't know whether or not it'll be Senegal, but I do know 1137 01:15:04,240 --> 01:15:09,120 that I will be going on a trip soon. 1138 01:15:09,480 --> 01:15:15,840 I say that because you really can't know because I didn't 1139 01:15:15,840 --> 01:15:18,960 really know about Senegal until I got sent on it. 1140 01:15:18,960 --> 01:15:22,960 That's true. And so for me, yes, I have 1141 01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:28,480 strong desires that I want to go again and like I would like to 1142 01:15:28,480 --> 01:15:31,680 do 6 months or maybe even longer because I think that was really 1143 01:15:31,680 --> 01:15:38,480 good. But whether or not, when that 1144 01:15:38,480 --> 01:15:41,440 is, that is entirely in God's hand, right? 1145 01:15:41,440 --> 01:15:45,120 Just I'll wait for him to say, hey, go here and then I will. 1146 01:15:45,440 --> 01:15:47,680 Right. So we all have to stay tuned. 1147 01:15:48,160 --> 01:15:49,960 Exactly. You know, I know this is kind of 1148 01:15:49,960 --> 01:15:55,240 out of sequence, but just for a second, I know when you called 1149 01:15:55,240 --> 01:15:58,640 home, you said the most impactful thing that happened to 1150 01:15:58,640 --> 01:16:01,320 you while you were living in Dakar was working with 1151 01:16:01,320 --> 01:16:03,440 Compassion Services International. 1152 01:16:05,680 --> 01:16:07,400 Yes. Do we have time for it? 1153 01:16:07,440 --> 01:16:12,520 OK, go for it. With compassion Services, what 1154 01:16:12,520 --> 01:16:18,200 they do is they send a group of apostolics and do whatever they 1155 01:16:18,200 --> 01:16:22,880 need to do. So if it's teaching like grades, 1156 01:16:23,040 --> 01:16:27,040 they'll do that. If it's teaching like first aid, 1157 01:16:27,040 --> 01:16:29,480 they'll do that. If it's coming in, assessing 1158 01:16:29,480 --> 01:16:34,720 people, building buildings, disaster relief, they have it 1159 01:16:34,720 --> 01:16:37,280 for multiple countries including America. 1160 01:16:37,280 --> 01:16:43,120 They do several compassion. Medical clinics and all kinds of 1161 01:16:43,120 --> 01:16:44,480 things. Pretty much anything that you 1162 01:16:44,480 --> 01:16:47,400 can think of, compassion does. Wow, yeah. 1163 01:16:47,600 --> 01:16:55,280 And they sent over, they sent over a group of nurses to us. 1164 01:16:56,120 --> 01:17:00,840 And our church isn't very big. There's only like 30 people in 1165 01:17:00,840 --> 01:17:05,040 there. And our pastor just said, OK, 1166 01:17:05,720 --> 01:17:09,760 are you locals? You go tell everyone that you 1167 01:17:09,760 --> 01:17:12,600 possibly can. Here's the invitations. 1168 01:17:12,640 --> 01:17:14,480 Tell them they have to have an appointment. 1169 01:17:15,080 --> 01:17:18,320 And you get people to come to this. 1170 01:17:19,520 --> 01:17:24,920 Well, and ended up being more people than had received 1171 01:17:24,920 --> 01:17:29,760 invitations that actually showed up, which, and I'm so thankful 1172 01:17:30,120 --> 01:17:33,920 that the group of nurses that we had were so fluid that there's 1173 01:17:33,920 --> 01:17:37,440 like, we're willing to stay as long as there's people outside. 1174 01:17:37,640 --> 01:17:39,960 And it would have to get to the point that would be like, OK, we 1175 01:17:39,960 --> 01:17:42,560 have to go home. Like it is 8:00 at night and we 1176 01:17:42,560 --> 01:17:43,920 got to be here at 8:00 in the morning. 1177 01:17:44,120 --> 01:17:45,880 We. Got to go. 1178 01:17:48,800 --> 01:17:55,640 And so it was very interesting going there because stuff that 1179 01:17:56,720 --> 01:18:02,360 are so accessible for us in America, we had to help them get 1180 01:18:02,840 --> 01:18:08,840 like a few people came in with just cavities, not that big of a 1181 01:18:08,840 --> 01:18:13,760 deal. And so we would give them then 1182 01:18:13,760 --> 01:18:19,920 like toothpaste, toothbrushes and like vitamins, like for 1183 01:18:19,920 --> 01:18:26,400 women, we'd give, you know, all the PMS stuff, just regular 1184 01:18:26,400 --> 01:18:29,720 stuff that we'd come in like that are so common here. 1185 01:18:30,720 --> 01:18:38,160 But then there were other people that would come in and it was, 1186 01:18:40,560 --> 01:18:47,840 it was very sobering and the fact of knowing that some of 1187 01:18:47,840 --> 01:18:51,840 these people would never receive the help that they needed. 1188 01:18:52,600 --> 01:18:58,320 Like we had one person come in and she very obviously had 1189 01:18:58,320 --> 01:19:01,280 breast cancer. We could tell that. 1190 01:19:01,480 --> 01:19:08,160 And it was so sad because like, the nurse came in and assessed 1191 01:19:08,160 --> 01:19:09,840 her. So yeah, it's cancer. 1192 01:19:10,800 --> 01:19:15,200 Like we do not have the tools to take care of that. 1193 01:19:16,080 --> 01:19:19,600 And we're lucky that the car finally got a Cancer Center, 1194 01:19:20,120 --> 01:19:23,640 because before that cancer was center was built, the closest 1195 01:19:23,640 --> 01:19:27,240 one was in Paris, France. Wow, wow. 1196 01:19:28,120 --> 01:19:36,360 And a lot of people came in with broken bones and like just 1197 01:19:36,520 --> 01:19:40,040 sicknesses. One person came in with 1198 01:19:40,040 --> 01:19:42,760 tuberculosis that we. Had to so their medical 1199 01:19:42,760 --> 01:19:45,880 facilities there, they just weren't established or didn't 1200 01:19:45,880 --> 01:19:52,120 have them really. Dakar was blessed more than most 1201 01:19:52,160 --> 01:20:00,920 countries in Africa, but not nearly to arson, not nearly to 1202 01:20:00,920 --> 01:20:04,520 our degree, Our level, Yeah, our degree. 1203 01:20:06,080 --> 01:20:10,360 One of those things that we had to deal with was one of these 1204 01:20:10,360 --> 01:20:15,200 people came in with a broken bone and we knew that that bone 1205 01:20:15,200 --> 01:20:20,800 was going to grow in Misshapen because if they were to get 1206 01:20:21,320 --> 01:20:25,600 X-ray or MRI. It would take them eight months 1207 01:20:26,000 --> 01:20:31,480 to get that, and by that point it's already healed and it most 1208 01:20:31,480 --> 01:20:37,760 likely is healed wrong. And in what is so unfortunate 1209 01:20:38,200 --> 01:20:44,320 about West Africa at least, and it's probably true for the rest 1210 01:20:44,320 --> 01:20:49,280 of the continent, is that whenever you get a sickness or a 1211 01:20:49,280 --> 01:20:53,760 injury like that, the only thing that you can do for the rest of 1212 01:20:53,760 --> 01:20:58,240 your life is become a beggar. That is the only job opportunity 1213 01:20:58,240 --> 01:21:00,320 that you have. And so it's like whenever you 1214 01:21:00,320 --> 01:21:03,680 get injuries like that, they're basically death sentences. 1215 01:21:04,800 --> 01:21:12,800 And just knowing, even with me breaking my arm this week, if it 1216 01:21:12,800 --> 01:21:17,760 happened in Dakar, they would have to fly me to Paris. 1217 01:21:17,760 --> 01:21:20,920 Right, it's a whole different. Even see if I had afford that, 1218 01:21:20,920 --> 01:21:22,880 most people can't afford that. Yeah. 1219 01:21:23,080 --> 01:21:25,640 And so a lot of people, whenever they have these illnesses, 1220 01:21:26,320 --> 01:21:30,640 they'll just take pain medication and inevitably just 1221 01:21:30,640 --> 01:21:32,600 die from it. For the rest of their life. 1222 01:21:33,720 --> 01:21:37,240 And my thing is that here in America, even the poorest of our 1223 01:21:37,240 --> 01:21:41,720 poor can, if you can find your way to an emergency room, you 1224 01:21:41,720 --> 01:21:48,240 can get a treatment, you know, And there they just do not have 1225 01:21:48,240 --> 01:21:52,720 that option, you know, It's just so incredibly sad. 1226 01:21:53,080 --> 01:21:58,840 We had one person that he came in, he and he acted like, oh, 1227 01:21:58,840 --> 01:22:01,800 this is no big deal. This is just how my life is. 1228 01:22:02,400 --> 01:22:08,200 And that it was he had extreme high blood pressure to the point 1229 01:22:08,200 --> 01:22:14,320 that he was going blind for 8 hours every day and they had to 1230 01:22:14,320 --> 01:22:16,160 tell him it's like, listen, you need to go this. 1231 01:22:16,720 --> 01:22:19,240 Is not normal, yeah. This is not something that you 1232 01:22:19,240 --> 01:22:21,680 can treat lightly. You have to go somewhere. 1233 01:22:21,680 --> 01:22:24,720 And the dude just broke down and said there's nowhere to go. 1234 01:22:25,560 --> 01:22:27,680 There's nothing I can do about this. 1235 01:22:28,760 --> 01:22:34,200 And they did their best to provide what they could, but 1236 01:22:34,200 --> 01:22:40,720 unfortunately, with just a handful of like, it wasn't able. 1237 01:22:40,720 --> 01:22:44,840 Like we had like a few suitcases full of medications and stuff 1238 01:22:44,840 --> 01:22:47,440 like that. It's like that's all we could 1239 01:22:47,440 --> 01:22:51,280 provide them. We'd have to send them to places 1240 01:22:51,760 --> 01:22:56,000 that may or may not exist within that country and tell them this 1241 01:22:56,000 --> 01:23:02,160 is your only hope. And it may not be something that 1242 01:23:02,200 --> 01:23:05,760 is attainable. But with the lady with 1243 01:23:05,760 --> 01:23:10,280 tuberculosis, what really impacted my life with her was 1244 01:23:10,280 --> 01:23:12,880 that she wasn't even planning on coming to see us. 1245 01:23:13,880 --> 01:23:23,960 She was recommended by her son's friend who just said you have to 1246 01:23:23,960 --> 01:23:25,400 come here. There's something different 1247 01:23:25,400 --> 01:23:28,200 about these people. You have to come see what they 1248 01:23:28,200 --> 01:23:30,440 have. If you come here, they will heal 1249 01:23:30,440 --> 01:23:36,200 you. And she came and she grabbed my 1250 01:23:36,200 --> 01:23:40,200 hand actually and told me she was like, I want you to pray for 1251 01:23:40,200 --> 01:23:42,960 me because you have something that I want. 1252 01:23:43,800 --> 01:23:48,320 And I know that if you pray for me, I'll get it. 1253 01:23:49,160 --> 01:23:52,040 And so I got the nurses and we prayed for her. 1254 01:23:52,240 --> 01:23:57,560 And she told us after we prayed for her and she's crying the 1255 01:23:57,560 --> 01:23:59,320 entire time we were praying. We're crying too. 1256 01:24:00,840 --> 01:24:07,000 She told us afterwards, whenever I walked into this building, I 1257 01:24:07,640 --> 01:24:10,320 was heartbroken. I had no one in my life who 1258 01:24:10,320 --> 01:24:13,760 cared for me. And I have felt such a peace 1259 01:24:13,920 --> 01:24:17,080 since being here. It is a peace I haven't felt in 1260 01:24:17,080 --> 01:24:20,280 years. And I know that it's just from 1261 01:24:20,280 --> 01:24:21,240 you guys. Yeah. 1262 01:24:23,160 --> 01:24:27,400 And whatever peace that you guys have here, that's what I want in 1263 01:24:27,400 --> 01:24:29,840 my life. That's awesome. 1264 01:24:30,240 --> 01:24:32,800 Yeah. Wow, Yeah. 1265 01:24:34,200 --> 01:24:39,080 Did you baptize any any visitors or anyone come through actually 1266 01:24:39,080 --> 01:24:43,600 while you were there? During CSI we actually had one 1267 01:24:43,600 --> 01:24:44,840 baptism. That's cool. 1268 01:24:45,240 --> 01:24:49,240 And we had a few outside of CSI too. 1269 01:24:51,680 --> 01:24:57,560 We had several people that either had been coming to church 1270 01:24:57,560 --> 01:25:01,560 or one person hadn't even been in our church long at all. 1271 01:25:01,560 --> 01:25:07,240 Like he we just happened to meet him on the side this road and he 1272 01:25:07,800 --> 01:25:12,040 decided, OK, if you say I need to get baptized, let's do it as 1273 01:25:12,040 --> 01:25:14,640 soon as possible. And the next day we filled up 1274 01:25:14,640 --> 01:25:18,080 our baptism tank and baptized him. 1275 01:25:18,880 --> 01:25:21,560 And so we had a few that got baptized. 1276 01:25:21,800 --> 01:25:24,680 That's awesome. One thing that actually this 1277 01:25:24,680 --> 01:25:27,920 time, mom, that I missed whenever I came back was that 1278 01:25:27,920 --> 01:25:32,200 every time that they would get a baptism, they would always sing 1279 01:25:32,360 --> 01:25:41,000 after the baptism, sing about how Jesus is coming back. 1280 01:25:41,400 --> 01:25:44,240 And, you know, look at what God has done. 1281 01:25:45,000 --> 01:25:51,800 Look at what God has come in this life and one of the songs 1282 01:25:51,800 --> 01:25:56,280 actually changed the lyrics from like oh Galilee, see what God 1283 01:25:56,280 --> 01:25:59,240 has done to O Senegal, see what God has done. 1284 01:25:59,240 --> 01:26:01,200 It's like. A rejoicing response. 1285 01:26:01,360 --> 01:26:05,720 Yeah, it was very sweet. It was always, they would always 1286 01:26:05,720 --> 01:26:08,480 sing and dance after someone got baptized. 1287 01:26:08,880 --> 01:26:10,280 It was excellent. Wow.