Our Story

It may not be as cute as a proposal, but we wanted to share our story of how this idea and trip came about.

Enter: Hannah.

Hannah was planning on studying abroad her Spring semester of sophomore year to Cape Town, South Africa.  She would have an internship and be working with social justice issues as well as learning more about law and politics–her passion.  It sounded like the perfect program for her because after her program in South Africa, she would be traveling to Uganda for a month to dig wells and work in an orphanage. Sounded like the perfect summer!

At the beginning of this year (September 17th), Hannah texted me asking to get together for dinner.  We caught up about different things in our lives, and then Hannah shared about her wanting to fundraise for her trip to Uganda this summer. My immediate thought was: Man, I wish I could go with her.

She explained to me her idea of decorating/painting affordable canvas shoes (similar to the Toms brand).  She especially wanted to target different sororities and design a specific shoe for each one.  Seeing as I was in a sorority at Elon, she was excited about combining my skills in marketing and connections in Greek Life with her idea and vision for this opportunity.

September 21 – I received this text from Hannah: “God is so good! Found these shoes and talked to the manager and not only will they sell me them in bulk but they wanna help me fund raise!  Please pray that God would use this opportunity 🙂 you’re awesome!”

We continued to meet for dinner the next few weeks, and on September 30, Hannah came over to my apartment to show me different ideas for the shoe designs.  We both started getting really excited for how God was going to work through both of us to help her raise money.

– – – – –

Enter: me.

From when i was 13-18, I went on mission trips to Peru, South Africa, Thailand, China, Israel and Jordan.  Each trip was so unique and I learned so much from the people, the place and the experience. Most of all, my faith became so real and genuine.  I say with confidence that those trips have truly made me the person I am today.

The past few months I had been desiring to go back to Africa. I think most people will agree that once you’ve been to Africa, part of your heart gets left behind.  The trips I went on previously were with a well-respected organization, but they were very structured and I didn’t have much say on what we did. There was a desire within my heart to literally just pick up and go to Africa to serve people. Yet being a college student in the middle of earning her degree, that desire seemed out of reach.

On September 27, the Communication Fellows class for sophomores had a meeting to learn about the process of applying to Lumen Prize, a research and scholarship prize awarded to students . While listening to the speakers, I immediately had a thought planted into my head. I’m actually going to insert part of my journal from what I wrote that night:

Today, a speaker from the Lumen prize came to the Fellows meeting to talk about that, and I don’t know but all these ideas started running through my mind. Africa…What if I picked up and left for summer and traveled around to countries all over Africa and studied real poverty or how people are actually supporting…I don’t know, I really need to be praying about this and how I would have the connections to stay in different countries. I really need your help Jesus. You know I would go in a heartbeat but it would take a lot of clear guidance for you to lead me on this project and for you to make it happen…I know it would help if I had a partner, and maybe that’s how you’d answer it….”

Obviously, the Lumen Prize is very competitive and I am not expecting that I will get it easily, but I will be working hard to make sure that I am doing everything I can and we will see what happens.  Worse case, I do the research and have the experience for myself! Win-win.

– – –

Enter: Beach Retreat

October 5-7 – InterVarsity goes on a retreat and it is an absolute blast and I just so happened to be placed in Hannah’s group, and Hannah’s car on the ride down and back up. She asked me to sit in the passenger seat to help with directions–we were going to a beach in Fort Caswell, NC.

On the way back, Hannah and I were talking about her excitement for studying abroad in South Africa and then I started to talk about my trip to South Africa.  We then talked about how my past mission trips have made me who I am and then I started to explain my idea for the Lumen Prize.

Hannah suddenly looked at me and said, “Now here’s a wild thought…would you like to come to South Africa and stay with me during the month of June?”

She explained how their exam schedule is different and how they would have much more free time during the month of June so she offered me to stay at her apartment and I could do research about non-profits in the area while she’s studying! Both of our hearts started to jump and then I flat out asked about Uganda and if I could come and she got excited because she was nervous about traveling from South Africa to Uganda by herself!

Hannah explained that her church actually asked her to think of friends that would be interested and she said she immediately thought of two people: her roommate, Mackenzie, and me.  She was confused because she thought she had talked to me about it but we guess it just slipped her mind among everything else. But with God’s beautiful timing, if she asked right away, I wouldn’t have had the idea for researching non-profits in the area and everything that comes along with that.

Enter: The Freakout.

We both were going insane and just in awe of God’s beautiful timing and how God immediately tied all of these desires and plans together into one.

Here’s another excerpt from my journal:

“This is also a testament to remember that even when I question God’s plan, God says trust in me. I have everything under control. I know the PERFECT timing for everything I bring into your LIFE. I promise I will work everything together.”

So there’s our story. Thanks for reading!