by Ronnie Reese

Created on: October 21, 2009

Your Mission Starts at 16



"Oh Julie we're so proud of you!" sobbed her mother. "We'll be praying for you every day!"

"Julie we'll miss you," Julie's dad placed his arms around both his wife and his daughter in a group hug.

"Oh I'm going to miss you guys too," Julie tried to hold back the tears.

"ALL PASSENGERS FOR FLIGHT 718 LEAVING FOR HAITI NOW BOARDING AT GATE SIX!" the intercom announced.

"Well, I guess that's me," Julie looked rather reluctant.

She walked to the boarding gate with her parents. Once there she stopped and gave them both a quick kiss goodbye. She then toted her carryon luggage down the corridor with her and looked back one last time at her parents. Sure enough. There they were waving at her. She quickly waved and then hurried down the makeshift hallway to find her seat before takeoff.

Julie was about to go on a mission trip with other teens in her church. For a week the group would go to Haiti.

"Hi Julie," greeted her friend Carla. "We get to be seat mates."

"Oh Carla it's so good to see you!" she beamed. "If it weren't for you I'm not sure I could do this."

"Hey there, now Julie we're going to have a great time!" insisted Carla. "Look at the coast line. Isn't it beautiful!"

Julie watched as the plane lifted higher and higher and made its way out over the Florida coast, over the Bahamas, and then onto Port-au Prince. As the plane taxied down the runway she looked forward to the adventures that awaited her.

"Come on Julie," Carla encouraged. "Let's go get started."

Quickly Julie grabbed her carryon baggage and followed Carla and the others down the aisle. The two were then handed a water bottle as they joined their small group.

"Now, we've handed each one of you a water bottle," announced one of the leaders. "We only want you to drink out of the water bottles we give you. Almost all the streams and rivers flowing into Port-au Prince have raw sewage dumped into them."

Carla made a quick mental note to not drink the water, unless it came in a bottle.

She and the others were then driven to the mission compound. There they were greeted by the director and directed to the buildings they would be staying in. She and Carla then laid there things out on their cots and gathered with the others for a tour around the compound. As they walked around the campus Carla realized they would be working in an extremely crude environment. And the Haitian people they were to take care of seemed so sick. The next day she would realize this even

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