This is the HERstory of an incredible young lady.  When I was her age, I was a prodigal daughter to my Heavenly Father…I am thankful that God is compassionate and merciful and will use the choices we make (good and bad) to build us up into the people He planned for us to be.  Hallie’s choices are so different from those of many people her age (and beyond); and in sowing obedience to God, she has reaped a harvest of faith and love.  She is a credit to her church (of which I am a member), her earthly parents, and her Heavenly Father.  I know you will enjoy meeting her!

Hi! I’m Hallie. I’m 20 years old, a junior at Mississippi College, and I just got back from a semester of a lifetime. Over the past year and a half God has done incredible things to bring me from belief in Him to a relationship, walking day by day, with Him. I was so excited when Britta asked if I would share my story because it’s one that couldn’t have possibly happened without God’s hand in every step of the way, and I love sharing it with the hope of inspiring others to step beyond their comfort zones.

My sophomore year was one of a lot of growth and change in my life. I had gotten super involved on my small college campus at the beginning of college, signing up to do anything and everything that was offered. By the middle of sophomore year, I was burned out. I remember hearing God whispering to pray for something bigger, and as I began to pray, almost immediately, He began to show Himself in my life in incredible ways.

I now realize that I had been giving all of my commitments a place that was actually God’s, and He wanted to take the place that was rightfully His. The first weekend back from Christmas break, I prayed for God to change my heart to reflect His will instead of simply giving me the things that my human heart wanted right then. The next weekend, my roommate Kristen came back from a weekend away with the news that she was going to Africa for two weeks this summer. I was thrilled for her but impatiently wanted God to reveal His plans to me like I saw Him doing in Kristen’s life. My small mind couldn’t see past the immediate present to what He was preparing me for.

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Cor 2:9

In late February, my mom sent me a link to a blog that God has since used in incredible ways to focus my heart as well as change my parents’ hearts. KissesFromKatie.blogspot.com ‘“if you haven’t read her story, stop now and go read it. This girl has faith…and thirteen daughters…in Uganda…at the age of 22. After reading her blog, my heart wanted nothing more than to jump on a plane and head to Uganda, so I asked my parents if I could take a semester off. My dad said a resounding “No” to Africa at first, and asked me to pray some more about even leaving school in the first place. The one thing we agreed on was that God would have to do something incredible to make him change his mind and allow me to go to Africa, and God did. Less than a month later, I had permission from my dad to explore the options of going to Africa for a semester.

Through another divine appointment involving my parents and our associate pastor, the Rafiki Foundation was brought to my attention. This was the same organization that my roommate was going to Ghana with. I knew almost immediately that this was probably the organization that God had in mind for me. My parents wanted a stable and reputable foundation that we had connections with. Rafiki had all of the above. I got accepted to be a mini-missionary and attended training in May.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.   James 1:27

After training, I got the final approval from my parents, only after convincing my mom to come with me for the first two weeks. We left for Uganda on September 7^th, and it was an experience that will continue to shape my life for the rest of my life.

Rafiki is not what you think of when you think of orphans in Africa. There are no starving kids here. These children are thriving. Children that were once orphans now have a home and a mother and knowledge of Jesus, their Savior. Rafiki’s goal is not to feed thousands, but to take in and educate and raise up a few in each country (101 in Uganda) to improve the future of Africa. They are beautiful. They love to play and laugh and love. Each child lives in a “cottage” with a Ugandan woman who they consider to be their mom and eight to ten other girls or boys. They function as a family, eating dinner, doing laundry, studying the Bible and playing together.

While at Rafiki, I basically lived life with the missionaries. I taught Kindergarten, coached P.E., organized the library, read to children, tutored sixth grade math (which is ironic because I probably would fail sixth grade math), went to doctor’s appointments and spent hours in Ugandan hospitals, and fell in love with each and every smiling face. The poverty is incredible, but the people are beautiful and have more joy than most Americans. It was incredible to see such faith in the Lord when I have found myself doubting in much less severe situations.

I saw God do miracles in Uganda. While I was there, the propane that is used to make almost 700 meals a day at Rafiki got impossibly low, and there was no propane to be found. For weeks, the kitchen ran on what should have lasted a very short amount of time in a modern day version of 1^st Kings 17 story of Elijah and the widow. At another point, one of the guards was saved from illness through modern medicine that he wouldn’t have been able to access without Rafiki. Those are just two of many examples of the ways God worked in just the short time I was at Rafiki.

More than anything, God taught me to depend fully on Him in my three months in Uganda. When He is truly the only thing you have, you realize that He is the only thing you truly ever need.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.  Matt 19:29

If you’d like to read more, visit my blog where I updated the world (and mostly my mom) during my trip at dotheyhavesweetteainafrica.wordpress.com. And just in case you’re wondering, no sweet tea in Africa, but I did bring my own Lipton!