Everything, by Elijiah Whyte

Hey everybody!!!!!  I call myself Elijah Whyte and I am very excited to go back to Haiti for a second time.  I am 16 and I am in 11^th grade.  I live in Fort Mill, SC but I hail from the Great White North.  I have also lived in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.  I have three little sisters and one older brother.  My youngest sister was actually born the day I left for Haiti last year and her name is Elijette (a.k.a. Gabriella-Elise-Regina Whyte). 

    I went to Haiti last year on the summer trip and it was an amazing experience.  I saw people that seemed to have nothing, but they really had everything.  They were the happiest people I had ever seen.  I originally went to help show the Haitians God’s love and mercy, but I think I learned more about this from them.

    I am very excited to go back and serve the Haitians and show God’s love to those who don’t know him.  In Psalms 96:3 it says to “Declare his glory among nations…” I am also very excited to go see the children and love on them.  They were very fun last time and I know they will be this time too.  I am looking forward to building relationships with the people I go with and the people in Haiti, and especially to see people I met last summer.  It will also be cool to see what has changed since last year.  I put all my trust in the Lord that this trip will be amazing and that we will all stay safe and healthy and I can hardly wait until the day that we leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He has made me new!, by Katy Dassenko

I had started attending Advance in the fall of 2009 and had only been there a short amount of time before I was diagnosed with cancer and put into the hospital. In the summer of 2010, I went with Advance to Daytona Beach, Florida for BigStuf. There I heard Francis Chan speak on Gods blessing and how we think that bad things don't happen to bad people. He reminded us that we're in a WAR every day and blessed are those that persevere when confronted with trials. He gave us a verse: 1 Peter 4:12, which prompted me to read on. As I read on, 1 Peter 4:12&13 became my life verses after having been faced with a big trial. 

In February of 2011, I gave my life completely to Christ and shortly later I came across the verse Hebrews 12:1-3. Telling us to keep on pursuing and running after God and to always rely on Jesus. I had gone to a camp in the summer of 2007 whose theme for the week was The Ultimate Race and they made a song called "Dare to Run". From that week at camp I learned that the race I was running was already won, all I had to do was keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. Sadly in 2007, I wasn't really a Christian, but finding that verse 2 years ago and remembering all that I had learned from that week helped me keep my eyes on God.

Last year in 2012, I was riding to school with my dad listening to Aaron Keyes' song "I am a New Creation". The previous summer (2011), I had a t-shirt made with lyrics from his song which I wore a lot. But I had trouble really understanding and accepting that I really was a new creation. God had taken all my sins and shame, and made me a totally new person. This year as I was searching my heart for a senior quote, I pulled out 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, the new new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!", which fit the requirements for how long the quote could be, and also served as a reminder to me that God has made me a new creation! I am no longer filled with the sins, regrets, and fears anymore, but I am a brand new person in Christ! He has made me new! Which is also why I love Gungor's song "Beautiful Things", it reminds me of that old person I was and how God sacrificed his life to make us new!

Making Disciples, by Stephanie Cameron

Hi!  My name is Stephanie Cameron and I am about to graduate from high school and I will be attending Clemson University in the fall.  I have grown up attending Forest Hill Church and have always wanted to go on a mission trip.  I wanted to go last summer but I ended up moving to Charleston and was unable to.  I am so excited about finally being able to go!

            I have always felt God pushing me to go on a mission trip but I have never been able to because I played competitive tennis and could not take time off.  I have decided to stop playing tennis and now I have more free time to go on mission trips and serve more.  Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  This verse has always stood out to me and given me a desire to make disciples, especially after the way that people have poured into my life.  I am so excited about the opportunity to bond with the team and also hopefully make a difference in the lives of the people we encounter while in Haiti.

Preparing to go on a mission trip seems surreal to me because I feel like I don’t know what to expect.  I’ve heard that no matter how you try and prepare, there’s no way to anticipate the flood of emotions you will feel when you see a country as poor as Haiti.  I am nervous about how I will feel seeing how the Haitian people live but I know that God will use the experience to open my eyes and change me.  I think the only way to somewhat prepare myself for this experience is spending as much time in the Word and in prayer as I can.  I cannot wait to see where this journey takes me and the rest of my team!