To be honest, as I was packing my bags and preparing to leave husband & daughter I was asking myself that same question!
Why am I going to Tunica? There was a youth group also preparing to have thier first mission trip there and many were asking themselves that same question.

I arrived in Tunica, a small town of only 2,000 people, with my worship leader (pictured right)and 2 staff members late on Wednesday night 7/12. We only saw the nice houses as we drove to the bunk house off main street. The next day we got the full tour of the town. We headed 5 minutes north to what's called the "North Sub"--the black part of town. The houses and living conditions gave me flashbacks of Mexico as many were little better than shacks. I was beginnng to see the needs of the extremely racially divided town as we made the final prepartions for the youth group to arrive.

Hot, tired, and eager to load off the bus, 27 people from Greenville, IL (a town smaller than Tunica) arrived on Saturday afternoon. We gave them some general orientation, worshiped, played games, and went to bed. The next morning we headed across the tracks to a little black church called First Community Church. Greenville, IL is a 99% white town so it was a very new experience for most of the students & adults. Worship was viberant and swinging, full of soul. Pastor Rodney (who was also our speaker for the week) paused the service to introduce the group of white folks in the congregation. But before he did, he preached straight to the group...and our eyes were opened.

Pastor Rodney told his story of how a revival broke out in 1993 and God charged him to lead the way to tear down the walls of racial division in Tunica and that he is to serve his "Jerusalem." He had no clue how that would happen so he began praying and praying and praying. God answered with a verse, "
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matt 9:37-38.

So as he and his congregation began serving the community, they began to pray for more workers. Pastor Rodney saught out the other pastors in the county-both black and white- to join together to serve the county. They began "pulpit swapping" a black pastor would preach at a white church and vice versa. There was friction with this initially but slowly the walls started to crumble. That same year, one of the white churches went on a missions trip to Mexico with Adventures In Missions.

When they got back and saw the need in their own Jerusalem, they asked why couldn't mission teams come to Tunica? The very next year AIM sent the first mission team to Tunica. Each year, they see more and more fruit as the racial barriers are melting away and the love of Jesus is being poured out. Pastor Rodney faced the group and with a crack in his voice said, "So you see, I've been praying for you to come since 1993."

With a broadened vision, the group was eager to get out there and minister...well, that is until I asked them to go door to door in the North Sub to pass out Vacation Bible School flyers. The first few houses were approached with timidity but after that they were moving along inviting everyone one they saw to come to VBS the next day. As the bus pulled away, kids chased it down the street waving, eager for us to come back.

Monday...Time to get neck deep in ministry. The group split up into 3 groups. One worked on painting the local women's club. One went to the park in the North sub to play and meet kids. And one went on a prayer walk. This was the routine the rest of the week. The prayer walk group got to see the deeper needs of the North Sub. Groups of men were sitting in the yards playing cards and pretty drunk...it's only 9 am. Children played alone and took care of themselves.

Now, let me tell you about VBS...We got started around 1:30 and in 10 minutes the number of kids jumped from 9 to 49! That first day was so wild, to put it mildly. So many of the kids, mostly boys, were running up and down, screaming, hitting or kicking us, fighting each other. I had never seen a VBS that chaotic! We were suprised by 5 or 6 year old children bringing their one or two year old siblings or cousins to VBS all alone. One mom came with her two children (which behaved like angels). She told us how it broke her heart to see this because she knew that the parents were basically absent. The boys that were the most rowdy probably couldn't read. And their only examples of men interacting is with violence.

Jenny, one of the adult sponsors, attempted to calm one 7 or 8 year old boy name TT down. She told him, "Jesus loves you and I love you and I'm going to pray for you." TT responded by covering his ears and yelling "La La La La". But everytime TT came near Jenny she told him again, " Jesus loves you and so do I." He would shout and run away...but he kept coming back to her. He (and all the children) was so hungry for love.

Each day at VBS, the kids were better behaved. By Thursday, they were telling us "I love you" and asking when we could come back again. I could go on for days telling the many stories and lives that were touched through just 4 days of loving on kids. If you'd like to read the students reports of what happened, visit the
Mission Trip Reports.

One thing that I love to see when I am leading a missions trip, is the student's lives that are changed. The first day or two, it was like pulling teeth to get them to pray out loud. But by Thursday night, many shared how much their faith & prayer life was deeped. One girl, Brittany, shared that before coming on this trip whenever someone told her to pray about something she would go and think about it. Never before had she actually prayed about it and waited on the Lord to respond. She said that now she would actually wait to see what God wants instead of just thinking about it. I love those stories!

It was a good trip even though it was really hard to be away from Eric and Hannah for 11 days. I was so glad to see them both again! Thank you so much for all your prayers for us during this time. It's been a busy but good summer.