Hey guys, I’m Lakin! I’m a little bit older than everyone else so far. I’m 18 and a few weeks into our trip, I’ll turn 19. I am a freshman at Marshall University and I am a public relations major. I’m from a super small town in West Virginia where the ” Little Country Town” stereotype fits perfectly! There is a church on every corner, everyone literally knows everyone, and everybody has a thick accent. As soon as you all hear me talk, you’ll know where i’m coming from! I do have a job where I work with a little 12 year-old-boy named Ryan. He is autistic, and he is the love of my life! When I’m not working or going to class, I like to fish, drive around in my truck, and sit on my front porch with my best friends. I have been blessed enough to have the same 3 best friends since kindergarten!
I was raised in a very strict Christian household where God is the center of everything! Being raised in such a household has really molded me into the person I am today. When I was 5 years old, God chose to bless me with cancer. I was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer with a 3% survival rate. After months of fighting, God healed me! I have been cancer free for 13 years, and within those 13 years, I have tried my very best to bring glory to our Fathers name!
When I was 14, I was sitting at church camp when the pastor said, “If you want to be used by God, tell him!” So I did! A year later God open the door for me to be able to go to Honduras and work with orphans. Through those children, God broke my heart and set it straight on missions. Four days after I graduated from High School, I jumped on a plane and flew to the opposite side of the world. I spent two months in Bali, Indonesia, and let me just say, those two months were the most trying and most rewarding two months of my life! It was when I did not know if I was going to eat, where I was going to sleep, or if i’d get ran out of the villages, that I realized that with God I have everything I could ask for. He showed me that He has prepared me for a life of missions, and since then, I have lived accordingly.
I hope I haven’t rambled too much! I am very excited to meet and get to know each of you! This summer is going to be incredible, and it’s going to be amazing to be the hands and feet of Christ! I love you guys and i would love to talk to you all via email, texts, facebook-anything! Hope to hear from you soon!
Romans 10:14
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
