On Wednesday night of our mission trip the youth awaited instruction for what to do for the nightly devotion. After a long afternoon of fun in Atlantic City and two full days of hard work under our belts, I can easily admit that we were all worn out and anticipating a quick and simple devotion to end the evening. When given instructions that were out of the ordinary, every member of the youth, including myself, became a little discouraged and annoyed at the situation now presented. Despite our hesitation, we did as we were told and gathered in the little chapel. I took my seat next to Catherine and felt at ease as I found myself surrounded by all of my close friends in the group. Becky took her position at the front of the room and began speaking. I was captivated the minute she mentions MaMaw B, her mother. Becky talked about her mother’s death and all that she has to be thankful for when celebrating her mother’s life. Becky credited her mother for her love for Christ, youth ministry, and strength. I had experienced first-hand the love, commitment, and good nature MaMaw B displayed to her family and to the Lord. I was overcome with emotion as I felt the pain and grief in Becky’s voice and listened to Catherine softly crying beside me. MaMaw B. wasn’t just a woman I enjoyed being around every once in a while when visiting Becky, she was a woman that raised and influenced two of the most important people in my life. Because of MaMaw B, I have Becky and Catherine in my life and because of the way she raised them, they have since then instilled the word of God in every teen that has entered the youth group, myself included. Becky admitted that it was hard for her to find an organization to donate to that fit both her mother’s personality and spirit. She knew that MaMaw B’s favorite things in the world were the youth and shoes. We were then informed that we were all receiving Tom’s Shoes in her honor, as well as underprivileged kids in Africa, I felt it was a perfect fit. Having a "Tom’s Sole Party" in MaMaw B’s honor was probably one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had out of all the mission trips I’ve attended. Decorating those Tom’s scared me to death! Taking into perspective that I am not artistic in any way, I felt tremendous pressure to not only design the shoes in a way where I could wear them out in a public place, but to also incorporate this moment with my youth group and the life of MaMaw B. With the help of some of the craftier girls in the youth, I managed to decorate my Tom’s in a way that encompassed those things and a lot more. I filled every white spot on my shoes with bright colors so that they will catch people’s attention when walking down the street. I wrote Isaiah 52:7 in black, as well as my church name, all of the mission trips I’ve attended during my high school career, a Jesus fish, and an L.O.L symbol that stands for living your faith out loud. I eagerly added a Tar heel and UNC logo to the sides as well as a cross and flame. After finishing a few personal touches to the shoes, I felt something was missing. A few people in the group discussed how we could add the memory of MaMaw B. to our shoes. After a few moments of debate, we unanimously decided to add her initials under the Tom’s logo on our right foot. After adding her initials in red I felt my shoes were complete. Having the "Tom’s Sole Party" was a great experience.
-Abbey Horne
The mission trip taken by our church youth group every year is definitely a treasured experience. Every year brings new challenges, surprises, and faithful memories. Becky, our God-given youth director, sat us down for our first major surprise about halfway through the trip. She began with the reminder that her mother, close to many of us, was ill at the beginning of this year. Becky had planned a trip to come view the places for our mission trip, and that weekend her mother became sicker, but Becky still visited Philadelphia because as she says "we are as close as family gets." A week later her mother passed. Becky began to drop a tear, and the sniffles from her daughter, Cat, started, so you know there wasn't a dry eye. She proceeded to remind us all that MaMaw B. loved shoes and style, and that a portion of money was left to Becky, encouraging her to make a difference. That's when we were told we had all been bought a pair of shoes to decorate. When she told us she had purchased a pair of white Toms for everyone, eyes dried and the rejoicing of MaMaw B.'s life began with a Style Your Sole (what became known to us as a Style Your "Soul") party! After receiving the shoes we went at it with fabric markers making the blank canvas our own, and as a dedication to Becky's mother, we all wrote MMB somewhere on the back of our shoes. Our youth group sends thanks to all Tom’s does to help support stories like ours!
-Gray Heath
The trip this year to Philadelphia was a real life changer for me. God opened up doors for me that I never knew existed, and now my life will never be the same. Seeing the struggles of all of the people we reached out to had an impact on me that I didn't really have in St. Louis because we weren't directly involved with the people there like we were this year. This years trip also got a lot more physical work done because of being at all of the different locations. I'm not sure exactly where we got the most work done; but, in my opinion, it was at Work to Ride and the fence there just because it was such a big project. I personally got closer to the group which was something I didn't really do last year and I'm glad I started getting more involved. I also wanted to thank all of the adults that went because the trip wouldn't be possible without them. I really think Becky set the bar high with this awesome of an experience, I'm excited to see what next year has in store!
-Sam Devine
Pictures from our Style your "Soul" Party
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