I will never forget seeing Mary for the first time at our informational meeting in the fellowship hall at Stroud, First Baptist Church. She attended to hear about the mission trip that her church would be taking since 1993. I wrongly assumed that she was there to learn how to pray for the team. In my defense she was 79 years old, and I have had the honor of many people her age pray faithfully for me and teams as we ministered around the world. Mary wasn’t there to just pray; she was ready to go.
Mary had been recently widowed, never had a passport, never been on a plane, and not really been out of Oklahoma. Her words to me were, “I am feeling called to go,” which I replied, “I’m called to take you.”
Six months later we boarded our first plane together and soon landed in Nicaragua. It was a joy to watch her serve and watch her love the Nicaraguan people and encourage our team. It was amazing to walk the streets with her to prayer walk and her share her testimony where she shared Christ. She loved on children and loved on us. It was a joy to eat ice cream, hike mountains to see God’s beautiful creation, and experience joy of serving together.
Mary has set a new bar for sending. She reminded me of God calling on our lives to obedience before anything else. Mary could have had a lot of excuses to not go to Nicaragua. No one would blame her, but she went. Her passion has inspired me to serve and share God’s love more than ever before. I’m so blessed that God put Mary in my path. I will never be the same and one day when I grow up, I want to be like the Jesus I saw in miss Mary.