Sharing Hope and Healing in All Situations
While growing up, Grace Flint had heard about Mercy Ships from her father who was in the Navy. But it wasn’t until she had graduated from college that Mercy Ships came up once again. Grace was a teacher in Indiana and desired to teach overseas, specifically in Africa, and that’s when she applied to volunteer with Mercy Ships. On this adventure, Grace didn’t go alone — she invited her friend Kayla to join her as a teacher in the Academy.
In this episode, Grace and Kayla start by telling what it’s been like to volunteer with a dear friend from home. Grace goes on to honestly share the disappointment of initially not getting to serve in Africa due to the pandemic, but the blessings that came because she stayed. She tells about the highlights of still bringing hope and healing to everyday people she met in the Canary Islands and how the mission of Mercy Ships is not confined to West Africa.
You will be inspired by this enthusiastic teacher who seeks to share the love of Jesus with her students and to everyone in all situations.
Looking for a way to join our mission of bringing hope and healing? Partner with us through a gift, volunteering with us, or by joining us in prayer.
New Mercies Podcast Transcript
Welcome to the New Mercies, a podcast by Mercy Ships, where we’ll take you behind the scenes and on board our incredible hospital ships that are transforming lives all over the world. We invite you to join us each week as we sit down with our crew, patients, volunteers, and partners to hear their stories of life-changing hope and healing.
Grace was a teacher in Indiana and wanted to teach overseas, specifically in Africa. And that’s when she applied to volunteer with Mercy Ships. On this adventure. Grace didn’t go alone, she invited her friend Kayla to join her as a teacher in the academy. Kayla and Grace are both here today to kick off the episode and then we get to hear from Grace who shares her Mercy Ships journey.
Here’s my interview with Grace Flint.
Raeanne Newquist:
Well, this is going to be a lot of fun this time because we have the privilege of having two women with us, at the same time. Kayla and Grace are teachers in our academy, and they are here together to share their Mercy Ships journey. So, ladies, welcome to the podcast.
Grace Flint & Kayla Casaletto:
Thank you so much. I’ve listened to your podcast before, so it’s really an honor to be on here.
Oh, my very first podcast.
It’s an honor and a privilege.
Raeanne:
I know you guys are complete superstars because at this moment, when we are experiencing some technical difficulties on board the ship, y’all are sitting at a McDonald’s in Tenerife to use their Wi Fi for this interview. So if we hear some fun stuff in the background, or if you guys want to go grab some fries, don’t worry about it. It’s all good. Hey, you have to be adaptable, you have to be flexible when you work with Mercy Ships.
So Kayla and Grace, you guys came to volunteer with Mercy Ships together. And that’s kind of unique because a lot of people, unless they’re coming with their family, most people come alone and
enter this incredible community and all of a sudden make all sorts of new friends. But you guys came together. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your relationship and how this adventure came about.
Grace Flint:
So it’s actually kind of a funny story. Actually, I met Kayla, about nine years ago on a college visit when I was a junior in high school, looking at schools. We both live in Indiana and so I was on a visit to see about a cross country track team at Bethel University. And I woke up the next morning after my visit, I’d stayed in the dorms, went to breakfast, and walked in the room and I saw Kayla sitting at a table by herself. And I thought, oh, it looks like she needs a friend. So I walked over to Kayla and introduced myself and asked her if she was there to look at the school, or if she was thinking about running there. And then she just told me that she was too fast for the school. And she was only there visiting friends. So I was a little taken aback by her initial interaction with me. But I thought, well, you know what, I’ll just sit down and chat with her or whatever. And so by the end of the breakfast, I had gotten her phone number. Then a year later, I saw on the webpage for Cedarville University in Ohio, on the track team page, that Kayla had signed to be one of the athletes on the team. And I was also going to be on the team as a walk on. So I was so excited because I was like, oh, that’s one of the girls I met on my college visits. So I messaged her and I was like, hey, Kayla, this is Grace. And she said, Who is this? And I was like, Do you remember me, I met you at the college visit. And so she put me in her phone as “Grace from college visit.” And the funniest part of the story is that we became really great friends and lived in the same dorm, ran on the same team had all the same friends and adventures in university. Kayla is nothing like that now, she’s very humble.
Kayla Casaletto:
Yeah, it’s embarrassing. Like if you make one bad impression, it takes like 70 more good impressions to change that. So I guess that’s what I’m still working on.
Raeanne:
That is so crazy that you guys ended up at the same university in Ohio, when you met at a university in Indiana.
Grace:
It was definitely a God thing for sure. I love to look back on those things and be like, Wow, all the little pieces that fit together was just crazy how it worked. But yeah, it was great.
Raeanne:
That is so cool. Now Kayla, I have to say that I have heard from an outside source that you really are a very, very talented runner. Tell us just a little snippet about your athletic career.
Kayla:
I first came to fame my freshman year at Cedarville University when I was hit by the deer during the race. It was nothing of my own skills or anything great. A deer ran out of the forest and we had a head on collision!
Raeanne:
Haven’t you been invited by some people in Spain to run on a team? I mean, there’s rumors, girl. There’s rumors about you.
Kayla:
Yes, it’s true. This weekend we have a banquet and I’m going to win the fastest female runner on the island!
Grace:
We’ve done a lot of different races on the island and Kayla’s essentially won every single race and all these local people know who she is. And they’re like, cheering and saying hi. So yeah, Kayla’s a very good runner. But she’s a good runner in college as well. She set the record for our university for the steeplechase and ran really well all throughout.
Kayla:
Yeah, it’s very fun. And what’s funny to me has been the prizes at the races. I think every race, I’ve gotten something that I can’t use! In the first race, I won two bottles of champagne and three of the same trophy because I accidentally signed up as a local! I don’t drink champagne. Next race, I won a fresh tuna fish. So I gave that away. And then I won a beauty basket for like wrinkles and all this stuff, so I gave that away. And then I won a free gym membership for a month to somewhere an hour away from the ship, so I gave that away. I’ve also won two money prizes and never received.
Raeanne:
Well, I think it is so fun for our listeners to hear that you have this talent that you had before you joined Mercy Ships. And even though you are not on the ship, as a runner, but you get to use your talents and your hobbies and the things that you love to do outside of your job at Mercy Ships. And a lot of people would think with all of the changes and all the transitions with the ships right now that it would be hard to just be sitting in the Canary Islands for so long. But I love that you’ve joined local teams and local races and still just get to run and do what you love. And how fun that you’ve been acknowledged. I can’t believe you’re the fastest runner in the Canary Islands. That’s huge on your resume. When else can you ever have accomplished such a thing?
Well, girls, how did you guys decide, did you decide together to come and volunteer with Mercy Ships or tell me about how this all came about?
Grace:
Yeah, so actually, I heard about Mercy Ships a long time ago from my dad growing up in a navy family, so I was around ships a lot growing up. So I had heard about the organization, and I kind of forgot about it. And then freshman year of college, I actually saw that Carys Parker was coming to my university, and I’d seen some of her videos on YouTube. So I messaged her to see if I could chat with her about the academy as I was studying education. And she was only at school for a quick little weekend and she made time to meet with me for like an hour at the café and tell me all about the academy and life as a ship kid. That was very impactful for me. And I thought, wow, like I could see myself teaching there. Well, then fast forward six years, I completely didn’t think about Mercy Ships and after graduation I was teaching at a children’s home near my house in Indiana, for at risk kids from like downtown Indy area and I’d been there teaching for two years, it was definitely a great mission. But I really wanted to still go over to Africa and teach overseas. And so I was praying and thinking about where I should go. And as I was thinking about it one day, the Lord put Mercy Ships in my mind out of nowhere. And I had not thought about them since like that day I talked to Carys and
you know, shortly after, and I was like, wow, actually, that’s a great idea. I felt like I heard that from the Lord and I looked it up and I realized that they had this brand-new ship and needed teachers, so the timing was so perfect. So I started talking to my friends about it. And I originally was going to come to the ship with one of our mutual friends from Cedarville named Elizabeth and she is a nurse. And so I thought it would be perfect, but she ended up falling in love and getting engaged, so she was definitely not an option to go anymore. So I was actually going by myself, which is what I was originally going to do, and then I was telling Kayla about it. And I was feeling really sad to leave my family and friends and go alone and I was having such a hard time thinking about the transition. And Kayla was like, Oh, I could go with you. So we applied and got accepted and drove to Texas for on boarding.
Raeanne:
Oh, my goodness. And you guys have already spent a full year on board? Is that correct?
Kayla:
A year and a half. Our commitment is for two years, so it’s over in June, we started June 2021.
Raeanne:
Okay, so this is your final year?
Grace:
Um, yeah, if I think about it, I definitely would feel sad just because I’ve had so many special memories with the kids and I really, really love the families on board, and the Academy and the students. And the experiences we’ve had, especially in the Canary Islands this past year and a half, and it’s just can’t be beat. So I try not to think about it. Because I don’t want to be like, Oh, this is the last time I ever sail, or this is the last time I…when I start thinking about that it’ll make me sad.
Raeanne:
Kayla, from your perspective, what were you thinking when Grace approached you with this idea of volunteering with Mercy Ships?
Kayla:
Well, when she first approached me, she just told me that she was doing it. And I thought she was kidding. I was like, There’s no way you’re just gonna leave and go on the ship. I’ve never heard you talk about this. I was so confused. Yeah, so I was coaching at Goshen College at the time and they had a race there afterwards Grace and I went to get ice cream. And so we were eating ice cream, and she tells me this and I thought this is a joke and can’t be real. But then she was crying and really upset about having to leave. So I thought, oh, this must be real. Wow, why are you crying? you chose to do this. But as for me deciding, I just said I would go because my job kind of came to an end and I was discipling some people on the team at the time — that’s why I had trouble at first deciding — should I actually leave and go to Mercy Ships? Or do I need to stay here and finish out my discipling. But it turned out that the girl that I was discipling started dating someone who is a really solid believer, and she got involved in a young adult group and all this stuff, where I knew that she was going to be taken care of and solid.
I felt very at peace to say Yeah, I’m ready for a new step. Actually, my last year of university I thought maybe it would have been fun to study teaching, then I could be with kids all day.
Raeanne:
And now you got the opportunity to teach and be with kids and how fun for the kids to get to learn PE from a superstar runner. In fact, the fastest woman in the islands!
Grace:
I think Kayla’s found a hidden talent honestly, because she came to the ship not even knowing anything about teaching and then quickly picks it all up and learned really well and just became an excellent PE teacher and is honestly all the kids favorite. And I think Kayla is really good a teaching PE and it definitely could be something that she could do in the future which she would never have known if she had not just taken the blind leap to go try it.
Raeanne:
How fun Grace that you were really a catalyst for that. It was your invitation that really allowed Kayla to jump into something.
Grace:
Oh, yeah, I’m really glad.
Raeanne:
Well, I love that you guys got to come together. That is such a unique and special thing. You get to process together, you guys get to swap stories together, but also probably ease any homesickness that could have come up because you guys can share with each other stories about home, you’re familiar with each other. So that is a really special thing to have coming to the ship together. But I also know that you guys have your own unique stories. You also have had different experiences on board and we want to hear a little bit about that. So what we’re going to do is something kind of fun for this episode and the next episode. We’re going to hear from Grace today. And then next week, we get to hear from Kayla. So Grace, you’re going to kick us off, which is very fun.
Grace, you are a teacher on board. So why don’t you tell us first of all, what you’re teaching and maybe some things that have surprised you about teaching in this unique environment.
Grace:
So I’m teaching second grade and I teach all of the basic core subjects aside from the specials, so like social studies, science, reading, language arts, penmanship, math, Bible, all of those subjects. So that’s what I teach. And I think one of the biggest surprises for me coming to the ship is I did not really, I guess, I never thought about the fact that since these kids are from all around the world, there could be students that come to the academy that don’t speak any English. And without fail every single semester, aside from this one, so the past three, I’ve had at least one student, sometimes more than one, that speak zero English when they first come to my classroom. And that’s been a big challenge, because I’ve never really worked with ESL kids before. I’ve worked with a lot of different kinds of students from different backgrounds. But I’ve never worked with children who couldn’t communicate with me from day one. So that was a big thing to adjust to. And at the beginning, especially when I was on an Africa Mercy, there weren’t a lot of staff people. So there wasn’t necessarily anyone to really help me figure out how to like bridge that gap or how to best handle that. So it’s definitely a huge challenge. But I think that has also been one of the coolest things to see is to realize for a whole handful of these kids, I was the person who was blessed to be able to actually teach them English.
We started off having to use the cell phone and use Google translate. So I would speak in English, and it would play in Dutch. And then he or she would talk in Dutch, and it would play in English. And I would have to communicate my instructions that way, like almost everything, just through the phone for a while. But then a couple months go by, about three months, and all of a sudden, you started to see them speaking English phrases, words, talking to their classmates. Next thing, you know, you see these kids running around the ship and for anyone who walked on board, they would never know that that child, three, six months ago, a year ago couldn’t speak a word of English. Wow, that was one of the most surprising things. It’s also been the coolest to be able to watch them blossom in that way and be able to have a new language to speak and just come out with that skill.
Raeanne:
Now, did you learn Dutch in the process? If they’re learning English? Are you learning their languages?
Grace:
I think I learned a few words. And I kind of learned a little bit more about how to pronounce some Dutch and I can read some phrases. But yeah, I’ve picked up a little bit of a few Dutch things along the way.
Right now I have two students from Norway, two from the Netherlands, one from New Zealand, and two from Canada. So a handful.
Raeanne:
Wow. Oh, that is so exciting. What a challenge, right? All of a sudden to be trying to teach someone how to write but you can’t communicate in the same language. So I’m sure you had to get creative in addition to Google Translate, maybe some charades?
Grace:
Yeah, lots of different things. That was definitely a huge surprise and a big kind of curveball to work through. But thankfully, this semester, for the first time ever, my short career so far with Mercy Ships, every single child is speaking English, and reading English and everything. So we can just jump right in. So I’m excited about that. I think that will really help the cohesiveness of the class, you just get off to a really good start.
Raeanne:
Absolutely. Well, you’re also in for another special new thing, if you will, because this will be the first time in your two year commitment with Mercy Ships, that you’re going to actually be in field service. You are going to be on the Global Mercy going to Dakar, Senegal. And you get to spend more than just a week there, like you did before. But you get to have a whole field service teaching in Africa. What are you looking forward to?
Grace:
Yeah, so it’s funny how it all worked out, I never would have expected that out of a two year commitment, I would end up spending like five months in Africa. But I actually am really, really thankful for how it worked out, it’s for the best for a lot of reasons. But I think I’m most looking forward to just being able to see the patients walk up the gangway and wave goodbye to patients. And I’m really hoping to be able to have some interaction with them. I’ve heard stories from Beth
about getting to go out on one of the decks and playing with the kids or drawing with them. And also I’ve heard stories about mercy ministries and going to orphanages. And those were some of the things that were most interesting to me at the beginning of this. And I was really sad to miss out on those things at the start with COVID and whatnot. But I’m really hoping and looking forward to the fact that some of those things might be back in place for this field service. And so I’m really expected to be able to have some interactions and just witness the life transformations that occur for these kids and moms and just different families. So that’s something I think will be a really great thing to see and be a part of the kind of experience here.
Raeanne:
It’s going to be so, so great. I’m so excited for you. Well, thus far, why don’t you tell us about a memorable moment that you’ve had with your students?
Grace:
I think the most memorable moments probably occur after school hours with activities that I’ve organized with Kayla or with other teachers, just some fun things. But I think one of my favorite things was when my second-grade class earned a trip to a waterpark. So basically, how we did it is when they complete their homework or they get 100% on their spelling test and different little things in class, they earn a little sea glass pieces that I collected back in Las Palmas. So we have a sea glass success jar. And when the jar is full, the whole class votes on what they want to do. I had three girls last year, and it was a really special fun class. And they had to work very long and hard to fill up the whole jar of sea glass being there are only three of them working for this. And so they decided what they really wanted to do was to go to one of the water parks here. And so I thought, Okay, how are we going to make this work? But all the families of the second-grade girls, they all want to go to the waterpark too. We ended up renting a big bus on a weekend after school is over, all three of the girls went with their families. One had never been to waterpark before and her whole family got to come and it was just the best day ever, because it was so fun to get to watch. It was really special to have that experience with them. I think for some of them, that’s still one of their highlight memories from that school year. And I think they were really proud of themselves for earning that. That was one of my favorites.
I also get to do a lot of things with the junior high and high school kids in my own free time. One of my favorite moments, was in the first race that we did on this island that was a night race. I got to run with Mia, which is one of the girls in the academy. She’s a freshman and she’d never run a 5k before. And I’ve never run a race on this island. And we get to the start and everyone’s cramming in, they’re speaking Spanish, and it turns out, everyone had to have a headlamp to run the race. But we only had three headlamps between us. So we teamed up to share headlamps and I ran with Mia. I was like, we go, let’s do this. So we started on this huge mountain for a start. And people were automatically just hiking from the get-go, then we’re running down the steep path. Dust is flying, we can’t see the path and Mia and I are sharing the light. It was such a bonding moment. We made it all the way through and ended up getting an award. That was the start of her running career. But it was just such a special memory to get to do that race with her and just to see how much fun the kids were having and how much they’ve improved since that first race. Is that incredible. So that was one of my highlights.
Raeanne:
Yeah. Oh, I love that. And I love that as a second-grade teacher, you also get to interact with the other students. And I’m sure that for Mia, that was just such a gift for her to be with this amazing mentor and someone that cheered her on through this race. It’s an experience I’m sure she’ll never forget also.
Grace:
Yeah, it was very special. And now we do mile races in the dock sometimes with the kids with practice and whatnot and Mia has now beaten me in the mile. I tell her I remember that day when we had that 5k and I was pushing you to finish, and now here we are running the mile on the dock and you’re beating me! How the tables have turned, but it’s all for the best. So it’s kind of funny.
Raeanne:
That is awesome. I love it. Well, you’ve had a unique experience. As we’ve mentioned, the Mission of Mercy Ships is bringing hope and healing to the world’s forgotten poor. And really, in your experience thus far on board both the Africa Mercy and the Global Mercy, you haven’t really got to be a part of that aspect of the mission for the most part. But how are you able to keep the heart and the mission of Mercy Ships alive in your classroom and outside of your classroom in the midst of this unique season?
Grace:
I feel like the Mission of Mercy Ships with bringing hope and healing to people — I feel like that happens a lot of times, even off the ship with locals. And a story that comes to mind is when I first got to the island and I walked around, I saw this advertisement for a bubble waffle cone. I’ve never seen a bubble cone and didn’t know what it was. It’s kind of looks like a flat little circular waffle, but instead of the little squares that you can fill with syrup or whatnot, they are like protruding bubbles, and then it’s wrapped in a shape of an ice cream cone. But it’s a soft waffle. And it’s filled with ice cream and it’s just this huge beautiful creation. And I was so excited. I thought I have to get one of those. And then it was weeks, maybe even months and I kept walking by the bubble cone shop and it was closed. And I kept thinking, When am I ever going to get this bubble cone? But one day, Kayla and I saw another shop that also had bubble cones. And I had never seen the shop before. So I went in and they were open and I was so excited. And inside the shop, there was this lady named Sarah. And apparently Sarah was an immigrant from somewhere and she was having a really rough day. We started talking to her and she was happy to see how excited I was with the bubble cone that she serves tons of them every single day. But I was very delighted to have the bubble cone. So anyways, she was very excited to see that how much I was enjoying the bubble cone. And we started chatting with her and we figured out it was her birthday that day. And she wasn’t celebrating with anyone, nothing was happening. And she was just kind of down because it was her birthday but she’s working in this ice cream shop, this little hole in the wall place in this beach town. Nothing interesting is happening. She has no family in the island. Nothing. So, Kayla and I walked out and we asked her, How long will you be working here tonight? She said 9:30pm. So, we walked out and thought it’d be really great if we could do something to bless her while she’s working in this ice cream shop. So, we just went to the grocery store and bought a big bouquet of flowers. We came back later right before closing when everyone had left and we came in and sang happy birthday to her in Spanish and said, we brought you these flowers, we just want you to know how important and special you are and we said a prayer for her. She started crying and was so so blessed and impacted by that. And she was like, thank you so much, you’ll never understand what this means to me. And it was just a really special moment, we went back multiple times to visit Sara at the ice cream shop and she would give us free ice cream and other things. And it was really sweet to be able to do something for her just to brighten her day and make her feel special. And I feel like that definitely did give her some hope that there are people that care about her. It’s not like every single person here is just some tourist who wants stuff from me and never is going to come back. We actually kind of developed a relationship with her. And that was something that was pretty special.
Raeanne:
What a cool story. And it’s actually a great reminder to all of us that you don’t have to be a missionary in a developing nation with impoverished people in order to really care for people and serve people. The person who’s working the register at the grocery store also needs to be seen and loved. And the woman who’s working at the bubble cone ice cream shop, needs to be seen and loved. And that’s who we’re called to be as followers of Jesus every day in all situations. How have you seen other lives changed since you’ve been on board?
Grace:
One very special thing is I learned a lot from my three students last year. I had these three girls last year, they were the sweetest, they’re all best friends, and became best friends after being in class. And I just really learned from them so much about the childlike faith that we are supposed to have.
And a lot of us do have as children but as you get older, I feel like it could be easy to kind of forget that. But these girls were always so excited to learn, they love Bible class. They love learning about the Lord. They always wanted to pray, they would always talk about how excited they were that Jesus was coming back one day, and they just had the absolute biggest hearts. And I feel like I got to have so many great conversations with them, even as second graders about what Jesus has done for us and what he is still doing for us in our relationship with Him. And they asked like so many questions. And I felt like they honestly had a genuine curiosity about growing in their faith and learning more of who Jesus was.
One girl in particular, I could just tell that she loves the Lord so much. And she had the absolute sweetest heart. And she always wanted to know more and just really love Jesus love talking about him. And her mom told me, you know, Grace, I’ve never seen her expressing questions about Christ or wanting to pray out loud and wanting to read her Bible at night like she’s doing. I just feel like she’s grown so much in her faith, being a part of this class. And I’ve just so blessed to see that in her. And I think I felt the same way. I didn’t know how she was before she came to the ship, but coming from a secular school, she hadn’t had a chance to ever have a Bible class or to learn about the Lord in a setting that wasn’t just her home, which is also so important. But I think learning it in school with her friends and seeing that really brought out something special in her that even her mom was able to see and comment on. And that was a really cool thing just to see her personal growth throughout the six months that I had her in class and see how much she grew in her relationship with Christ. And even the cool thing was I just recently was able to send her a children’s picture Bible in English. She was so excited because now she actually can read it — when she came she couldn’t speak any English. Now she can actually read the Bible for herself in English. That was our goal that she wanted to work towards. So, I feel like I’ve definitely see the hope of the Gospel, even at work in the academy in these students lives. That’s why I came to the ship, to serve these ship kids, and to teach them more about Christ. And to see them actually growing in their faith, like that was something that is so encouraging. And something that I’ll never forget.
Raeanne:
You have been such a catalyst for transformation for these little people in your class and that is so incredible. It sounds like you’ve had the privilege of really touching many lives. But whether it be Mia or Sarah, the kids in your classroom, but I also know that your life has been touched, and your life has also been impacted by your experience thus far. How are you different after this last year and a half of volunteering?
Grace:
I just really have loved to see how the Lord has been faithful to me. And I feel like a lot of times when I’ve been really anxious or nervous about things, especially even starting the school year on the ship
When I first got to Africa Mercy, I thought, this is too hard. I can’t do this, this is not what I expected, I need to leave, it’s just too much. But through just sticking it out and trusting the Lord, he really gave me the peace and confidence I needed to keep going forward. If I know everything that I’d have to do, before I came, I probably wouldn’t have come! I’d been like, that’s too much. It’s too scary. I can’t actually do it. But then like looking back, I’m like, wow, the Lord was faithful through all those things, and there was so much good that came out of even the hard times, going through COVID, just so many crazy random things that happened, that made stuff very, very difficult, that I would not have thought I could get through. But the with the Lord, it was possible to push through those things. And now, coming on the other side of it, so far, I’m able to see all the good too, and all the blessings. And if I had at the very beginning, if I had given into my thoughts when I first got there, I can’t do this, it is too hard — like writing brand new curriculum. That’s just way too much, you know, no lesson plans are already made. It’s just overwhelming. If I had given into those initial feelings, and just bailed, because it seemed too hard, then I never would have had the opportunities that I had with the running club, with investing in those students, with all the things that Lord’s done in the past year and a half that have just been so incredible — to think I would have missed those by just listening to myself and my feelings. And I think that’s a really important lesson going forward. Because I know there are lots of hard things that happen in life that have happened will continue to happen and I will look back and remember and trust God. And if I had left, I would have missed so much, and that’s always how it is — if we bail out, we’ll miss so much. So I think that’s something I’ve learned a lot about myself is that I can push through those things.
Raeanne:
Absolutely. Well, it’s pretty awesome because as you mentioned, you know, you go through hard things, and you’re going to go through other hard things in the future in life, but you’ll be able to look back and recall God’s faithfulness, and that will give you the strength and the courage to conquer the next mountain that comes up in your life.
Grace:
Yeah, I sure hope so. It’s just so cool. You know, the more times you see God come through for you in so many ways, and the more stories you have that by putting yourself out there and really testing it, because I think there are lots of easy things you can do. But I think by doing things that are hardest, where you really are able to have more stories that I like, I have so many stories that I could tell that would take way too long. But so many different times I’ve seen God come through that I never would have if I hadn’t put myself in that spot. So I think that’s definitely important lesson is just to like, go for those things that seem hard and scary and not quit because the more will come through and it’ll be a good story.
Raeanne:
Absolutely. Well, hey, I know you’ve got a lot more stories that are still being written in your life, especially the ones that are ahead of you, and these next six months as you go to Senegal and get to be a part of your first field service in Africa, which is going to be a wonderful experience for you. Grace, we are so excited that you said yes and that you brought your friend Kayla along with you to volunteer at Mercy Ships and the Academy. I know so many kids are blessed by you, and will continue to be. We look forward to hearing your stories in the future after you’ve accomplished your first field service
Grace:
Thank you so much for your time and for what you’re doing or Mercy Ships. We’ll talk to you later.
Raeanne:
Thanks, Grace. We appreciate it.
For more information about Mercy Ships, go to mercyships.org, and to keep up with the guests on New Mercies, follow us on Instagram at NewMerciesPodcast.