Life Changing Surprise!
There was a
surprise that had been planned for over a year…and I didn’t even know anything
about it until the week before the trip! I got the opportunity to go on a
cruise!! This wasn’t just any cruise; it was the Jesus Freak Cruise!!! My mom
took my brother on this cruise two years ago and it was such a powerful worship
experience as well as amazingly fun that she wanted me to have that opportunity
as well! Mom was sneaky in how she got me to get passport pictures and
paperwork done. I got a little frustrated with her because she wouldn’t tell me
why she had me do a few things.... but, eventually, she surprised me and my
face lit up when I got the news. To get to the cruise, we flew into Orlando,
Florida and on the way to the hotel, met a couple that lives in Park Rapids,
Minnesota!!! We ended up seeing each other several times during the trip! We
loved seeing them over and over again. When we were boarding the ship, we got
to meet the band DCTalk!
The cruise was packed with so many fun events like the Sail Away
Party. We all had a blast with cool music, sun, fun, and dancing!! As the week
went on, I got to do super cool rides, enjoy powerful concerts by Christian
artists, worship, eat tons of food, snorkel at Chill Island, swim, make
friends, and be a Jesus Freak!! The cruise was sold out and there were over
4200 people!!! We were blessed with meeting so many wonderful people that we
share our faith with.
A really
cool thing on my trip is that I got to share my platform, Love Always. When the
opportunity was there, I talked to people and also gave them one of my
watercolor heart tags along with a heart bag. I met people this way and shared
my platform and also left many on cabin doors. I gave away over 50 bags!
Cruisers had the opportunity to sign up for a mission
excursion! God worked it out so that I was able to go on this excursion and it
was life changing. The mission excursion was organized by The Premier
Foundation which seeks to love and serve those who live in poverty and whose
goal is to empower people so they can build better communities.
When the
ship was docked in Nassau, Bahamas, the mission group traveled to a place
called “The Great Commission” which provides many services to “care for the
poor.” Our group worked in several
areas. Upstairs, we packaged food bags for people to pick up so they would have
enough nutrition. We packed all sorts of items such as cereal boxes, flour,
soup, crackers, etc. Work was done on building
an outside concrete wall so that the small kitchen could be made bigger. About
300 meals get made daily in the small and old kitchen. We also delivered meals to those who could not
make it to the Commission. I got to go
out into the community and help deliver hot meals to some residents. I met
Cleveland who is blind and asked us if we were Christians. He asked us to pray
for him. He had a great sense of humor and was very welcoming even though he
didn’t have much for a home. I got the
chance to deliver my watercolor hearts and bags again. I also delivered to
Alice, who was a woman without her lower legs. She was happy that I came to
deliver a meal through her window and she gave me candy! I am blessed to have
done this.
One very
special thing that happened on the excursion was that a Christian artist, Jared
Emerson, came to paint. He paints for the glory of God and he painted a picture
of Jesus that will stay on the outside of the building. I had a great
conversation with Jared and told him about my title and platform. I felt that I
was right where I was supposed to be in that moment because I was in a
beautiful country, helping others, sharing my platform and viewing and talking
about artwork. It was wonderful!!!
At the end of our experience, our leader talked about how
there are so many needs in the world and how we should always be looking ahead.
He had talked to his own dad about a mission experience and was sharing about
how great it was and then his dad challenged him: “what are you going to do
now?!” and that really struck a chord with him. So, his challenge to us was
that it was great that we helped out with The Great Commission and we blessed
the people but now what are we going to do?!? So, because I went on this
amazing surprise cruise, my life is forever changed by the experience and also
with how I think about things. I need to keep looking toward the next way to
help others and this is how I will Love Always…
Love Always,
Lilia Rexin
Miss Pre
Teen North Dakota International 2019
