It was my last year at North Greenville University. In one year, I would be out of college and on my way, venturing into the unknown of foreign missions. As I walked to my dorm, I passed my roommate, who was bringing in the last of her things and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in her head as a Freshman. When she’s finally settled in and her family had said their goodbyes I finally got the chance to talk. At first it was a lot of small talk but after a while she becomes more transparent. Come to find out she was a lot like me. She wanted to be a youth leader but she felt as if God was leading her to the foreign mission field. Once school begins the work began to pile up and sleep was no more than a two hour nap,Katie became my procrastination buddy. We tried to study and do our work but we always found a way to begin talking about missions. Through this I found that her parents were summer missionaries in the Dominican Republic. I wanted to know more about it, because my dream had always been to spend one whole summer in a foreign country. The thing I didn’t know was that within the next year two of my lifelong dreams would become a reality.
As the year progressed, Katie and I became the best of friends. We began hanging out, studying together, and even going home with each other a couple of weekends. The one place we studied at the most was this little hole in the wall coffee shop. At this place I sit now, reflecting on the day I saw him for the first time. He was pretty average, but there was something different about this guy.The way he carried himself and the way he walked. It was like there was a joy inside of him that no one could take. We kept going to the coffee shop and it became a ritual. Everytime he would be in there and I would try to figure out exactly what was so different about him. After weeks of going to the coffee shop, he finally spoke and he asked “what are your names?”, so Katie and I told him our names. After exchanging small talk, he took our order and left to get our frappes. When he came back, he saw that we were looking over packets of information for the Dominican trip we had plan to go on together during the summer. He began expressing interest as the weeks went on he began asking questions and telling us about how he’d always wanted to go out of the country on missions for a couple months at a time. As the days passed and we talked more about the trip he became more intrigued.
As we got closer to the trip I began talking to Katie’s parents about the trip and what I needed and how the summer would be split into different mission work. I found that a big portion of the summer would be spent in villages, where families lived as squatters. This trip would be much like the trip I took 7 years ago. I was thrilled to be going back, hoping and praying I would maybe see some of the kids I had met years ago. I couldn’t help but go and tell my mom and tell her about how we would be going into some of the same villages. We would be a part of many teams that would come through during different times throughout the summer. The semester was coming to an end it was getting closer and closer to our trip. We made our way to the coffee shop more frequently. He had memorized our order of two caramel frappes. We had only talked at the coffee shop but this day he asked me “Em would you like to go grab a pizza?” How he managed to learn my nickname I have no clue, but me being the starving college student I accepted the offer.
The next afternoon he picked me up outside of our dorm and we headed to this little pizza place only the local folk would be able to find. We got there and before I could unbuckle my seatbelt and reach for the handle he was opening the truck door for me. Chivalry wasn’t dead to this guy. He did the same with my chair as I went to pull it out from under the table. As we waited for our food we talked and he told me stories of how he’d go stay with his grandparents in Honduras for a week during the summer when he was younger. When he began telling me this and I realized what was so different about him. I thought about it even as we rode back to my dorm. Finally he broke the silence and asked “ Why are you so quiet?” So I told him how he was so different from many other guys and how his love for people was very evident in the way he spoke and in his mannerisms. He just simply smiled. We had pulled up to my dorm but there was something that still kept us lingering. We just stood for a moment until he suggested he walk me to my dorm. When we had stopped right in front of my dorm he told me why he’d took me out for pizza. He said “ the reason I took you out was because I wanted to get to know the girl that would be with my grandparents over the summer.”



































Throughout the week all I could think about was what he had said. I thought his grandparents worked in Honduras, it didn’t fit. I had to know, so I made my way to the coffee shop. Luckily the guy was on break. So we sat down and I began firing off questions. He told me that his grandparents had adopted his father in his teens while his grandparents were very young. After they adopted him they kept missions going for a while but they left for the Dominican Republic to reach more people. Now this gave me a little bit of insight but I wouldn’t understand it until later.

It was the day. The day we would leave for our mission trip. Katie and I were sitting on the edge of our seats waiting on our gate to open. Keeping ourselves occupied by doing crosswords like little old women. We heard our gate was open so we set off, bags in tote. In an hour and a half we would arrive in Puerto Plata. As we settled into our seats I couldn’t help but think of the guy from the coffee shop. I was wondering if he was working still slinging frapes or mochas. The flight attendant interrupted my thought as she made small talk with me before handing me a Coke. Once I took a sip of Coke I sat back put my earbuds in and drifted off to sleep. I was awoke by Katie almost to the point of punching me in the side. It was time to fill out immigration papers, the part I dreaded the most. We had loaded off the plane, went through immigration, and collected our bags. Katie’s parents picked us up on trucks along with the others that would be a part of our team that week. We were told another team member would come tomorrow. We rode for a while, and I took in the familiar sights and smells I’d encountered those years ago. We finally arrived to where we would be staying. It was quite beautiful, prettier than anything you would see in the South.The familiar taste of the food made my mouth water as we ate lunch. The fresh pineapple was by far my favorite. After our lunch we planned out what village we would visit the next two days. We all came to an agreement on going to Palm Village. I was so excited, because I had been there before, there was one little girl I so badly wanted to see from this village. We ate supper then had a devotion. The devotion was led by Katie’s dad, Joey. He reminded me of the boy from the coffee shop. The way he spoke with passion and love. After this we sat in the lobby for a while. The warm breeze blowing as my thoughts once again drifted to the guy from the coffee shop. I wondered yet again where he was and what he was doing. I let my mind drift a while and finally went to bed. Seven o’clock would come early after a long day of travel.
We were loaded on the trucks by seven-fifteen and we arrived in Palm Village about ten minutes later. I recognized faces but there was one girl that I particularly remembered. This was the little girl in the brown dress all grown up. It was her! Katie seen me run to her and asked what the excitement was about. I told her about how this particular girl had captured my heart years ago. It was evident that the beautiful girl remembered because as I hugged her she squeezed me so tightly. As we talked through a translator I found that she was now an orphan, squatting by herself in her family's old room in the abandoned hotel. My heart began to melt and she held my heart yet again. It was an answered prayer that I got to see this sweet one again. She had been in my heart and on my mind a lot since I first met her. There I was with her again, clinging to every second of this bittersweet moment. The joy I got from seeing her sweet face again was so sweet. I was so happy as we left, happy that I would get to see her many weeks in the following month or two.
The next day we were loaded up and in Palm Village by 7:15, earlier than we were the day before. This meant more time with the beautiful girl. When I walked in I didn’t see her right off so I began playing with other kids. I was busy drawing with chalk, carrying them on my shoulders, and throwing balls.I was consumed in the beauty of the simple things like laughter and sweet smiles. I knew I was in the place I was suppose to be. Soon I heard Katie and another familiar voice coming up behind me. I just figured it was one of Katie’s parents, so I payed no attention until they were right behind me. I turned around to see the guy from the coffee shop with the little girl in the brown dress on his shoulders. I was so shocked and it began to hit me. The guy from the coffee shop’s grandparents were Katie’s parents. How did Katie keep that one from me?
I never understood how Katie and Ryan kept it a secret. I still look back and wonder how I didn’t see it coming. It is quite frankly a work of art. Since that summer Ryan and I have been together. Connected through our passion for people and our love for the little girl in the brown dress, who is now our daughter Maria.