Love Affair

By Doug Franklin June 1, 2009

This week I head to Pawleys Island, South Carolina to lead 5 weeks of student mission trips. Most people would look at me, a 45 year-old, and say this is an act of stupidity. Actually, it’s an act of love and long-term commitment. I started leading trips to Pawleys Island in 1985. I was a sophomore at Wheaton College when my friends and I found the last one-room school house in South Carolina. The school had one teacher, Miss Ruby.  She was in her late 70’s and she had been teaching at the school her whole life. I spent every break and most of my summers serving her and the children of the school. I was mesmerized by her love for others and her love for God.  She died on graduation day, 1993, while taking a nap after the graduation service.  Today, I serve those same children but now they are adults. LeaderTreks helps repair their homes and brings the love of Christ through acts of service and has led hundreds of trips in Pawleys Island over the past 24 years.

Miss Ruby would always say, “Never say you can’t, always say ‘I’ll try.’”

I will always try and serve the people of Pawleys Island