Noah's Story

Praise Report, we are at 84% of our funding needed to answer God's call to serve him in Thailand!  We are so grateful for your prayer and support.  Please consider joining us if you haven't already.  Our hope is to be fully funded and leave for Thailand this November.  Please read below for an entry by our son Noah. God's blessings to each of you!

Ashley and Noah Attaway

  My name is Noah Attaway and I am 15 years old. I just finished my freshman year at Wade Hampton High School in Greenville SC. I would just like to take a moment to tell you about my call story. Growing up I have always attended a church and had a very Christian family. I have gone to Aldersgate United Methodist Church my whole life and have loved every bit of it. When I about 7 or 8 my older brother and sister started to go on mission trips with our youth group and they would come back and be so on fire for God and that is when I knew I wanted to try these mission trips. Then when I turned 13 I was admitted into our youth group. Later that year we went to Georgetown SC and did a short term mission trip. We went to one of the rougher parts of town and we worked on peoples homes. One thing that really stuck out to me is how appreciative these people were for things we take for granted. One example of this is my group redid the insulation under the house and I would bet most people have not thought about insulation in a long time. This women was brought to tears when we put that insulation in her house, and I can't even think about how many times she told us thank you. A year later when I turned 14 I got to go to Salkehatchie and that is a week long camp where you rebuild peoples broken homes. My site was with a lady named Mrs. Barr and she was 97 and had survived two strokes. She was in a wheelchair and had her daughter and son living with her. This woman was a miracle and God had truly blessed her. Every morning we would get there at about 6 AM and she would be sitting on the couch waiting for the devotion. Whenever we took a break she would tell you stories and thank you. Every time you walked by her she said thank you, and she really meant it. All these trips have influenced me in what I want to do.

  One person I have really been looking up to throughout this process is Paul. In the beginning he persecuted Christians and killed them. Then he changed and started preaching the name of Christ and no one believed him. That is how I think it will be for us, hard and no one will really put their trust in us. If you read on people started coming to his sermons and started trusting him and believing him. Paul ended up in jail a handful of times and what was he doing every time? Praying, and God answered him. This whole process has been a journey, but I am still very excited about going. In Thailand I want to meet people my age and let them know I will always be there for them and that I want to build relationships with them. I want people to know that we are not going to Thailand to change people, we are going to love people. This may seem odd to most people, but did Jesus ever make someone be a Christian? He hung out with people and loved them where they were. Thailand may seem like a huge leap for us, but really it is a small step in Gods eyes. We cant live in a comfort zone and expect everyone to know Christ. We have to put our faith in God and trust him. God will put us in his hands and protect us throughout the whole journey.