About Me

              My name is Kaylin. I am pretty new to this whole thing, so excuse my awkwardness until I get the hang of it. I am currently 17. I grew up in the small town of Easley, South Carolina. My great grandfather was a long-term missionary to Haiti. My grandfather spent a lot of his time growing up there. Once my grandpa married my grandma they frequently took trips back to Haiti, bringing their kids (my dad included) with them. I can remember the countless times that my cousins and I would sit on his bed while he told us amazing stories about Haiti. They ranged from funny things the Haitians would do to crazy things about witch doctors. I think that this is one of the main inspirations for my love of missions and travel. In 2017, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Haiti with my cousins and uncle. We flew there and took a ‘cattle bus’ to the Wesleyan compound. I was at a loss of descriptive words. I have never felt so out of place yet so perfectly fit. We spent our time painting the walls and tearing out the ceilings of the hospital. Upon returning home I could not wait for the day I got to go back. Not long after that, my church announced that they were launching trips to Haiti the summer of 2018. You bet I started begging my dad they second I heard. Another part of convincing him to let me go was convincing him to go with me. He was only 3 years old the last time he went, so he doesn’t remember actually being there. I ended up getting a yes; we signed up for the trip that my uncle was leading. We ironically left on the 4th of July. We sailed over to the island, La Gonave, to work in the hospital and rebuild a roof. On this trip, I became super close to my best friend, Savannah Cade. Over the duration of our trip, we were supposed to be in the eye of a hurricane. While we were stressing about the hurricane, riots broke out on the main land because of a major up rise in gas prices. It became unsafe to sail back, so we took an emergency evacuation plane and stayed in a hotel. After we finally returned home, I was extremely heart broken. It took a while to recover from all the things I experienced, but I know that I am forever changed from this trip. 

              My journey for the world race was not the easiest thing I have ever done. Freshman year I heard about it from one of my neighbors. I looked into it and decided that it was made for me. The idea excited me. I determined that I was going to graduate early so I could still go to college the same time as my friends. This meant full schedules for the past 3 years and no junior year. I am currently in my senior year of high school; While I don’t regret any part of it, it is a lot harder than I expected. I know that this was a lot, but I hope you are as excited as I am. I can not wait to walk with you all in this journey.