My heart has been longing to do some work in the "black belt" of Alabama. There are several poor poor counties (Green, Choctaw, Perry) in southwest Alabama. I contacted The Church at Brookhills, who passed me to MRay at Student Life, who had not had any contact in the black belt in the last year. I then contacted the governor's office, Carol East, to get the name of a contact in these counties. I was given the name, Billie Jean Young, a professor at Judson College, who sits on the committee for the black belt at the capital. I contacted Billie Jean, made an appointment to see her on Friday. Tonya Heartsill, Missions assistant at Brookhills, and myself left very early and traveled to Judson College in Marion, Alabama.
As we arrived in Marion and began to look for the address - there was this huge old plantation type house with giant columns, acres of manicured yards. I called the cell phone number I had been given only to find out that we should park in the back yard. As we entered this beautiful old house (a little dated carpet and furniture), a nicely dressed brown lady with long braided hair welcomed us to Judson. We were offered tea and fruit at a large dining table (would seat 20+ people). We introduced ourselves and told BJ we just wanted to help out in the black belt.