Girl on a Mission
Cindy Ellis
Girl on a Mission
Copyright 2012 Cindy Ellis.
Kirkdale Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
You may use brief quotations from this novel in reviews, presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Kirkdale Press for permission. Email us at permissions@kirkdalepress.com.
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-57799-518-0
For Craig,
who always had enough courage for both of us.
Contents
5Mix-Ups and Misunderstandings
8Conversations and Revelations
“Hey, guys! We should be there in about ten minutes. Start gathering up any trash, and make sure you have all your stuff with you when you get out of the van. I may have to park a little distance away from the school, and you will not be waking me up at midnight to go looking for the iPod you left under the seat.”
Jared Wheeler, talking over his shoulder from the driver’s seat, sounded like he meant business. Thirteen-year-old Emery Craig, for one, was already following orders, rooting around under her seat for the small brown purse she had brought. Her youth minister, Jared, was very easygoing and had a reputation for being one of the best youth ministers in the district, but he didn’t take any flak from the kids, and they respected him for it. Jared was the one who had recruited Emery for this mission trip to Cawley, West Virginia. His fellow leader was Denise Briggs, a new music minister at a neighboring church who seemed excited for the chance to chaperone the trip.
From her youth group of twelve members, Emery had been the only one available to go on the trip, the others having summer jobs or needing to work on their family farms. She had been joined by three kids from other youth groups in the district for the ride to Cawley. Two of the churches were located in very rural areas—one of them almost two hours from Emery’s hometown of Garnett—and they’d had to travel to Garnett to catch the van to their mission site. Because the others lived outside of her school zone, Emery had never met them before today. With a total of fifty kids converging on Cawley from many states for this mission trip, she had lots more people to meet in the days ahead.
As Emery gathered her things for the anticipated arrival, she could hardly believe that this moment had finally arrived. Her thoughts drifted back to the night before and the conversation she’d had with her older sister, Dawn. Dawn had listened sympathetically as Emery confessed her fears about the trip with Christian Teen Service Corps—CTSC—and her anxiety at meeting new people. She had never once been away from home by herself, and she was beginning to wonder if she’d made the right decision to go.
When Jared ...
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About Girl on a MissionThe lurching van ride to rural Cawley, West Virginia, does little to ease thirteen-year-old Emery Craig’s nerves. Torn between the anticipation of serving on her first mission trip and the uneasiness of being away from home, Emery worries that this summer might not turn out the way she’d hoped. Emery’s initial doubts disappear as she makes new friends, including the quiet, cute Jesse. Assigned to help the Suiter family, she develops an unexpected bond with the elderly Mr. Suiter and his granddaughter. The more time she spends with them, the more she learns of their troubled past—and the more she realizes that fixing a broken home takes more than a fresh coat of paint. Emery longs to help the Suiters, but when her own relationships are put to the test, she wonders how someone like her can be an instrument of God. |
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