The scorching summer sun hit the wings of the large Air Jamaica plane as it sat on the sweltering concrete runway in Atlanta, Georgia. It was September 9, 1996 and I was reminded of a book I had read, NEVER TOO LATE, the story of one woman's journey in the mission service as she headed for China after she was 60 years old.

I was born in Demorest, Georgia in Habersham County which I believe is God's country. I was the second child of Warren Pound Lovett, Sr. and Ethel Lillian Carpenter Lovett. I had wonderful parents. Both parents were educators for the State of Georgia and my Daddy was a circuit riding Methodist Preacher for over 50 years.

Having Godly parents I was in church from the cradle until I was 25 years old every Sunday morning, Sunday evening and Wednesday nights and every other activity the church had. I knew the Jesus of the Bible in my head, in fact, I had read the Bible through. I learned and was taught how to act right, live right, dress right, look right, date right, and even make good grades in school but I didn't know the Lord Jesus of the Bible in my heart.

I was so bored with church and in my mind I thought when I grew up I would marry a no body and we would go no where and I wouldn't go back to church anymore. I married and we were no body and we moved to Atlanta, Georgia where we both started up the corporate ladder making money and having things with no thought of God.

One night my husband, Mack, was gloriously saved. I wanted a good husband. I even wanted one that went to church but I didn't want the fanatic I had. I thought surely something had happened to his mind. I was amazed and stood in awe to see such a changed life. I realized that nothing like that had ever happened to me.

Mack was saved in March of 1963 and he was so hungry to learn the Word of God. He heard about a Ladies Bible Class meeting in the bank building on Peachtree Street and he ask if I would go with him. We did go and sat on the back row. He was the only man present. The lady teaching was teaching from the Book of Daniel. For the first time I was hearing what I had never heard before. We faithfully attended for three months and I was saved in my bedroom on a Friday afternoon after that Ladies Bible Class in June of 1963.

We didn't know John 3:16 but we loved the Lord. We went straight down to the Southern Baptist Mission Board (we had never heard of any other kind of Baptist) and ask if we could apply to go to Africa. When they got through telling us all the requirements to go to the mission field, we were already 25 and 27 years old, and we just knew Jesus would be back before we ever could fulfill their requirements, so we put missions on a back burner.

God was so good to us. Someone invited us to visit Forrest Hills Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia. We were the 359 and 360 members of the church and we met Dr. Curtis Hutson for the first time. He was known as Curtis back then. We stayed with the church for 9 years. Dr. Jack Hyles visited and preached on "Fresh Oil" and God called Mack to preach. Dr. Hutson and the Forrest Hills Baptist Church ordained Mack and we moved to Rome and pastored the Rome Baptist Tabernacle for 16 years.

During this time our children had grown up and married and God began to tug at our hearts again for missions. We had built a good soul winning and mission church in Rome. We supported 43 missionaries all over the world and the church was known for missions and our mission conferences. We resigned from the church and joined with Rome Baptist Temple under the leadership of Dr. Billy Goolesby and started out on deputation.

No one really realized that day as I entered the airplane that it had taken me 33 years to enter that airplane. I had operated the past four weeks on nervous energy as I headed to fulfill this lifetime long road to be a missionary among the Jamaican people. Someone said to me, "Where are you going?" I replied, "To fulfill a dream!" I was on my way. In my mind I could hear voices from the past. One said, "Isn't it time to give up this dream of being a missionary?" Another voice said, "I would be a missionary, too, if God would call me to Jamaica."

I laughed as the plane lifted off the soil and I remember saying, "Thank you , Lord, for giving me this dream." It seemed as if there had been years of waiting and it was finally behind me. My mind was finally having time to wander. I had been so busy packing, saying good-byes to my friends and family but finally I had time to think. I began to think back over the years, praising God for the people who had played a part in the development of my character and my Christian life.

As the plane journeyed my mind journeyed into the past. I thought of my childhood. I was snapped out of my daydream when the plane hit a rough spot. The captain's voice calmed the passengers and reminded them to fasten their seatbelts until the plane cleared the turbulent weather. How quickly our mind is capable of moving. All I knew at this point was that I was on my way to Jamaica, knowing that "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord."

Full of emotions, my hands shaking, and tears slidding down my face, the stewardess was checking to see that the seatbelts were fastened. I could hardly hold back the tears. This was one of the happiest days of my life.

Silently I prayed, "Lord, use me to teach these people about the Living God." I learned quickly that I would make cultural mistakes. I went through all the excitement. Then I went through a time when I didn't like them much less love them. I called my Pastor at home and told him I needed prayer. How could I ever lead them to the Lord, I didn't like them, much less, love them? I'm sure my home church prayed for me because it wasn't long until I fell in love with the Jamaican people.

The work among the Jamaican people is slow. Many hours of Bible teaching had to be done before they would make decisions and really understand how they should.

The weather is extremely hot but I have tried not to complain. Sometimes my hair is wet and my clothes sour and I drip. It is combination of heat and humidity that bothers me. The heat waves are broken here by hurricanes.

The blessings I have received here on the field are too numerous to count. I just feel the need to thank the Lord for the blessing of life.

Here I am in Jamaica. We started in October of 1997 the Bounty Hall Independent Baptist Church, the first one in the parish of Trelawny. We are meeting in a Basic School Building.

We are excited as we work in the bush where people do not have running water or bathrooms inside, nor kitchens. They walk to get their water and cook on open fires. Our people have never been to church and there is lots to teach other than salvation. When we arrived not one person had a Bible. We are working long and hard hours but it is worth it all when we see the happy faces as they come up out of the baptismal waters. With tears in my eyes, we need more missionaries. We want you to know how needy these people really are and young people need to be training now in order to be prepared to come where the doors are open.

How glorious it is to worship the God of creation and the Fulfiller of dreams. As long as my health holds out, I will remain on the island of Jamaica. There is always another little boy and girl that haven't been reached for Jesus.

To my home church, the Rome Baptist Temple in Rome, Georgia and Dr. Billy Goolesby, thank you for your support of us and all those supporting churches, family and friends that help to keep us here. Thanks to my family, Mother and Daddy, Son and daughter who live with my mission zeal and love me in spite of it. And thanks to my wonderful lifetime friends, especially the girls I graduated from high school with who faithfully support me. Thanks to my Bible teacher, Mrs. Eloise Bowen, who prayed for me and believed in me. Because of all of you, my mission dream has become a reality. May God have the glory.

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