"Aint no reason to worry about connecting with nobody. God's got a plan, and He's gonna do with you what He wants."-Nellie B.

45 years ago, two young mothers sat side by side at a church meeting in North Georgia, listening to the testimony of woman named Pearl Jenkins. She served the people of India for several years, and her stories about healing and compassion and sacrifice had the two women impassioned to join her work. One of the young mothers turned to the other and said, "Oh, me. I want to be just like Pearl Jenkins someday." And her friend said, "Me too."

The two women left the meeting and back to their busy homes where their responsibilities as mothers of four kids took over their lives, forgetting about Pearl Jenkins and their covenant to each other that day.

40 years later, one of the women heard about an organization named Rahab's Rope that served and loved sex workers in India, and she decided to join the team and live in Bangalore for 2 years. She began to write stories and reports about her experiences and send them home, and one day she received a response from a fellow church member who said, "The stories you're telling remind me of a woman who travelled and lived in India years and years ago, and she used to come to my church to tell us about her time in India. Her name was Pearle Jenkins." The woman leaped from her chair and praised the Lord with tears of joy as she remembered her conversation with her friend years ago, and how they had promised each other they wanted to be just like Pearle.

Just a few months later, the other woman was at a prayer meeting when someone mentioned a prayer request for their friend serving in India. Realizing the woman in India was her friend too, she was flooded with the memory of her covenant to her friend to go to India one day and serve the people, and so she emailed her friend in Asia and they reconnected when she returned to the United States for a few months. Now, the two old mothers are living together in Bangalore for 6 months, fulfilling their desires to be like Pearle.

The two women are Mackey and Nellie, and Mackey is the staff member of Rahab's Rope while Nellie is visiting to build a playground for an orphanage. They are the cutest, sweetest, funniest friends, and if I'm half as cool as they are when I'm in my sixties, I'll be set :). I told Mackey that I wanted to be just like her someday and she said, "Careful now, Emily. You just watch what you say out loud now, 'cause Jesus will send you to India in 50 years like He did me! Oh you done it now, can't you just hear Him smilin' and laughin' up there?"