In August 2017, I will leave the comfort of America to embark on the World Race. The World Race is an 11-month mission trip to 11 countries. The World Race was designed to equip and send a generation of believers to experience life change through God’s will. I will train, learn, grow, and go! with a team of about 55 other people to serve “the least of these.” We will partner with local ministries in each country and walk in faith as we strive to become more like Jesus.

Performing has always been near to my heart. The feeling of giving an audience an escape from reality with a song or a dance was what really drew me to it. The experiences I’ve had in theatre have been some of the most uplifting and life-changing learning experiences I’ve had in my life thus far, and about two years ago, I realized that giving people an experience like no other through the theatre was my life’s passion. Knowing that in my heart, I began to pursue musical theatre as a life-long ambition by getting training and education at a performing arts high school in San Antonio. The scholarship I received from the Lindsey Lee Memorial Fund allowed me to attend Texas State University’s first musical theatre summer intensive, NEXUS, which furthered my education by helping me to prepare me for college auditions and future endeavors, among  other life skills. I am so thankful to the Lindsey Lee Memorial Fund for helping me pursue my passion and to Lindsey for being a constant reminder of how to serve.

A scholarship from the Lindsey Lee Memorial Fund allowed me to return to Iquitos, Peru for a second week-long trip. During that time, our group of seven from College Station partnered with long-term missionaries and local Christian translators in order to encourage and serve alongside existing ministries. We fed, listened and evangelized to drug addicts, helped host church services at Iglesia Génesis as well as a nearby prison, constructed a wall on a pastor’s home and played with kids in Lago Yuracyacu, a village in the Amazon Rainforest. Through these experiences, God continues to teach me about celebrating and resting in the life that he offers his people through Christ. Thank you again for this opportunity!

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to go to Israel for a month. I will get to go serve the Jewish community, evangelize to the Jewish people and learn/see the areas Jesus once walked and taught his ministry. I’m going to learn so much more tangible things about the bible and could not thank you enough. 

The Lindsey Lee scholarship is helping me pursue my dream of studying our Holy Book (the Bible) in the Holy Land (Israel) – a once in a lifetime experience!  I will be attending Israel College of the Bible this fall in the city of Netanya, Israel located on the beautiful Mediterranean coastline. My classes include taking “field trips” throughout Israel with my fellow 15-20 classmates for 9 months. I cannot wait to see the adventures God has in store for me! Stay tuned… 

This summer I was honored to be able to go to Honduras on a mission trip as a result of receiving a scholarship from the Lindsey Lee Smith Memorial  Fund. I am blessed beyond measure and can not thank you enough. It was one of the best, life-changing experiences ever. One thing stood out to me, in particular. I saw a little girl, on the street, the first night I got there and I gave her two dollars. While that amount is nothing to us, it meant everything to her. She had the biggest smile on her face. Four days later we were out driving and we stopped at a red light. I heard someone knock on the window and it was the same little girl. She was smiling at me, waving, thanking me again for that 2 dollars. Then she put her hand up to the glass. She wanted to touch my hand. It made me realize how much is taken for granted and sometimes the littlest things mean the most. All she probably wanted was to feel important and loved by someone. The Vbs and orphanage were also an unforgettable experience. It is truly amazing how God works. Lindsey’s heart continues to touch and impact others through this scholarship fund. We love you!  

I’d just like to say thank you so much to the Lindsey Lee Smith Memorial Fund for your support over the past year. Because of your support I’ve been able to spend the past year teaching, mentoring, and raising up young leaders to take the Word of God to this generation and to the nations! While working with Youth With a Mission in Brisbane, Australia, I’ve been helping to lead our Basic Leadership School, which trains young people in Biblical leadership, in mentoring others, leading small groups, and leading outreach mission teams around the world. Every week I’ve been a part of teaching or leading classes for the leaders that come through our base, assessing their leadership assignments, and mentoring them individually. I’ve also been able to assist with an Arts Outreach school that we run, which equips students to use their arts to bring people to the Father. I’ve lead weekly classes in photography and have seen so many young people gain a fresh vision of how they can use their arts for the Kingdom. Again, thank you so much for making the opportunity to influence countless individuals and nations for the Kingdom a reality all the way across the world. I know Lindsey loved the Lord, leadership, and the arts and it’s such a blessing to get to live on doing these things in the Lord’s name and hers. Many blessings, Paige

In the summer of 2013 I was afforded the opportunity to travel to Babati, Tanzania to share the gospel. Afforded being the operative word, a scholarship from the Lindsey Lee Memorial Fund helped get Jesus’s story to a village in Africa, and over nine thousand people heard the gospel. Through the outpouring of love for Lindsey, these people heard of the love of God. I am proud to be a part of that legacy. I cannot properly express the gratitude that I have for being able to participate in God’s work in ways that Lindsey held so dearly.

Thank you.

This July I am going to be traveling to Kenya with my mother and friend! We will be going to mainly take videos for the organization / village Open Arms. They have very outdated media and photographs for there village and we are more than happy to help them out. Other than that I will be working and welding in the village to help out. One of the days we will go to a place called Campiteso where local poor kids from the slums around can get food to eat. I cant tell you how excited i am to go! film and photography is one of my deep passions and showing the love of Jesus to people.  So combining these two amazing things together makes me so excited! Thank y’all so much and I can’t wait to represent ya’ll in kenya!

First off, I want to thank the Lindsey Lee Foundation for allowing me to go on such an incredibly life-changing trip. My mission trip took place in Uganda near Jinja from June 15-24th. The day we arrived, we sorted and packed all of the prescription and over-the-counter medicines into individual packages. We also organized all of the medical supplies (bandaids, gauze, antibiotic cream, tape, glasses, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste ect.) in preparation for the clinic. On the first Sunday, we were honored to have been able to worship in four different churches and visit the homes of four ladies in the God is Grace Ministry. We were able to hear and recite personal stories, testimonies, prayers and much more with everyone we worked with. One of the ladies that we visited was a muslim woman. After one of the members explained her “plan of salvation” bracelet that we all wore, the muslim lady accepted Christ! What a joyful moment that was. Over the next three days, with the help of Mathias, Joseph and Steven (local preachers), their church members and ten local doctors and dentists, we were able to help over 1850 people in the village of Kalagala! As a fairly small, mainly female, Oakwood group, it would have been impossible for us to minister to all of those individuals without the help of these others. As the leader Beth said, “Together, with God’s help, we can do so much!” Lastly, we visited, played games, gave testimonies, danced and sang at two local schools. We finished up our last evening in Uganda with a birthday party for the Mashah Orphanage, which is sponsored by Reach Youth Global. It was an incredible experience that I am beyond thankful to have been part of. Everywhere we went, the people were so welcoming and beautiful — I felt like I was home. I can not wait to return to Africa, thank you again Lindsey Lee Foundation for making that time possible for me. 

I got into theater at a fairly young age and I’ve enjoyed doing a show or two per year since. I was devastated when an ankle injury last year left me unable to take dance seriously anymore so I turned to the stage. I realized over the past year that theater could be one of the most uplifting experiences as I enjoyed creating happiness for others while having fun with some of the best people the world has and making memories to last a lifetime. I hope to share the joy, love, and family that I’ve found in theater with the world.

The Lindsey Lee Scholarship enabled me to attend a Discipleship Training School with YWAM over in Brisbane, Australia – and I am so grateful for the experience. In the six months I spent away, I powerfully encountered the love of God and learned how to introduce and convey that love to others. I had the opportunity to practice sharing the gospel (and the wild, wonderful love story it tells) both “locally” in the community of Brisbane, as well as abroad, in some conflict-saturated areas in the Middle East. Coming back from the school, I have never felt more assured of the transformative nature of God’s love, or more equipped to communicate its essence to the hurting.

​A comment from Mayce: Linda, thank you so much. I am so grateful and excited! It is deeply encouraging to watch your family cling to the goodness of God in the wake of such an unimaginable tragedy, year after year. I think I may have told you this before, but I was profoundly impacted at the time of Lindsey’s death by the way you faithfully refused to waver in your declaration that God is real and that He’s for us. I can’t wait to meet her in heaven and thank her for the things she did in my life, simply through her legacy.

We are honored to be chosen for this scholarship! The funds will be going toward our food, accommodations, and transport for traveling to different places to share about the Destiny Rescue and how we can fight for the freedom of those in Human Trafficking. Our heart, as a band, is to be a voice for the voiceless and to create an atmosphere, through music, that invites people to encounter the love of Jesus.

Originally, we were hoping to use the scholarship towards visiting one of the Destiney Rescue Homes in Thailand or Cambodia. Unfortunately we won’t be going after all, but we are thankful for the opportunities that have opened up for us along the Eastern Coast of Australia to continue spreading the message of freedom. 

This summer, through the Lindsey Lee Memorial Scholarship Fund, I was given the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong, Thailand, Uganda, France, and El Salvador. Our team spent about 10 days in each country, partnering with different ministries in each of them. I was blessed to have gone on this life-altering journey through this fund and I cannot thank you enough for the opportunity. I was able to see how immense God’s love is and how much He will overcome to make His name known. There was one evening in Thailand where we were worshipping with the ministry’s kids, and as they were praising our Lord in Thai, we were praising Him in English and it really set in the stone how big our God is. He is everywhere, and I am so blessed to have gotten to experience this as well as encourage others to praise His name around the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Sam Flynn (Left) with his team at the 2013 Asia Pacific Invitational in Sydney, Australia, holding their “Good Onya Award” for sportsmanship, determination, and ingenuity. Pictured with Sam are his FIRST Tech Robotics teammates (from left) Lili Haus, Kyle Spinks, and Matt Davanzo