Emma Teachey
My name is Emma Kate Teachey. I am 17 years old, and I spent my summer in Zambia, Africa. I’ve lived in Topsail Beach for 8 years, just 30 minutes away from Wrightsville Beach. I enjoy surfing, the beach, reading and of course, fashion. I have been modeling at Hallelu for about a year now, and it has been such a sweet and special experience. One of the reasons that I love it here so much is that’s a Christian based store. I couldn’t be more thankful to be in a fun environment that supports my walk with Christ. I began following Jesus at 14, after wrestling with what my beliefs were. I was an insecure young girl walking enslaved to sin. and fear rooted in deep hurt that I didn’t know how to heal from. My time in Africa was spent in a town called Lusaka in the country of Zambia. It was a relationally based ministry, with evangelism and prayer. We worked with local ministries and churches and stayed in a home in Twin Palms. Lots of landscape was beautiful, as the sunsets were like no other, and the night sky is unreal. The most beautiful was the freedom we were all encountering. Many think that as we go and serve others, we change those we help. This is true. But the Lord had a specific design for us on this trip. At night and early in the morning we would worship together, and the Lord would speak to the leaders about us. We would sit in prayer with people as God revealed what we needed to surrender, the hurt we need to walk through in order to heal, and the lies we need to break off to learn true Freedom in Christ. This is what changed my life. Learning how to sit and receive from the Father, knowing I don’t need to strive to be loved by Him. I truly believe that this allowed us to serve and love the Zambian people from such an outpour of what God was doing in us, and why we saw what we did there. Street kids who became addicts as young as 5, where being saved and baptized, and quitting the intense chemical drugs they were on in the span of 12 hours. We saw miracles happen, families restored because we went back to what it says in 1. John 4:19, “We love because He first loved us.” Eternal life doesn’t have to start when we die, it starts when we accept and follow Christ. God wants us to do this here in America, in our coffee shops, schools and locally owned stores:)
I am honored to continue to get to love people from an outpour of His love to me through Hallelu and the way they support me. I am no longer the insecure, fear filled girl I was at 14, and I am thankful to Hallelu that they helped me find a new way to walk in confidence, and be who I was designed to be. – Emma
