The Pay It Forward Challenge

Trudy Shipp of Provo, Utah, is planning to help college students get home for Christmas, but then the story of one young woman in need changes her mind!

Trudy, who attended Brigham Young University in the 1960s and '70s, knows how hard it is for some students to go home for the holidays. She decides to find four students who can't afford to go home and give them travel vouchers worth $250 each. She buys the vouchers and heads for her old college town to surprise the students.

Instead, the surprise is on Trudy. She hears about Melina, a student who is planning to drop out because she is $1,000 short on tuition for the winter term. So, instead of giving the travel vouchers, Trudy decides to keep them and withdraws $1,000 in cash to give to Melina.

Melina is stunned. She tells Trudy she had faith she would find a way to return to school, but she didn't know how. "She feels that her prayers have been answered. So do I!" Trudy says.

The week of planning took its toll on Trudy. "I lost three pounds even though I was eating several chocolate candy bars every day," she says. "The way this came together after a week of turmoil shows me that God uses people to work his miracles to bless his children."