It was a close call, an experience that Ellen Parrish and her family believe was, ultimately, guided by God. On a humanitarian trip to Ivory Coast, Africa, Parrish was part of a group that was in the area during the March 13 terrorist attack which left 16 people dead in the town of Grand-Bassam,.

Parrish, a student at Welch College in Nashville, Tennessee, has been on mission trips overseas throughout her life and wanted to go on one more trip before graduating college, according to Todd Parrish, her father and senior pastor at First Free Will Baptist Church. She was given the opportunity to go on the humanitarian trip through a partnership between her church in Nashville and The Hanna Project, a faith-based, nonprofit organization that sends volunteer teams to neglected areas of the world, according to Ellen Parrish.

Ellen Parrish said volunteers were sent to work on an elementary school in the small town of Bondoukou, as well as conduct a soccer camp for local students. The group of 22 college students on the trip also went to villages in the area and handed out packages of medicine.

“My great uncle was a missionary in this area for like 20 years,” Ellen Parrish said. “It seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I applied. I made the cut, and I was able to go.”

Throughout the trip, members of the group befriended locals, including Muslim students, through the soccer camps, Ellen Parrish said. The area the group was visiting was predominantly Muslim, but the school that was being built is scheduled to open in September as a Christian school, which is being promoted to families throughout the area.

“We talked to the natives about God,” Ellen Parrish said. “There are mosques on every corner, and the kids we were with were all Muslim. The reason the school is so important to the town is it’s the first Christian school they’ll have in this town. We were able to promote the school at the soccer camp and make contacts with local people to let them know there’s a (Christian) school coming.”

When the group was scheduled to return to the capital city of Abidjan to fly back to the United States, several things happened that made them late in returning to the capital city, Ellen Parrish said.

The day the group was scheduled to leave, they attended a church service, at which Muslim youth they had met came to church to say goodbye. Several members were also sick from something they had eaten prior to the trip home, which caused delays, as well, so rather than arriving in the capital city by early afternoon, they didn’t make it there until dark, Ellen Parrish said.

During the trip back to the capital city, they received word that a terrorist attack had occurred in Grand-Bassam about 30 minutes from where they were staying, with terrorists targeting Americans in the area. Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) later claimed responsibility for the attack, which ended in 16 deaths and all six terrorists’ deaths, according to a Fox News report.

“When we found out, I was shocked, at first,” Ellen Parrish said. “It didn’t seem real at all. We were supposed to be there early, but because those kids showed up to church that morning and made us late, it allowed us to be able to get back to where we needed to be safely. They ended up saving our lives pretty much. They let us call home that night and tell our families we were safe, and we were able to fly out the next day. God opened the door for us to go on this trip even though he knew it was going to happen. We were excited to get home, but because of that experience, it made our trip more special. We couldn’t help think about all these people we met and all the kids we loved on all week. What if it was them who had been killed? It kind of made it more real because we had grown to love these people.”

Todd Parrish said upon hearing about the situation and realizing Ellen Parrish was in the area during the attack, he, his wife and oldest daughter began to pray together for Ellen Parrish and her fellow group members’ safe return. One thing Todd Parrish has taught his daughters, which was passed down to him by his father, is “Where God guides, he provides, and where God leads, he feeds,” Todd Parrish said.

For the Parrish family, the experience reinforced having complete, blind faith in God and made them consider the situation missionaries and their families find themselves in: little communication and having to trust God completely.

“A church member asked me, ‘How could you let (Ellen) go (on the trip),” Todd Parrish said. “I said, ‘If she’s in God’s hands, she’s safe. If she’s in my hands, I can’t guarantee her safety.’ Even if it’s being surrounded by a terrorist attack, God will keep her safe. My girls have committed to a life of serving God and others. She was able to call out briefly, and we had our whole church family praying. We just rejoiced that God answered our prayers.

“That week, Christians were ministering to and showing the love of God to Muslims. Our kids were there giving life to Muslim people, and in turn, that friendship with (the kids), I believe, saved their lives. Serving God is an adventure. People are so scared that if they serve God, he’ll send them to some place like Africa, but that’s what God did to my daughter, and she had an amazing adventure and learned of God’s protection and provision — lessons she would’ve never learned living next door to me.”