83 Years, 100 Trips, One Incredible Story: Meet Helen

At 83, Helen doesn’t remember every place, every detail, or every story from the road.

But maybe that’s not the point.

In this episode, we sit down with Helen and talk about a life shaped not by perfect memory, but by consistent presence. Through decades of travel, mission trips, and seasons of life that blur together, one thing stands out clearly—she just kept showing up.

This conversation isn’t about timelines or tallies. It’s about faith that didn’t need fanfare, obedience that didn’t require recognition, and a quiet kind of impact that builds over time.

Some stories are sharp. Others are softened by time. But what remains is something deeper:

A life of saying yes.

Again and again.

You can find me as David Monsour a.k.a. Disco Davo on most social media applications as well as my contact 
davidmonsour.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:54

All right. Welcome. Tell me who am I speaking with today? Miss Helen, Helen.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Jean Hamilton Heard.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Welcome. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Thank you. We are in. Glad to be with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Guatemala. Yeah. Chi Chi. Can you pronounce it?

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Oh no.

unknown 1:09

No. That's fine.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

So you have been in over a 100 I didn't say that.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

I've been but probably.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Is this well? Let's just call this 100. No way. I'll know.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

My friends were. I'd say I mean that's probably close. I've I've been a a lot of places for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

So coffee, stubbornness, prayer, what's what's the secret to a hundred?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

I don't know. I I'm not a coffee drinker. I I have been here, but I never drank coffee prior to this. And then what was the other question with that one?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Just what what got you through a hundred mission trips?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

That's well, my husband died uh when and when he died, I I just wanted to go places because my children were already grown.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

So you started the trips recently? When what was your first mission trip?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

To where was my first I don't know? Africa. A Africa was one.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Do you remember what got you involved? What drew you to the first trip?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

My church. And I'm so glad I did. It it it was wonderful. And it a lot of it was helping other people, but a lot of it was just enjoying what God had created there. I mean, the uh the yeah, it I don't know, I just thought it was wonderful. I love the trip, I loved all the people, met a lot of people that I would never have known, and yeah, just really thankful for that.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I personally think that's enough. I think we sometimes overthink it and seek these deeper meanings to why we go and what we do, and sometimes just to acknowledge what an amazing world. Like our worlds are so small when we stay in Peace Tree City, Georgia. And when you leave, you realize how big it is and how big God is and big the world is. So what what is one place that completely surprised you?

SPEAKER_00 3:15

Well, I'd have to say Africa, and I was in several places in Africa. Right now I can't, I wouldn't be able to tell you what they all were, but I I loved all of them. I love the people of Africa. I love the way they sat on the floor to with their pots for you to eat your dinner. You just sat on the floor. There was no chairs or anything.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

Utensils or uh we must have had utensils.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I can't I don't think so. I think we did it with our hands. And so it was just something, it it just it did something for me. I I knew that it was God in the making of of of me as a person outside my area that I'd grown up in. And it was wonderful. It was and so that made me want to go back and go back again and go back again.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Do you understand how awesome that is? Like just that perspective that you have.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

I loved it. I just loved it.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Did anything ever go hilariously wrong?

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Our friend that was from the United States, who was who we stayed at her home, and sometimes when we would get in her Jeep to go out looking for whatever we were looking for. And and her Jeep, I can't remember what happened to it, but we were kind of like stuck out in the in the wilderness, and it it all worked out. I don't remember. Not like that, but just the way people, they're all in tents, and and people have some people have really nice tents that they're in, but then there's others that I don't know how they survive. And but we love going inside the the smaller tents with the people and and that's their home. That's what they have, and they're content with that. And that's a great thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

So what is something that you what is something that you either packed once or maybe you pack it all the time, but you never need it? And what's something that you need to pack and you've gotta have? Like every single trip? What's something that well's in your luggage?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

In my luggage would uh my shoes, that would always be in there.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

How many pairs do you bring?

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Is it probably three pairs? Three pairs, and they'd all be different. And and then I'd bring the clothes that I was gonna wear there. But then as it turned out, I didn't want to wear the clothes that like I had on today. I wanted to wear the clothes that they wore, and so did my friends that were with me. And so I bought, you know, the and then they're not expensive there. So I was able to buy a couple of those and I loved it. It was just a wonderful experience, and I wouldn't give anything in the world for it, and I saw God everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

That's awesome. So, what what does it mean when uh yeah, you've agreed, your son said to ask you about the 50s that you had a big time in the 50s. So what does that mean that you had a big time in the 50s?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Well, because I love music, I love I I love being with friends, I love going places. I don't know, I had a wonderful mother. I had my father had already passed away, and and I had a wonderful brother, and he's gone now. But just a lot of a lot of places that I went were just wonderful. I mean, I wouldn't take anything.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

So you were doing mission trips in the 50s?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

No, not in the 50s. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

You see, when we talk about progress, what type of concerts? What was your best concert?

SPEAKER_00 6:45

I think I ever went. Did I ever go to concerts? I wasn't a big concert.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Okay. So what did travel look like then? I don't you might not lean into Google as much, like Google Maps, and you know, we have waves and everything on our phones. How was that different then? Like, did you get lost a lot or did it matter?

SPEAKER_00 7:03

No, no, we just I I was not the one when I was in Africa doing the driving. I had my friend who that she lived there, and she was from the United States, and that's who we stayed in her home, and and she's still there today. And that this was a long time ago, and she's lived there for the rest of her uh well, I I'm assuming she's still there, and I'm pretty sure she is, and she was great, and and then some of my friends would come and we'd go together over there to to Africa. So Africa, and then what's on the other side of Africa? It's on uh it's it's where I was most of the time, and right now I should have had some.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Madagascar, you're fine. We wouldn't know. So well, are there any stories your son doesn't know yet? Any of them you're keeping in your back pocket?

SPEAKER_00 7:53

No, I got nothing nothing to hide. Well, maybe, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

So what made you keep saying yes? What made you keep going back?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

I don't know, it was the pull of the Lord, I think. Um I was always a uh very active in church, always. That was Cascade Methodist Church in Atlanta in on pick no, it was Atlanta, and then numerous other two or three other churches that and I taught Sunday school for back when I was what 12, no, probably 15. And then I started teaching people that were maybe two or three years older than me. And I've got still got lots of friends that I love that were in that area in that area with me.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Um so what's it like being here? So now you're here with your son. Who all are you here with? And what's it like being here with your family now?

SPEAKER_00 8:51

Well, that's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I I just adore all of them. And uh I don't know, they're all just great kids. And I still consider him a kid.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

Yes, he is. Well, I think I think what's amazing, I hope you appreciate that your grandkids, it was their idea. Really? From from what they've done, they're the ones that said your grandma needs to be there.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Oh, that's I think that's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

All right, rapid fire. So these are one word, one sentence questions. There's only a few of them. What's the best food you ate on a mission trip or uh just travel in general? Best food.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

You mean anywhere or just anywhere, anywhere. Oh, I don't know. I'm not a big foodie.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

So what's the best thing you had here?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

What we had today. That was great.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Plantains and what's the worst thing? Remember anything that was just like, oh, I can't eat no, nothing bad. All right. Any culture shock moments?

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Not here, no. Anywhere? Yeah, other places, yes. Other places uh in in Africa for sure. Okay. I fell in love. I I really I fell in love with it.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Sounds like it. We're gonna have to dive into that in another episode all about Africa.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

I was there so much.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

Any trips to a local hospital? You are what about that's wow, that's amazing. Any sicknesses, your stomach, and all that? You've had to have that.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Well, minor things, but nothing that needed the doctor or anything. I was thinking about that when I was coming up here. Not yes, coming up here. And I don't know, it's just I I can't I can't carry on with that. I can't think of what I was gonna say just then.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Would you do it all over again? Last question. Would you do it all over again? Absolutely. Every bit of it.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Absolutely. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Helen, it has been a pleasure. I'm wrapping it up quick, everybody, because we have a schedule on our trip and they're calling us over. Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Well, thank you. Take off as much as you can. No, man, you were perfect, you were wonderful.