Our month in Rwanda is drawing to an end. The next few days will be filled with packing and errands and goodbyes and a few last church services. I'm working on a video and another blog that sums up our wonderful month here on this new continent, but first, I don't want to post yet another blog before I stop to say thank you.
You may have noticed in the past few weeks that the little support dollar countdown on the right has finally hit $0. It's true, I'm fully funded! Thank you so much to my friends and family who rallied around me as I got near the final deadline and helped me to hit my goal.
Because of you, I am fully funded!
When I signed up for this trip, $15,500 seemed like an outrageous amount of money I needed to raise. But my God is so faithful. My God is a God who provides. I feel incredibly blessed and supported by all of you who made financial gifts to help the World Race become a reality for me. Thank you to those of you who donated online, sent me checks, who passed along my blog to others, those of you who attended one of my fundraising events or bought baked goods. Whether it was $10 or $1,000, please know that my life has been forever changed because of your generosity.
(Thanks to two of my best friends for throwing an awesome fundraiser for me).
Thank you to my beloved Philadelphia church, Epic Church, and to my home church, Emporia First United Methodist, for supporting me even though I've been away the past seven years. Thank you to my family members who sacrificed to make this possible. Thank you to my friends, and to my parent's friends and to former coworkers. To my close friends, thank you for loving me, and to the people I barely know, your gifts touched me more than you may ever know.
Special thanks to those of you who made repeat donations, giving every time I asked and even when I didn't. I have learned so much about what it means to be a giver from you. You inspire me to want to meet others' need. God is so intentional, because your gifts always seemed to show up in my account at the precise moment I needed a lift. On the hard days, I was encouraged knowing that not only are you praying for me, but you invested in me financially, and that reminder that so many believe in me has so often got me through the day.
If you've been following my blog at all, it'd be impossible for you not to notice how much I have grown through this journey, these nations and the beautiful people I've met.
Because of you, I've been able to hold orphans, visit the sick, befriend prostitutes and preach the gospel to prisoners.
Because of you, I've loved on street children, taught English, fed the hungry, and helped build a church.
Because of you, I've been pushed outside my comfort zone, had the time of my life, and found my identity in Christ.
I would not be sitting here in the middle of Africa if it were not for your generous support. So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. I appreciate you.
XOXO,
Bethany
P.S.: If you didn't get a chance to give and still want to be a part of my World Race, there are still a few things not covered by my support account, including my flight home, and plenty of times that my team wishes we could buy shoes for the neighbor kids, paint for the church, school supplies for the orphans, etc. Please email me if you are interested and I can get you more details. Please do not make any additional donations to my online account, since I have no way of getting that money where it needs to go. Thanks!!
My teammate Dura is an amazing videographer and she made this halfway point video that gives you a great recap of the past seven months!
