I am fully funded, hallelujah! To all of my wonderful supporters, thank you! This mission trip would not be possible without you. This experience has been a journey of faith. In the beginning fundraising itself was one the biggest challenges. I was always a very independent person and the idea of asking for help was terrifying. This experience was very humbling for me. Fundraising in itself taught me so many lessons. Raising 16,285 dollars in 8 months seemed like an impossible task but nothing is too big for the Lord. What was once a burden to me became a huge blessing. It is not about asking for money but about asking people to partner with me; it is about sharing this experience and seeing the Lord work.
God is continuously showing me that the hard things or the mountains in our lives are actually a blessing placed in front of us to grow. We just finished our sixth month on the race and are now over half way done. This has been one of the most incredible yet challenging experiences of my life. Each month God has stretched me, he continuously brings up challenges and reveals places for me to grow in. The mountains keep coming, it seems as soon as I make it to the top another one appears. It can be absolutely exhausting but with every mountain God strengthens me and gives me rest. The hard things have turned out to be some of the most beautiful experiences on the race. I’ve learned not only to receive the blessings with open arms but the hard times as well.
God has immaculate timing with his placement of the mountains in our lives. The first month in Zambia God stripped me from all of my comforts and stuck my smack in the middle of an African village, it was a month of discovery. In Malawi God brought up many dark things from my past that I stuffed deep inside of me. It was a month of trusting the Lord and finding strength through being vulnerable. After leaving a physically and emotionally challenging two months in Africa the Lord brought me to Estonia to work in the woods. I was exhausted and found myself in pain physically more often than not. God gave me the strength and showed me how to not only persevere through the pain but be grateful. In Lithuania, my team of 7 were stuffed into a tiny one bedroom apartment. We definitely had our challenges but we grew closer together and learned the value of community. That month I spent every day in active listening prayer and began to pursue the Lord as a friend and grew in intimacy. Month five was spent in Latvia with my new team and was the most difficult month of the race for me. I lost my grandma last year on May 20th. Being away from my family was especially challenging. This month God took me backwards in order to move forward. May was a season of brokenness followed by healing. This month was spent in China partnering with a thrift store. This was my least favorite ministry overall but I experienced some of my favorite moments on the race thus far. God reminded me what it is I am doing on this mission trip and gave me new eyes to see him at work.
These are a few of the many lessons God has taught me. God is changing me from inside out. Without you none of this would be possible. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
By the grace of God I am fully funded but there are still a handful of people who are in need of financial provision. My teammate Shayne Smith still needs over $2,000 to be fully funded. Please keep her and the rest of my squad in your prayers.
THANK YOU!!!
