My current least favorite F-word is finances. Well I guess it is also tied with fundraising.
See I have $5,570.60 raised for the trip. Thank you everyone who has supported me in anyway. You have helped me get this far! But we still have a little ways to go. I need $9,000 in my AIM account before Training Camp, which starts July 19th. This is a short amount of time to raise $3,429.40. But wait there’s more, I need $6,916.90 by August 18th, so I’ll be fully funded for the trip.
THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN SHORT AMOUNTS OF TIME?! OH NO, WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!
Well I do have some answers. First we need to take a deep breath and calm down (or at least I do). Next we of course need to pray about this. Now we should look back and remember the thousands of dollars Jesus and us raised for both the trips to Swaziland and already for this trip. In short amount of times, I might add.
Now I have to ask for money. This is something I do not enjoy. I think this is because I don’t want to need help or bother anyone, but this is a part of what I have been called to.
I understand you can probably not give me thousands of dollars (but hey if you can please do). I do not have thousands of dollars to spare either or I would not be writing this. But it is likely you have a few dollars you could spare or you know some people who do. Plus donating is tax deductible.
Let me break it down a bit. If everyone who likes the Grace for the World page gives just $11.14 I would have enough for training camp! And if everyone who likes the page gives only $22.46 I would be fully funded!!
Let me break it down a bit more. If all of my Facebook friends give only $2.49, I would have enough for training camp! And if all my Facebook friends give just $5.02, I would be fully funded!!
Here is a picture of the paper I wrote all my numbers down, so I could share all this with you.
Any amount helps! And every donation adds up!
Now I have to clear up something that has caused some confusion. It is an odd way to do this, which is one of the reasons I really think it was God leading me to this.
Okay let me explain what “this” is.
It all started in the fall of last year. I was reading an article about an amazing person years younger than me raised a bunch of money for an organization doing awesome stuff (sorry I can’t remember the specific. It was last year and all.) I thought to myself I wish I could do amazing stuff like this, but I have to focus on raising money for this trip. And then I had one of those moments with God, when it feels like you’re getting hit with a 2 by 4 in your soul. I felt God saying something along the lines of, “Who is raising the money for this trip? Do you really think I would call you to go and not make a way for you to go?”
And I responded intelligently with an, “Umm no. I definitely did not mean that.”
Then I felt God calling me to be more active in my community and help raise money to go directly to helping people, and to trust Jehovah Jireh to do the whole providing thing. So that’s what I’ve been doing. I have gotten to volunteer at Arts in Action and with helping the homeless in the Huntington area more than I have in the past. And I have gotten to have a charity: water campaign that raised over $1,000, sell Timbali Crafts on behalf of people in Swaziland, and spend more time raising awareness about problems such as modern slavery just to name a few. A big thank you to everyone who has helped with all this, especially my mom!
Even now as I need all this money and I am crazy stressed about money, I still feel called to not focus my time on fundraising for the trip. I still feel called to focus on helping people around me and raising money to directly help people. I still think I need to trust in the LORD’s ability to provide and not lean on my own understanding or ways.
(Please do not think this means I am lazy or something. I organized and had multiple fundraisers to fund both my previous trips, and I have donated all the money I have been able to donate to this upcoming trip.)
If you feel called to have a fundraiser for me or to ask your church to help me out, by all means please go ahead and do so. And if you feel called to donate do so online as it will take longer to process if you send a check to AIM or give money directly to me. I need the $3,429.40 in my AIM account before training camp starts on July 19th to be able to go to Training Camp and later the Gap Year trip. So if you feel called please donate by clicking on “Support Me!” And please share this blog and share about my situation and PRAY PRAY PRAY!
Thank you for all you do!
Much love! <3
P.S. The following picture is a great, awesome looking explanation of why I am going.
P.P.S. This is the longest blog I have written so far. Yay milestone! And thank you so very much for reading all of it. Much appreciation to you, reading rockstar!
