Hello friends!
I first want to start off with a HUGE
THANK YOU!
Words cannot describe the amazing feeling that has come from hitting this deadline! I know that some of you are confused.. I am not at my final goal, but I am 1/4 there. We have 4 financial deadlines! They are as follows:
September 25th – $3,500
December 18th- $7,500
April 1st- $11,000
July 1st- $16,243
So I have (with all of your help of course) reached my first deadline! This is such a big thing to celebrate! Fundraising can be hard, exhausting, and expensive but I am just starting to see the beautiful fruit that it brings! I recently quit a job that was taking up a lot of my day and wasn’t really paying me enough to stay at. It was hard to leave but in the end it was absolutely clear after leaving that God was ready for me to close that chapter in my life. It still made me nervous to only be working a part-time job but after getting some extra hours the pay cut was almost nothing! Having time to fundraise and brainstorm is SUCH a beautiful thing! Since I was obedient in quitting my job God has shown me abundantly that it was the right thing to do! Not only am I getting sleep now, and my stress level has dropped drastically, I am happier and there has not been a day that goes by that a donation isn’t received! This was an obvious sign for me bc before I kind of hit a wall with fundraising! I sent tons of letters out and only got a few responses from them. I oddly have gotten way more donations from people I didn’t even send letters to. It awesome to see Gods hand in things.
This process of doing everything on my own has made me realize a lot! It makes me completely and utterly overjoyed by any donation no matter how big or small. I have learned that I could have been more verbal with past mission trips about how the mission went. I hope that in this process I can inform each and every one of you on things that will be nothing but glorifying to our Lord. I want to tell you stories about our God working through me and my team mates to help share his light, love and truth! I want y’all to feel the same joy that I do bc y’all are as much a part of me being able to go as I am for being an able body! I want you to see the fruit of your donation and not to wonder how it went. I know some can’t go and some can’t give but I believe that I can provide a way for us all to see how God is going to work through all of us in a HUGE way!
Thank you SO much to those of you who have offered to do fundraisers through outside things you have going on! It means so much to me that you would be so willing to go out of your way and give part of your earnings to help me in the adventure! Thank you to all who have sent in money for t-shirts! Thank you to all who have responded to the letters that I have sent out! Thank you to those who helped me get much needed items on my wish list! Thank you to those who have prayed!! This is so important for me and I promise that I can FEEL your prayers! Don’t stop! Also thank you to all those who have been beyond encouraging and supportive through kind word and positive attitudes. I would not be able to do anything without every single one of you! You are all so very important to this task God has us all partnered up on.
Training camp is October 11th-18th and it will be in Georgia. I WILL be able to go to this, bc I have hit my first deadline! (thanks again) For about two months now I have been getting all my gear, and by all I mean TONS of gear! We have to have a tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag, a back pack, day pack, the right foot wear, the right clothing, stuff sacks, headlamps, first aid kits, water bottles/ nalgenes, camelpaks, and much much more! Also EVERYTHING has to fit inside or backpack and daypack and it can’t weigh more than 40/50 lbs! None of this stuff has been cheap and if it is, I promise you all the small things add up! So I have been acquiring all the items we need and a plane ticket before even knowing if I will get my first deadline, but I KNEW God was calling me to go through with it and he would provide! He so did! I have all the items I need and I am pretty sure by Monday I will be well past my 1st deadline and working towards my 2nd! Which is great bc in no way am I done fundraising or not trying to still get donations in! I just wanted to do a little celebrating because I made it to the first deadline!
God is amazing! I can’t wait to set foot at training camp and meet the brothers and sisters God has going on this trip with me. To see the hearts of others who want to go out and make the world that we live in a better place. I can’t wait to get broken and them stitch me back together and vice versa! I can’t wait to meet the people all around the world and just be ready for God to work through me and just be a vessel for him! I am so very excited to have you on this journey with me and I hope and pray that things written through me on here can help others too! I am nothing without Him and I aim to lose myself and who the world tells me that I am on this trip. I hope that you get to see a new me being born- an on fire, godly, strong, selfless, biblical woman being made. I am ready to let this self die and let God make me and mold me into who and what he intended me to be! I want to be the best I can be for God so he can use me and I can know that I am giving my all to those souls and hearts all over this beautiful and broken world!
Thanks y’all! Love you all! Until next time, keep the prayers rising!
