Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

This is a special thank you blog to my home church, Herald GB, and to the workers at Modesto 911 Dispatch, and my Amazing Mom and Aunt Kathy who have been leading fundraisers for my World Race Team since we left! I may not have been home with you for the holidays, but because of your love to send me out, we got to help send 5 amazing Thai women to their families for the holidays!! 

Just before Christmas, the Centre was trying to raise enough money to send all the Thai girls home for Christmas, since the wages they make at SHE is just barely enough for a modest Thai lifestyle. 

 It was a huge decision for the Thai girls to take a pay cut and come out of the bars to work somewhere else, and HOW AMAZING that they realized that there is no price high enough to keep selling themselves in the red light district. So, because of that, Mark and Sharon, directors of SHE ministries, really wanted to bless the girls with helping them get home for the holidays. And, of course all of us world racers really wanted to as well! 

On Saturday night, December 19th, I was skyping my parents and told them about the current situation at SHE ministries, and how much of a blessing it would be if we could help send these girls to their families. I didn’t really have time (or internet access) to blog about it then, but my parents announced it at church that morning, and my Herald Church Family came through!!! They took an offering for SHE of just over $330USD, which joined up with other donations was plenty enough to make the trips happen and give them a little extra Christmas bonus to help them get started on the New Year! 

You guys MADE THEIR DAY!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!! I can assure you, the girls were so excited when they opened up their presents!!! One of the girls, Bee, had been praying to God for a way to make it home for Christmas, and she didn’t know how it would happen, but she knew she needed to. She was going to ask Mark and Sharon for a loan the day they gave them the bus tickets. J 

YOUR GIFTS WERE GOD’S WAY OF ANSWERING HER PRAYERS!!! 

Our Contacts: Sharon, Mark, Josh (their son)
Five Thai girls working at SHE: Ann, Bee, Puk, Rose, and Dar

Thank you for being obedient to His leading to give and for loving me enough to trust my word about the situation! I’m so blessed to have a church family supporting me from half way around the world. Seriously: I know how special that is, and that not everyone has that. Thank you for being with me on this journey!

911 Dispatchers: 

Holy cow (or Baca Sancta, as we said in Central America), you guys ROCK! I wanted to take the time to share with my blog readers what you guys have been doing for me and my team this year.

So, Auntie Kathy has been heading up the fundraising in the Modesto 911 Dispatch office!   She’s set up candy and snacks that are being sold all the time, which has made several nice donations towards my team’s needs! They also sold Poinsettia’s to fundraise during Christmas time!   And, even though none of my team (besides me, of course) has met any of my amazing Modesto Family, they all feel like they know Auntie Kathy and love you a whole lot. J 

So, I wanted to let you know that one of the things we’ve used our 911 Rescue Fund for this month is to by non-alcoholic drinks in the bars. J 

Now, before you question what your money is going to… let me explain!  
Our team with a few of the amazing girls we’ve been able to talk to so far! 
 
Our ministry this month is working in the red light district, going in and building relationships with the women who work there, and let them know that they have self worth, and were created for so much more than what they are in right now. We get the amazing opportunity to let them know they have a choice, and we invite them to come check out the center we are working for!   Some chose not to come, which we have to deal with and shake off the dissapointment in our hearts.  However, several girls were really excited that there was somewhere they could work outside the bars, and told us that they really hate being in the bars!  Several have children that they have to support, and that’s the only way they think they have to make money. 
 

We have to be completely dependent on the Holy Spirit leading us to the girls who are ready to leave, and to speak His truth to them!
 

Anyhow… back to the fact that you’re buying us non-alcoholic drinks…. In order for us to be able to talk with the girls, we need to give the bars business and keep good working relationships with the bar owners.  Otherwise we will wear out our welcome and possibly be kicked out.  Can I just tell you… I’ve drank more sprite and pineapple juice in the past two weeks than ever before in my life! And the prices add up! Since our world race budgets are quite modest, your extra dollars are going very far, and we’re able to speak a lot of life into these people!  

 

So, thank you for buying snacks and poinsettias and whatever else Auntie is selling on our behalf! Many of your simple purchases are making a HUGE impact in the Kingdom of God!

Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here we go, 2010!! 

 
 

PS: New years Day is a special time of year for both my Church family and Modesto 911 Dispatch! Our church always hosts the most amazing New Year’s eve buffet and game night, and invites any and all peace officers to come on their break as a thank you to them in their honor. This is the first year I’ve not been there, and I’m totally missing being a part of our crazy picture scavenger hunts around town, endless video games, Pictionary, Mexican Train, and mom’s amazing spinach dip and 7 layer bean dip. I hope and pray the Lord will fill the party with tons and tons of joy and laughter, and that His Spirit will speak tons of life into you guys and anyone else that might find themselves at the crazy gathering! So, on the one night that you all unite, know that I’m thinking of you and I and my team are ridiculously thankful for you!   I LOVE YOU!!!