Exactly this time last year I had just applied for this 11 month missions trip, known as the World Race. I had taken a huge step of faith that God was going to provide the $15,500 to fund this trip. Out of all the fundraisers I held, only one was truly successful – I raised around $600. The rest, well, they were quite the embarrassment for me. Yet somehow God continued to meet every single one of my past deadlines right when I needed it. Since I started this journey, God has provided exactly $11,144 through supporters like you!
Now I'm on month 5 and God has done so much in me and through me in these past months, and there is still 6 more months left to go. Below are just a few of the things I have done so far, and I haven't even hit the most impoverished countries yet!
So far on the race I have taught in schools,
laughed with and loved on the “orphaned” elderly,
played with and spoon-fed kids with severe cerebral palsy (some who had been abandoned by their parents),
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brought bags of beans and rice to poverty-stricken communities,
lived life with street kids who were former drug addicts and wanna-be gangsters,
installed insulation in an attic through habitat for humanity,
ministered to people at a clinic while they got fitted for free eye glasses,
prayed, prayed, and prayed for others.
- Countless acts of love, service and faith
- numerous revelations of God's goodness
- over 300 hours of travel
- squatty-potties
- awkward language barriers
- bouncing like a ragdoll on "chicken" busses
- a baby with an enlarged heart being healed
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a woman with cataracts being healed without surgery
…and I'm only halfway through my race.
In less than two weeks my squad will be meeting up again in Kiev, Ukraine to travel together to Tanzania, Africa. We will be in Africa for three months (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda) and then we will travel on to Asia for the last three months of our race. One of the first things that may come to mind when you think of Africa are orphans and the AIDS epidemic. And when you think of Asia; the sex trafficking industry.
If there was anything I looked forward to the most about the world race, it was going to Africa and Asia… for reasons simply to experience a culture so vastly different than my own, to love on orphans who have lost their parents due to AIDS, and to help empower girls who are seemingly trapped in the sex industry to escape; to convince them that they are worthy and have so much more to offer the world than selling their bodies to men. And also, I really want to gaze upon the stars from African soil…
I still need a little over $4,000 by July 1st in order to be fully funded. As much as I'd love to see my family and friends again, I am not ready to go home early… I am not finished yet. There is still so much work to be done and love to be given and miracles to happen.
Any amount you can give, whether $5 or $500, it all adds up. Please consider supporting me in any way you can (tell your friends, your family, your church of my need, share my blog with others, etc) and I will be sure to hug an orphan extra hard, just for you. 🙂 Thanks again to all of you who have given already. Your donations do not go unnoticed!
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for God's provision that I would meet my deadline and be fully funded by July 1st!
- Pray for God to continue doing great things in and through my team.
- Pray for the MacDonalds (our ministry host family) as they live out their lives serving the people of Ukraine
