To our friends and family,
Hello! We hope this letter finds you well. We are very thankful and eager to tell you about the newest opportunities that God has presented us with. First, we want to take a moment to update you on where we have been.
As you know, we were married in November 2007 and marriage has truly been a blast! Our marriage and vision for the future has been formed by several key events. The first being our independent trips to India and Africa. We both realized that God has placed in us a strong desire to be among the outcasts of society and love them and learn from them. Also, we are both graduates of Lubbock Christian University. I, Kristan, graduated with a degree in Middle School Education, and I, Justin, graduated with one degree in Biblical Language and another degree in Social Work. While in Lubbock, Justin worked at Carpenter’s Church, which is an outreach church focused on Lubbock’s homeless, and Kristan taught 6th grade mathematics at Hutchinson Middle School. Life has been blessed and busy! We both feel very encouraged to have found a partner that shares the same vision for the future. This vision is to love people in the same manner as Jesus. This is what makes our marriage what it is. Also, this love is what has made us pursue our next adventure in life. We have applied to a team called the World Race, and we have officially been accepted!
In short, the World Race is a yearlong mission that covers 11 different countries. We have been accepted to the January 2011 team and will be leaving January 1st. The countries we will be serving in will be: India, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Romania, Ukraine, and Ireland.
As diverse as each country is, so will the ministry be. Each country presents unique chances to share the love of God. Our goal as a couple will be to seek to find any and all opportunities to love people as Jesus did. We realize that this year away will be a difficult transition. We love our friends and family and will miss them dearly, but we also can’t ignore the overwhelming feeling that God is beckoning us to do something that requires our ultimate faith and trust in Him alone.
We could have never dreamed of doing anything as bold as this if it weren’t for the constant support of our friends and family. You, along with your love for God, have made us who we are, and for that we are eternally grateful! However, this trip is no exception. We can’t pursue such adventure without you. We would be honored if you would partner with us in two different ways. The first, and most important, is to keep us in your prayers. We realize that God will meet our needs and we hope to have people who can be our prayer warriors before the Father. Secondly, we humbly ask for your help financially. For an entire year, we must raise $30,000. This amount covers the cost of all travel, lodging, food, and necessities. Even to us, this amount seems almost impossible to raise, but we realize that our God is much bigger than dollar signs, and for that we are thankful! Your help will truly help us, but ultimately, you would be changing the lives of people all around the world who might have a chance to hear about the life-changing love of Jesus.
Throughout the year, you will be able to communicate with us through an internet blog, which we will keep updated. The address for our blog is justinandkristangibson.theworldrace.org. Again, we are very excited to be able to include you in our life and future journey. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
We truly hope that we can be a blessing to the world and to you.
Our love,
Justin and Kristan Gibson
