Here is my support letter I have been sending out! With each one I have tried to make it personal for each family, so if you received one I hope you enjoyed that. I realized there’s so many more people I wanted to send them to, but I simply did not have the addresses. If you want to receive a physical letter just contact me and I’d be happy to send you one! Also I hope this works as a way to inform people on the best ways to support me financially on my upcoming trip. Enjoy!
Dear Friends and Family,
There have been some crazy things happening in my life recently! First off I’m graduating from Anderson University this May with a Bachelors degree in Business Management. I’m super excited to be graduating, but that also creates the question; what’s next? Well after I graduate I’m going on something called The World Race! This past year it’s really been something God has laid on my heart and if you’re interested in hearing that story you can go to my blog page at ianwray.theworldrace.org. (It’s a bit too long to include in this letter). The World Race is an 11 month long Christian mission trip where I travel to 11 countries around the world. I’ll be traveling to Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Lesotho, South Africa, Madagascar, Jamaica, and Dominican Republic. While in these countries I’ll be serving in partnership with different churches and ministries within the local communities. I will be preaching the gospel, planting churches, working in orphanages, ministering to women and children trapped in prostitution, and anything else that the local ministries ask of me.
It’s a super exciting opportunity and I can’t believe God is calling me to this! It’s a big leap of faith and a lot of preparation not only spiritually, but also financially. I am someone who was raised to be very independent and one of the hardest parts about going on this trip is accepting that I can’t do it myself. I considered how it would be possible for me to work throughout the year to raise the money myself, but it was highly recommended that fundraising be a part of my World Race journey. Fundraising is something that requires a lot of faith and it’s essentially seeing God provide in a way that only he can. By entrusting others it also allows for people to engage in your journey in ways that some people may feel called to. Once I came to terms with that I realized that fundraising was going to be a large part of my World Race experience. For my trip I have to raise $18,017. Now that may seem like a ton of money and of course it is! But when you break it up that comes to around $1,650 a month. This money helps pay for my food, travel, lodging, and all other travel expenses while I’m on the trip. Now one thing I ask of you is to pray before you even consider donating money. I believe prayer is one of the most powerful tools we have and that is a form of support that I ask of you.
If you wish to support me not only through prayer, but financially as well here is the way to do that! Go to my page at ianwray.theworldrace.org and at the top right part of the screen is an orange donate button. Click on that button and follow the instructions on the screen. This is of course one the easiest ways to donate, but if you’d rather not do it online then you can use regular mail by using the fundraising card included and send to the address on the card!
Thank you so much for supporting me through prayer and, if you choose to, through your financial contributions. What’s awesome about God is he can use even the smallest gift to make an impact and that’s how I’m treating my fundraising. No gift is too small. Also this isn’t something I can do alone! Not only financially, but if you feel like someone you know would be interested in my World Race journey then tell them about it! I want as many people to learn about it so they can follow me along this trip. The best way to stay up to date about my trip is at ianwray.theworldrace.org. When I’m overseas I’ll be blogging regularly to help keep people in the loop on what’s going on in my life! Also leading up to me leaving I’ll use the blog to try to update people about fundraisers and anything else going on my life World Race related. If you have any questions for me then I’d love to talk with you! You can text or call me at (765) 744-9396 or email me at [email protected]!
God Bless,
Ian Wray
Adventures In Missions is a tax-exempt organization under IRS code 501(c)(3) and is a member of the ECFA. (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability). Due to IRS and ECFA regulations governing the administration of tax deductible donations given in support of a particular trip/program, support contributions given on behalf of an individual will be used to offset the costs of the trip/program you are involved in. All contributions are non-refundable regardless of the participant’s success in completing the program.
