I have known for years that, someday,
I will be a farmer. Even though I have never, technically, done anything super
farming related, I have dreamed of being a farmer. I yearn for a life of
simplicity, working the earth, caring for the animals, living in community,
cultivating life. I have also known that I am made for a life of ministry. I
remember being 11 years old, thinking that people all over the world need help,
they need to know how much Jesus loves them and I am probably the person to
help them out. The eleven months I spent on the World Race definitely
solidified my love for sharing Jesus’ love with the world; I sure do love
loving people.
However, I have never been able to make a
great connection between farming and ministry, at least, nothing that I’m
passionate about. In January, I went to this program Adventures In Missions puts on for World
Racers after they get off the Race, it’s called Project Searchlight. Project
Searchlight was all about dreaming. Not only dreaming; they were trying to help
us take our dreams and turn them into reality. People were asking me about my
dream and I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I knew that I had a dream, I wanted
to be a farmer, I just wasn’t sure what it looked like along with missions. I
sort of got connected with a few people who knew about farming or did some kind
missionary farming but nothing quite clicked, you know? It has to click; it has
to stir some kind of passion. I left Project Searchlight with a hazy dream, no
plan.
A few months later, things sort of
started falling together. I was thinking about these bush babies in Kenya,
actually I was thinking about their mom’s. While we were in Kenya, this little
baby was found abandoned in the bush. Later, his mom was found too. They put
her in jail and made her nurse the baby for a while. We found out that the girl
was 14 years old and had been raped by her uncle. She didn’t have a place to go
and thought her baby was cursed because he was inbred, so she went out into the
bush, had her baby and left him there. Isn’t that the saddest thing you’ve ever
heard? I get super duper sad just thinking about it now. Can you imagine the
desperation this girl was feeling? Only vast despondence, hopelessness could
drive someone to do such a heartbreaking act. And there are women like this all
over the place. Tons of women are forced into atrocious circumstances:
depression, prostitution, slavery, anorexia, women who have to accept abuse,
women who have to sell their children because they can’t support them, women
who don’t know how to love or feel loved, women who have to accept a life of
oppression and injustice. What if they could break out of these bonds? What if
these women could be empowered and could rise above the shackles that have
driven them into desperation?
I believe that by showing the love of
our Father and encouraging self-sustainability, the oppressed can rise above
their situations. If an oppressed woman had a place to learn her value in
Christ, while learning to sustain herself through farming and maybe some other
trades, she would not be driven into a life of desperation. I want to provide a
place like this. That is what my dream is. That is what my heart is.
God knows me so well. Thanks to my
Father, the ball is starting to roll. He
just happened to drop an opportunity to learn sustainable farming and community
building into my lap. Adventures In Missions is starting a program, called Spring Gate,
to educate people on how to be sustainable farmers. It is exactly what I need
to prepare myself for the ministry God has set in my heart. I applied and have
been accepted! Over the next two years, starting in January, I will be learning
all about sustainable farming! I seriously can’t wait!
Here’s the link to Spring Gate’s website, incase you want to check it out.
http://missionalfoodandlife.wordpress.com/
However, there’s a bit of a hitch. The
price to attend this program is going to be $1,200 per month, $14,400 for the
year. This is a lot of money. Although the price is high, I’m confident that
God has put this on my heart for a reason. I’m confident that this will help me
to make the dreams I just shared with you a reality. Please please please be
praying for me as I’m journeying into the next step in my life. Please consider
helping me out financially, I know that none of this will be able to happen
without your support!
I will be
fully funded if:
12 people donate $100 a month for 12 months
or
24 people donate $50 a month for 12 months
or
60 people donate $20 a month for 12 months.
Anything will help big time!
If
you would like to have more information or would like to talk with me sometime,
give me a call at 918.520.7564 or send me an email at [email protected]. I would love to have a chat with you!
“In response to those who say to
Stop dreaming
and
Face reality
I say
Keep dreaming
and
Make reality.”
-Kristan Kan
