I wanted to take the time to write a short blog post about the generosity I have seen through many people who have supported my trip financially.
First of all, thank you for all the gifts. Words can not express how thankful I am to be able to go, serve, and bring the Gospel to the nations. Thank you for trusting me enough to invest in my trip and for the work the Lord will do through me and my team.
I have a story to tell you. A week before I left for Guatemala one of my teammates Sam Serrano (samanthaserrano.theworldrace.org) was running low of funds. With only 7 days left she needed around $4,000 in order to launch with my team. ‘
In any normal persons mind we think, “there is no way!” My team got together and decided to pray hard for her over the course of this time. Talking to Sam in this situation she said, “I have faith that its going to come in, I just don’t know how.”
As I thought and prayed the Lord burdened my heart for Sam and the lack of funds. God started prompting me to move and even gave me ideas of how I could help raise some of the money for her. I asked 4 of my teammates who were fully funded to see if any of them felt moved to help Sam fundraise. Unfortunately, I only had one other teammate, Melanie Morgan, who felt moved to try to raise money with me.
So I started. I created a square chart 1-80. The goal was to have someone adopt a box and donate the number of the box. So for example if someone wanted box number 80 they would donate $80. Here is the beauty of this idea. Once all 80 boxes were full it would equal $3,240.
Once I started sharing the vision and how Sam needed help God opened the flood gates and boxes started being filled. I made phone calls and brought this Adopt a Box board everywhere. I even made a video describing the situation.
Now, one of the craziest things I saw happen was a day I was in Fargo, ND. I was looking for people to connect with after I got my Yellow Fever shot and nobody was available. I ended up going to Walmart to get some supplies and something crazy happened.
As I was pulling into the parking lot I heard God has go talk to that homeless man siting on the corner. I thought to myself, “why not, I have the time.” So I went over and started asking this guy questions about is day and his life.
I asked him, “Do lots of people give you money?” He responded, “Some days are better than others.” I asked him, “what is the thing you need the most right now?” His response surprised me because he didn’t say anything. I was waiting for about a minute and decided to say something to him. “Hey if you need a friend, I would love to be your friend, I’m Andrew.” As I reached out my had to shake his, he looked up at me and smiled with his crooked teeth and joy in his eyes. He said, “My name is Joe.” And thats were the friendship began.
I told him I know how hard it is to raise money because I was currently in the process of raising money for my friend who needed $4,000 in 7 days. He was surprised but shook it off as we continued to talk about the friendship we have with Jesus.
He had Bible verses written on the side of his walker and through that we instantly started talking about Jesus. I found out pretty quickly that he was a believer, but he told me, “I’m not living out what I believe. I’m living in sin.” I got to encourage him with some other passages in the Bible and practical ways he can live out his faith in his circumstances.
He ended up asking if he could get a ride home and so I took him home. I prayed for him and blessed him with a drink and told him I would talk to him sometime soon. He had a prepaid phone from his sister who live somewhere in the south.
The next day I was sending him a Bible verse through a text of a Bible verse to encourage him and while I was typing it, he called me. We talked and we were both encouraged and he was blessed that he had a new friend and I was too.
The very next day. I was getting ready to play softball and he calls again. He said, “I know you are raising money for your friend and I want to let you know I am sending you some money. Its not much but I want to help your friend.” He sent me $40 for Sam to launch with my team. A HOMELESS GUY BEGGING FOR MONEY JUST GAVE MONEY TO HELP SEND SOMONE HE DID NOT KNOW!!! What? That just happened and God totally used this man in my life to show me what a heart full of generosity looks like.
Overall, I worked hard on that box chart for 7 full days and by day 6 I was drained. I felt like I didn’t have any more people to ask. I didn’t have any energy to continue to fundraise, but that is when God intervened. Someone else caught the vision and started asking others for boxes and that person was my mom, Becky Hershey. Now let me take 2 seconds to brag about my mom for a little bit. She raised by boys all within 7 years and she homeschooled them all at the same time. When I entered public school she tutored 5 kids 100% of the time making sure we could learn. She sacrificed everything for us and for our happiness, whether that was siting in the back on road trips so that one of us could enjoy the front, or waking up throughout the night to phone calls when we are throwing up. My mom is the best!
Anyway I left for Guatemala not knowing if Sam made the deadline or not. I end up meeting Sam and the rest of the squad in Georgia for our final training before launch. She said, “Guess what not only did I make that deadline on time, but a couple days after I found out that my grandpa left me some money after he died that I just got access to it, which would allow me to pay for the rest of my trip! I AM FULLY FUNDED.” All together from the square chart almost $3,000 was raised in just over 7 days for Sam. Without it she would not have been able to launch with us!
Friends, Family, acquaintances, those I don’t even know that well, THANK YOU for making this a God story, for working a miracle, and for allowing me to see God do an incredible work!
I gave her the Adopt a Box board with all the names and squares filled in. Unfortunately, this picture was not the most updated but it is the last picture I have!
Here are 2 key take aways I learned from this whole process of raising money for someone else and taking the time to love others around me:
#1: When we ask on behalf of other more is given.
Think about it. If I was asking money for myself, there is a hint of selfishness in it. There is something inside all of us that says is he or she going to use this money for their own selfish gain? How do I know they are trustworthy? But when we ask on behalf of other people there is NO selfishness in it. There is only love. We trust and love the person asking that we are moved to help someone even if we don’t know who they are.
God showed me another example of this through my personal prayer life. As I ask the Lord for things I want or even the things I think I need, He loves to answer. However, often times we don’t get it because we are asking with wrong motives (James 4:2-3). On the other side of the coin, if we are asking our Father on behalf of another person, how much more generous and how much more does he want to give good gifts.
I see the Fathers heart in this and how he wants to give even more when we ask on behalf of others.
Challenge: ask and pray on behalf of others and see and record how God moves!
#2 When we give in to proportion to what we have God delights in us.
The day after all this happened I read Mark 12:41-44 in my devotionals.
“Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put large amounts. Then a pour widow came and dropped in two small coins. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
I think its crazy how alive and active the Word is when we continue to read it. As we give sacrificially and from the heart it makes a tremendous impact. It also allows room for God to provide and for our faith to grow as we trust in His provision.
Challenge: Give your time and money till it feels like a sacrifice and see how God works through the situation.
Prayers Requests going into launch:
1. Goodbyes to my parents. Pray that my dad (Scott), mom (Becky), and I would have peace and be encourage going into this season of life.
2. My squad. Pray my squad has peace and that we are inspired and motivated to go out and be bold in the midst of unsafe places. Also, pray for safety in the midst of launch.
3. Health. My health along with a could other teammates haven’t been the best. Pray that we would be energized and feeling great going into the first month.
4. Pray for my ministry team. We just got placed on teams and this team I will be with for the next year. Pray specifically for Jacob Hart, Connie Kao, Lauren Nelson, and Tamara Vicovan. Pray that our team would be so moved by love and by God and that we would be a group of harvesters of the Gospel.
5. Personally for me. I am dealing with a lot of emotions and really don’t know how I am supposed to feel. I have been sad from goodbyes and then these last couple of days it has been joyful to look forward. The emotions go up and down and just need prayer for the ability to focus on Jesus and the joy set before me.
Thank you for praying for me and for loving me in this way. Thank you for all the encouragement as I left home and am now about to start this race. I am praying for you as you read this that this would move you, encourage you, and inspire you to live out the faith that God has given you. Until next time, God be with you!
