Hey everyone! I'm leaving on July 3rd which is in 2 weeks! I decided to take a Greyhound bus instead of a plane because it was a lot cheaper- never taken a Greyhound, let alone taken one cross-country before- we'll see how it goes haha. We then leave the States a couple days after that.
Some news is that we've had a route change. Instead of the first three countries being Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica- it's been switched to the first three countries being Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. So Guatemala instead of Costa Rica. While it would've been really cool to go to Costa Rica, I don't feel that the change is a drastic one for me. So the first country will be Guatemala!
I have a few categories of things that I’ve been doing. They are spending time with family/friends before I leave, packing, logistics, and support-raising. They keep me quite busy! There’s a lot of things you don’t realize that you have to do if you leave the country for 11 months like buy 4 bars of deodorant and renew your driver‘s license because it'll expire before you get back.
Lately, I’ve been learning about fear and how it impacts our lives. Many of our issues stem from fear, and fear can paralyze us. I've been going to a Bible study with my mom called “Breaking Free from Worry and Fear”, and I’ve been reading this fantastic book called “A Confident Heart”. I’ve been learning to really, truly believe and trust what God says and what the Bible says and that if we dwell on who God is, we wouldn’t let worry or fear control us. I’ve been learning that some things are in my control, but some things are only in God’s control, and that when we worry, we’re not trusting that God will take care of everything. Perfect love casts out fear, and God is Perfect Love. I’ve been learning about the fear of man, and that we aren’t to fear people because they can only destroy the body, but they can’t destroy the soul. We are only to fear God which is a reverent, awe, respectful fear because we know that God is all-powerful and has all-authority. We fear God because of his authority, but we don't need to fear punishment if we have Christ.
While support raising, many people have expressed such different opinions about what I’m doing or how I'm doing it. Some people think it’s the best thing ever and other people really disagree with it. It's helped me to look to the Lord for His opinion and to not fear men and their opinions, and it's also challenged me to do this race with urgency and purpose with a mission to share the gospel of Christ and offer healing.
I met the financial deadline that I needed to make in order to leave the country. Woo whoo! Praise God and thanks to all of you!!!! I have about 75% of my total funds which is roughly around $13,000. Wow!
Being on the last stretch before I leave, I still need about 25% more to be fully funded, and I’m praying that I can get that before I leave in 2 weeks! Even though it’s roughly around $4,000, I have full confidence that God can provide that before I leave if He wants to in just 2 weeks. I’ve heard so many great stories about God providing with finances. I got $1,500 from just yesterday and today!
I really don’t want to ask you guys again because you’ve been so supportive to me, but I just wanted to ask if there’s anyone who has it on their heart to give another $100 or $50 or some other amount? It would really help a lot! If you think that’s you, you can click on “Support Me” on the left of this site. Or could you tell someone about this mission or let me know of someone that you know that might want to hear more and/or support? Remember that this trip aims to offer eternal life to people, hope, freedom, and help and that you will be blessed for giving. 🙂
2 weeks! I really can’t believe it’s only 2 weeks. I think it’ll hit me like the day before. I’m planning to write a blog right before I leave! I’m looking to start a prayer group and will possibly have a certain time for everyone to pray once a month, but I’ll let you know. Also, I'd really love it if you guys would write to me while I'm gone. That would be SO encouraging and nice to see how you're doing. Don't think that I'm too busy for encouragement and to know how you're doing! ;-). You can write on here or else my e-mail is [email protected] .
Prayer requests:
1. That God would go before us and work in amazing ways, that He’d change peoples hearts and heal them.
2. That I’d be fully supported before I leave
3. That my mom wouldn’t fear and worry about me doing this trip
4. That we would do His will and get rid of any selfishness
5.That we would be servants and courageous
6. That everyone would be healthy and safe
