Dear Family and
Friends,
As many of
you know, I have been thinking and praying over the decision to participate in
international missions for quite some time now. For those of you who don’t,
around my junior year at Virginia Tech I felt God calling me to serve Him
internationally. For the rest of my
time at college, God continued to grow and shape me for this purpose. Well, I am pleased to say that now; at last,
the time has come to go. I have been
accepted to participate on an 11 month mission trip leaving in January called
the World Race. It is through an
organization called Adventures in Missions (AIM). I first heard of AIM last summer while in
Kenya. Upon returning to the States and with the encouragement of a college
friend of mine, I applied to the January 2010 World Race.
The
World Race is an 11 month short term mission trip where we will spend a month
each in 11 different countries: New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia,
Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, an Eastern African country of our choosing, Romania,
Ukraine, and finally one more Eastern European country, also our choice. During our time in each country, we will
partner with local ministries; therefore, each month will look uniquely
different in how we serve. It will range
from teaching English in Eastern Europe to health relief in Eastern Africa, but
all the while developing relationships with our surrounding communities in the
hope that we will express the love of Christ to everyone we encounter. One of the greatest aspects of this trip is
the community and leadership I will travel with. Throughout the whole trip I
will be living in close community with other Racers. We will eat, sleep, and
work next to each other daily, but more importantly we will share great
memories and great struggles together. It will be a valuable experience to
learn to live and love each other throughout the whole year. In addition to the community, I will have
personal spiritual discipleship and training before and during the trip.
My hope is
that during my time spent I will gain a global perspective of not only what God
is doing, but also how God is working. I believe this trip will give me
invaluable international mission experience and expand my understanding of who
God is and what He is capable of. At the
end of the trip, I hope to have the knowledge and trust in God to pursue a long
term ministry wherever He leads me.
Now that you know a little more
about what I will be doing over the next year, I can tell how you could be
involved. By far the most important thing I will need
from now until I return is prayer! Over the last few years, God has shown me
exactly how powerful prayer can be. I
would like to ask you to pray for many things involved with this trip. I would ask for prayer for safe travel for
myself and all the other Racers; we will be moving quite a bit over the year. I
would ask for prayer for God’s blessings on the trip: that He would grant each
Racer with strength, patience, a kind nature, and wisdom to share; that He
would bless the ministries we partner with in each country; and that He would
bless those people we meet and get to know along the way. Personally, I would
ask for prayer that God would reveal Himself and grow me in knowledge of Him;
that He will teach me to become a man of prayer; that He will use this time to
prepare me for full time missions when I return; and lastly that He will help
me rely and trust in Him while preparing for the trip. Throughout the trip I will be updating my prayer requests which can be found under the Topics section to the left.
The next
big need I have is financial support. I am trusting God to provide $14,300,
which covers the entire cost of the trip including all travel, food, housing,
and other costs. I would ask that you
spend time in prayer to consider if God is leading you to help me with this
need. If you feel He is directing you in this manner
please click on the tab to the left called Support Me!.
Thank you for taking the time to
read this letter and I hope you know how much I appreciate your influence on my
life which has brought me to my current position and future opportunities. In the
hope of ending with a smile, I will leave you with my favorite Irish blessing:
May the road
rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Until He Returns,
Jake Kennedy
