August 22, 2016
Dear Friends and Family,
This letter is the second of two letters written to let you know where God is leading me this fall (you can find my first letter on my blog). My first letter was just the beginning my journey with the World Race, and I knew little to nothing about the missions work I would be doing. I’m writing this letter in the wake of training camp to give you an update. Training camp was 10 days of intensive spiritual development, discipleship, and missions training. The Adventures in Missions Staff threw a lot at us, and not everybody stuck it through. I was shaken at first, but the Lord really began to affirm this calling even more while I was there. Now, more than ever, I’m sure this is what He has for me, and that’s the most comforting, safe feeling I’ve had in a long time. On that note, I don’t want this letter to just be another fundraising letter, I’d rather share with you what the Lord has been doing in my life the last week or so, and let His blessing and mercies speak for themselves.
For 10 days, 10 physically grueling days, the Lord broke down and changed my previously diluted, clouded perception of Him, and grew me more and drew me closer to Him more than I’d ever been. I learned more about God in those 10 days than I ever had in my whole life. I had always perceived God as someone who was mad at me every time I sinned or made a mistake, and I was always trying to make it right, as if I was the one who had to fix it; I perceived God as judge, jury, and executioner. Now I know the true Father. I know the God who loves me more than anything else and forgets my sins just as I commit them. He’s not someone I have to please, I get to please Him. I don’t have to clean myself up before I come to Him to talk Him, He takes me as I am. Now I get so much more joy in worshiping God and in prayer and I’m getting to know Him in ways I didn’t know before. For example, I didn’t know healing through prayer was actually a thing. At camp, we spent three hours in the woods, next to a campfire, praying and worshipping God, bringing healing to different people in our squad and it was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen. It was true, and real, and I love that. We were worshipping so loud and so late into the night that the neighbors called the cops on us! That was so awesome!
Now I want nothing more than to launch in October and board a plane to Ecuador with 53 of my best friends. The Lord has given me such an incredible opportunity to serve Him in places that may seem uncomfortable for Americans to go and serve, and I couldn’t be happier. However, I’m still not fully funded. Right now, I have $8,326.00 of the $13,805.00 I need to be fully funded. God has provided immensely, and I know He’ll continue to provide. I ask that you might prayerfully consider partnering with me financially to help me fulfill this calling. It doesn’t take much, just a small one-time or monthly donation will help me reach that goal in no time. My final deadline is January 31, 2017.
If you feel led to give, please visit my blog at jaredcelosse.theworldrace.org. There is a donate button on the homepage that will allow you to donate by using a credit or debit card. If you want to send a check, please make it out to Adventures In Missions and mail it in with the enclosed card, to the address on the card. All donations are tax exempt!
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.
If you’ve given already, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be where I am now. We don’t all have to be called to go overseas to live a life of missions. Some of us are called to help make that happen for someone else. Either way, we’re all called by God to further His Kingdom. So, if you feel led, please consider partnering with me once more. And if you aren’t called to give financially, then please, keep me and my team in your prayers. The devil is going to throw a lot at us in these next 9 months, and we need all the prayer and blessings we can get. I’ve also included a prayer card to serve as a reminder to pray for me. It also has my blog address so that you can keep track of me during my journey.
Thank you again,
Jared Celosse
