fund blog
“If I give you my money to travel the world, how are you going to use it? What sort of things are you doing with my money? How are you showing the love of Christ in all these countries?” These are some common questions one may ask when thinking about supporting a World Racer. As I begin month 6 of my mission adventure I am still in need of just over $5,000. I have roughly one month to raise this money. If there is one thing I have come to know about God this year, it is that He Always shows up when we are in need of Him. The other thing I have come to know is that people are beyond generous. I would not be here without help from other people. In this blog I will explain to everyone just how much your money means not only to me, but to the world and the people in it.
Now I cant speak for everyone, however, I have been on the race for 5 full months now, and I would love to tell you how the money I have raised has been spent, and about the lives you have impacted thus far. Your money has allowed me to travel to countries and share Jesus Christ with people on three different continents. The biggest chunk of our money is used for transportation. Flights and trains to reach these people need to happen obviously. We have not been given a food budget over $5 a person, per day. Most countries is more like $3.50 to $4 total per day for all 3 meals combined. God has provided each day and satisfied my hunger and I’ve learned to trust He can fill me up with little. This might be a little long but it will tell you everything I have done since being on this mission trip, and about the lives you who have given and might give are reaching with your donation and the good that comes from you’s support.
In Honduras I slept in a tent for a month and took showers by dumping cold buckets of water on myself. I helped prepare a farm for a children’s home that has plans to grow in the future. I cleaned out a tilapia pond which will help the home have an income to support themselves as needed. I cleared the property of brush and tall grass to cut down on the amount of mosquitos that swarm the house at night. I have cleaned a house of bat guano, and all types of pests to make it available for future children to have a home to call their own. We had deemed said house the “bat house” because before we intruded, there were easily a hundred bats that had taken over the home for themselves. I wired up that house with some electricity, and prepared it for a weekend when over 50 children came to the farm for a weekend to learn about Jesus. A much better environment to have these kids, than on the streets in Honduras where the gangs are trying to recruit daily. I have shared the word of God to these children, and tried to bring hope to their lives, to bring joy to their hearts, and to tell them about their Father in Heaven who loves them and wants good for their lives. I did all of this while getting to know the children who lived in the home of Keith and Vicky Crowder. This amazing couple gave up their lives in Oklahoma to answer a call from the Lord to change the lives of many children in Honduras. They brought with them their three daughters who’s ages range from 9 to 16, and have at any given time about 12 to 15 other children living with them as part of their family, while hiding from gang members who are actively searching to hurt and kill them. They are teaching them about Jesus, while helping the to get schooling, and the love they need to have hope for their future as men and woman in a broken country where gangs rule the land.
In Guatemala, again I was sleeping in my tent and living with 43 of my squad-mates as we helped another wonderful couple Erv and Sally, continue to show love to the city of Quiche for a month. I leveled land on a mountain side to prepare it for the metal roof that was going to be put in. This roof will allow the 60 to 80 children that sat there every Sunday for a bible message wouldn’t be baking in the sun, or sitting in the rain. This land also has plans for an actual church building in the future. I helped a hospital prepare bandage packages for hours a week, that Im sure some machine would do for us in the states. When you don’t have access to that money or machine it makes such a huge difference to have volunteers giving their time to help those in need. I could see the thanks in the nurses eyes every day we showed up. My squad put together wooden carts with wheels to be peddled like a bicycle, but with one’s arms rather than legs, and gave them out to those with missing legs, or with walking disabilities. The joy on the faces of those, who for the first time would be able to get around on their own, and go where wheelchairs couldn’t go, was such a great blessing to see.
El Salvador was a different kind of month. It was called Unsung Hero month. My team found the cheapest possible hostel and booked it for three days, with no agenda other than trusting God for everything, and trying to find future ministry contacts for AIM to send future racers. This month was a great experience. I learned to trust God, and learned just how much He loves His children, and will take care of us when we are in need. We came in contact with so many amazing people doing the Lords work in El Salvador. We found an English speaking church, who welcomed us in like family, and did what they could to help us as we needed it. We met many unsung heroes in this church who were living for the Lord. People working in all types of ministries to further the Kingdom of God. A Ugandan man named Samuel, his wife and three children, are in the beginning stages of building a community to house nearly 100 orphans and teenage mothers one day. They will be making the place self sustainable using hydroponics to grow most of the food needed to feed the children. This place will have a church and possibly a bible school, with plenty of room for the children to play and enjoy life within a community that teaches them about their Creator and Father who loves them. My team and I met many people like Samuel in El Salvador that the Lord wants to bless with future WR teams that will help any way possible. I was witness to the Lord planning every step that month, and divinely appointing people in our path to provide for our every need, while furthering AIM and their goal of sending people to all nations and spreading the word of God.
Month four in Bulgaria I became part of a different team. One person from that team was made a leader of another team, and I stepped into his first team with joy and excitement. That month in Bulgaria our team stayed in a very small one bedroom apartment that a man from church allowed us to stay in. This was his home. He graciously let six strangers, and for one week eight, being our squad leaders visited, live and use his home as our own. Every Sunday we led the church service. After church we would eat in the church and get to know the people of Bulgaria. I began to understand what the people of this church wanted God to do in this city and country, so that we could partner with them in their hopes and prayers. I spent a number of Sundays bringing the message of Christ to Gypsy communities around the area. They are a happy, family oriented people, who show much love for God and an excitement to learn about His word. I spent some time speaking with youth and understanding what everyday life looked like through the voices of young adults. Near the end of the month I was able to bless Pastor Vinco by tiling the church restroom. I thank God for the skills I have learned doing home remodeling in the states to bless others.
This last month in Albania we were hosted by a children’s christian summer camp led by Lightforce International. All month long me and my teammates performed manual labor tasks to bless this place and prepare the grounds for the 1500 plus kids they will have this summer. I’ll start by saying these grounds were also host to a pig farm where they raise around 1500 pigs a year to sell and create income to be able to keep the place running. Me and my squad whitewashed every pig stall they had while corralling pigs from place to place. We whitewashed for days and days to renew this entire campground. I painted fences, grates, walls, benches, and garden rebar. I strung ropes all over the obstacle course. I mixed and poured concrete where needed. I was literally knee deep in liquid pig poop putting in a drainage channel. I helped load about 50 tons of pig poop and straw, that was saved up for a year, into trailers to be used for fertilizer. I put up a garden grid and retrained kiwi plants for days at a time. I grouted tile, and plastered some walls. I pulled weeds from the entire campground. I helped reorganize multiple storage rooms. There were even more things that my squad-mates did that I was not a part of. We as a squad did all these things while creating our own church services on Sunday, our own worship sessions on Wednesday, and did a bible study every morning of that month, going through a new chapter of Proverbs.
I have given my time and effort almost every day this year to further the Kingdom of Heaven, to help those in need, physically and spiritually, worked blisters into my hands, furthered AIM’s database of ministry contacts around the world, showed orphans love, and spread the word of God to those who so desperately want and need it. I sit here writing about what I have done this year and honestly don’t want you to praise me. Praise the Lord who has made me able bodied to do something like this. Praise God for loving me so much that I want to tell others about His love. I have come to realize this may not be for everyone, and some simply cannot do this physically. I have so much joy in my heart being the hands and feet for those who are not able to do this work that they may so desperately want to do. I love the Lord and love being a servant for His Glory and His Kingdom. The Lord has called me to give this year to Him in every way. I have not just helped others, but because of this experience, I myself have learned and grown so much as a person, a christian, a man, and a brother in Christ this year.
I ask you to help me stay on this life changing, and world changing mission. I need $5,000 by July 1 to continue on this trip. I ask you to prayerfully consider giving financially to my cause. You can give a one time amount or a monthly amount of you’r choosing. When I say every dollar counts I mean it. That will feed me for a meal. That will give me the energy I need to continue for the Lord’s cause. That will allow for someone else to receive God’s message of redemption and Love. Simply click “Donate” at the top of the page and follow the simple instructions to donate. Please help me, help others.
