Hi Friends!!
It’s only TWO WEEKS until Launch Day!!!!
I seriously don’t understand how fast time flew by! It really does seem like just yesterday that I was getting my acceptance call and now here we are, two weeks out from really starting this thing! I’m so incredibly excited!
Everything is falling into place – my gear is (almost) all here (shoutout to amazon prime & some truly awesome friends & family for letting me borrow things!), I’ve been narrowing down my packing list, the last bit of my support money has been coming in steadily (more on that at the bottom of this post) and I’ve really been praying and asking God to help me prepare spiritually and emotionally for the Race. Through these prayers, quiet times and contemplation about what these next 3 months are going to look like, I feel like God has placed 3 words on my heart to really soak into these last few weeks and throughout the Race.
LOVE – I pray that the Lord will bless the team with opportunities to really be pure examples of Christ’s magnificent love. That we can show those who’ve never experienced love what it feels like. I pray that on the tough days when all I want to do is curl up on my bed at home or be sitting in my favorite chair at my local Starbucks, that I’ll remember that Jesus loves me. Jesus loves my team. Jesus loves all the people we come into contact with. Jesus loves. Jesus is love. Plain, sweet and simple. I pray that his unshakeable love will be fuel for these next three months of ministry and I pray that I won’t forget who loves me; my beautiful Creator. As 1 John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” BLESSING – I pray that I won’t miss out on opportunities. Not fun adventure-related activities (though hopefully, I won’t miss out on those either), but the ministry, community, & friendship opportunities. That I’ll look at each day as a new gift from God, a new day to go view the beautiful world He’s created and a new day to go meet more of His sons & daughters. I pray that I’ll be bold in my faith and see each activity, whether it be washing dishes, purchasing groceries from the store, or climbing a mountain as a blessing from God and an opportunity to share with others about His glory. I pray that my team and I can be a blessing to others. I also pray that I can be a blessing to my team and have a serving-oriented spirit and look for ways to be a blessing to others. GIVE – I pray that I’ll learn to give up expectations. I hope that I can become better at flexibility and understanding that my way is not always the best way. I pray that I’ll become better at giving up my doubts, worries, and anxieties to Jesus. One of my favorite worship songs, “Wide Open” sings this at the chorus “On the other side of everything I’m afraid of, You are standing with Your arms wide open, wide open, Even in my deepest doubts and wonder, You are standing with your arms wide open, wide open” I serve an incredible God who created heaven and earth, who is the Giver of life, Giver of all good things, a God who loves me forever and cherishes me as His own, and I pray that over these next 3 months I can give up my expectations and be free in His love and guidance.Can I just say one more time how INCREDIBLY EXCITED I AM?!?!? I mean, an opportunity of a lifetime in my book!! And, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to every single one of you who have been praying for me, financially supporting me, or even giving me an encouraging smile or word when my trip comes up in conversation. I’m so grateful for all of you!
Okay, so almost done with this post but lots of people have been asking for specific ways to pray for me & my team so I’ve compiled a list of things to be praying for!
- Safe Travels to & from all of our countries and our day to day travel within each country
- TRAINING CAMP!!
- Fundraising – a few other members of my team & myself are so close to being fully funded – so please pray that our money comes in!
- Packing – pray that A) all of my stuff will fit!!!! and B) that if what I’m initially planning to take doesn’t fit, as I re-evaluate what to pack that I’ll have a sense of peace over each item that goes into my pack
- Team Relationships – Pray that we can bond as a team quickly and become great friends an confidants to each other! Pray that we’ll be a good source of encouragement and wisdom to each other over these next three months!
- Health – Please pray that we all stay healthy and free of sickness during this time & that if we do happen to get sick that we’ll have a quick recovery!
- Transitions – As we transition from our “normal” to life on the mission field, it’s bound to be filled with challenges. Please pray that we dwell on the truth from Christ and confide in each other.
- Opportunities – Please pray not only opportunities to serve but that we will go out of our way to find them.
There are more things to pray for than this of course, but honestly, I don’t think this blog post would ever end if I kept typing up prayer requests!! One final thing – FUNDRAISING!! In my last blog post, I talked about being faithful to the finish and trusting God with the remaining fundraising I needed to do. When I posted that blog I was barely 50% funded and still had a LOOONNNGGG way to go. And even though I was trusting God, and giving my fundraising worries to Him, I was still scared and worried that it might not come in. But y’all – Christ is good. He is faithful. He is loving and kind and He provides.
How do I know this?
Because I’ve raised $3255 since then. In one month. Over three-thousand dollars. And after raising all that it makes me so happy that I’m only $490 away from BEING FULLY FUNDED!! The Lord is faithful, faithful, faithful. One of my favorite verses says “ The LORD’S loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” -Lamentations 3:22-23 Great is his faithfulness indeed.
Thank you thank you for everyone’s support & encouragement over these past few months. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to truly express how incredibly grateful and blessed I am to know such wonderful brothers & sisters in Christ or how thankful I am for your support, both financial and through prayer.
If you’d like to contribute to that remaining $490, you can click the orange “Donate” button at the top of the page at the right of my support bar. Tomorrow, 1/11 at midnight is the absolute LAST DAY to donate!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Also, (and I promise this is the last thing), if you want to always get a notification of when I post while overseas, subscribe to get updates from me! You can do that by clicking the orange “Subscribe for Updates” button at the top of the page right underneath my picture! Just enter your email or phone number and you’ll get a notification every time I post so you can stay updated with me on the field!
