Dear Friends and Family,
I hope this letter finds you well and having a wonderful summer. The Lord is good and has certainly been doing a lot in my life as I pray He is in yours too! I’m writing to tell you of an amazing opportunity that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of. As most of you know I’ve been living at home this last year and I’ve been praying for a while now about what God wants me to do next. For the past couple of years God has put it on my heart to reach out to those in other countries who do not know our Savior. I wasn’t really sure where I should go. Well not to long ago I heard about a mission opportunity that goes all over the world spending a month in each country. It is called The World Race check it out at www.theworldrace.org.
The World Race is a mission trip offered by an organization called Adventures in Missions. The trip will begin in January and last around 11 months. Although I will enjoy this time, it is not a trip for pleasure to see the world. My teammates and I will be working very hard and living in some very adverse conditions. We won’t be staying in nice hotels and eating gourmet food. We may end up camping a lot and drinking the water and eating the food the local people do. During those 11 months we will be traveling around to different countries doing all sorts of different things. Previous teams have helped with orphans, disaster relief, plant churches, vacation bible school etc… I am so thrilled to have this opportunity to see how God is working all over the world and be able to come alongside those who know him and those who don’t.
In order for this missions opportunity to happen I need your support. First, I need people to pray for the rest of my team and me before and during the trip. This is very important and I don’t say this lightly as prayer is crucial to every ministry. If you could let me know that you will be praying for me that would be so encouraging. The second part as all of you know is the funds. This will cost $13, 800 for transportation, food, and lodging. I know this seems like a lot but when it’s broken down it’s not too bad. If I could get 25 people to commit to $55 dollars a month for 10 months or 50 people giving $28 dollars a month for 10 months then the cost would be covered. There are a couple of different ways you can give. One way is to do it online as I should have a page set up by the time you get this. The website to do that through will be www.nataliesmith.theworldrace.org. There you can either make a one time gift or support me monthly. Every amount helps, please don’t feel bad if you can only give a seemingly small amount! The other option is to mail a check to Adventure in Missions.
If you choose to mail in a check please use the enclosed response card and pre-addressed envelope, which invites you to share in this ministry. Please make checks payable to Adventures in Missions. Including the enclosed card will provide AIM with all necessary information. In turn, they will send you a receipt. Adventures in Missions is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 © (3) non-profit organization. Donors will receive receipts for their gifts with the understanding that the disbursement of those gifts lies completely at the discretion of Adventures In Missions and that the gifts are non-refundable and non-transferable, per IRS regulations. Gifts may be tax deductible; please consult a tax advisor.
I’m excited to see the ways in which God will use this time for growth in not only my life but in yours too as you take this journey with me. I realize that God doesn’t need me to further his kingdom but yet he allows me to be apart of his ministry and I feel so honored and humbled by that fact. Here we serve this awesome God who is all powerful and yet he wants to use us, these weak beings to show his love to those around us. It’s so crazy to think about. Thank you so much!
Love,
Natalie
