Thursday, October 9, 2008

In 7 months and counting.....

I WILL BE IN TANZANIA, AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am getting more excited about this trip EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!! I love thinking about it and daydreaming about arriving and having tons of children running to see us! I can sit for hours and watch videos from Africa....

Well... I don't think I have blogged about this yet... but from May 4th-17th, 2009 I will be in Tanzania, Africa. I am going with a group of students with a family from my church here in Buckhannon. I am so excited! We're going to be doing all kinds of ministry there. For me personally.. I think I am going to be doing clinical/medical work and also teaching sexual purity to children and teenagers. We are going to be doing all kinds of work in the 2 weeks we are going to be there.

So here is my dilemma... I have to raise approximately $4,000 for this 2 week trip. It is a lot of money, but I know that God will provide. I have already received a $100.00 donation and I have not even started to raise support yet. It is really exciting.

God called me to go to Africa last year after I went to a viewing of Invisible Children at WVU. The viewing I saw was on a boy named Sunday. Here is a trailer for the movie.


This video really affected me. I have always had a desire to got to Africa... but for the longest time I thought that missionary work was not for me. I never felt the call to do it. Well, after seeing this movie I wanted... I NEEDED to go to Africa.

I had an opportunity last year to go to Africa with one of my good friends, Tara, but I decided that God was not calling me at that time. So, I worked all summer instead... when she got back and I saw pictures of he trip on her blog... my heart melted once again, and I had that desire back in my heart. It was like a little tug at my heart and a little bit of regret that I didn't go... So, I began to search for organizations that were going to Africa in May 2009. I could not find one at all... I searched and searched and ended up giving up and deciding that if God wanted me to go... he would let me figure it out. Well... THAT SUNDAY after church... Scott Williams came up to me and asked me if I was going to their house for a cookout that next week... I told him I was planning on it.. and asked him why... he told me that "well.. we're going to be talking about a missions trip we're thinking about taking in the summer of this coming year". immediately... my heart began to race... I asked him "to where?" and he said "well... Africa actually!" My friend Lauren looked at me... and I almost fell over with excitement and amazement at God's work. I looked up and said "okay God.. I'm in" LOL! It was so obvious to me that this was my chance.

As of right now... we have to have full commitment by November 1st so that when we go home for Thanksgiving break we can start to raise money and tell our local churches and family about the opportunity and hope to start raising support.

We are going through ALARM Ministries which stands for African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries. Here is a little 5 min. video about what they stand for and a little bit of what they do....

If you are interested in helping me raise support.... just let me know.... :-) I would REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!!

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