Venezuela - September 28-October 7, 2007

I have two missions trips coming up.  I am thrilled to be a part of both!  The first, at the end of September, is to Venezuela to the Home of Refuge orphanage for my fourth time.  Some places God has called me to only once, but the Home of Refuge is not one of those places.  He has made this orphanage an on-going ministry for me.  I’m so thankful that He’s using me to love and teach those children and even more thankful that He’s using those children to love and teach me.  It’s funny how that works.

I’ll be co-leading a team of young adults there again.  God awakened a passion in me on the last trip to lead teams on short term trips.  Having spent time for months before the trip praying specifically for each team member (praying for them and over them) and having the opportunity to train them at the meetings, I was so excited to see what God was going to do in them when we finally got there!  What an honor and blessing to help others in the Body grow and change in order to enter into a closer relationship with Jesus.  On top of that, I got to just hang out with the kids, laugh with them, discipline them, teach them, play with them and just hold them.  What must it be like for a little child to not have parents to do that for them?

God has done amazing things in the lives of these Venezuelans and I desperately need to see that.  I need to see the awesome power of our Lord in countries where the freedoms are far less than ours.

In Venezuela, Dictator Hugo Chavez, recently shut down all of the government run orphanages.  There was no where for the kids to go so they went back out on the streets.  There are 22,000 street kids alone, in the state where the orphanage is located.

You should take a few minutes and check out the amazing stories of the kids at HOR on their website.  It’s www.homeofrefuge.org.  You’ll be horrified at what the children had to endure and grateful and humbled by where you’ve come from.  I know I was.  But the beauty of their story is that they’ve been rescued!  Truly rescued.  Physically and spiritually.

Tony, the director of the orphanage, asks that teams come down to just “love my kids.”  He is now their father and I’m happy to help him parent those children.

Items Needed for Home of Refuge

South Africa - November 2007 (4 weeks)

The second ministry trip God has called me to is South Africa.  I can’t even begin to tell you how nervously excited I am.

Before God called me out of my job to raise support and become a missionary to the inner-city as well as to the nations, He put a deep desire on my heart to go to Africa.  I’m sure you’ve heard the horror stories that I have and in truth, I would never encourage anyone to go because of those stories.  We have to be led by the Spirit and not by the need because the need is overwhelmingly huge and is everywhere.  But if we follow only God’s voice, then wherever He takes us is where we can make an eternal difference.

So, the opportunity has finally arisen for me to go and I can barely wait.  Mary Jean Powers (the director of Get the Word Out!) and I will be going for about four weeks in November.  We’ll connect with a couple from Denver who recently moved there.  Their dream is to have young adults from the U.S. come and do short term trips with them.  These young adults would give God the opportunity to rock them to the core by being exposed to the African culture.  Mary Jean and I would be leading some of those teams in the future.  This trip will be specifically for us to walk through what they will walk through.

We’ll be going to squatters camps to pass out food and lead a Bible study for kids up to 15-years-old.  We’ll volunteer at a homeless shelter/halfway house as well as help lead a prayer meeting there and participate in a Bible study/support group for current and former drug addicts. We’ll go to a home/orphanage for chronically ill children that also houses babies with AIDS, some of whose parents have left them there to die.  We’re also looking into teaching a few Get the Word Out Intensives at local churches and surrounding YWAM bases.  These intensives are designed to bring people back to the love of the Word of God and to teach people how to hear His voice through His Word.

A moment ago, I said that I was “nervously excited” because this is one of those rare times in your life that you know you will never be the same again afterwards.  I don’t know what it will do to me to hold babies who are dying of AIDS with no parents around to care about them.  I’m not sure what it will be like to see hundreds of families crammed together in unsanitary shacks in the squatters’ camps.

How could I walk away and not be changed?  How can God not raise up a compassion in me that I’ve never had before?  In one way I’m afraid to be changed so drastically so quickly, but on the other hand I can’t possibly walk away because of fear.  The Lord is my refuge and strength.  He will not take me through more than I can handle.  Instead He’ll squeeze compassion and the call to justice from my heart and maybe clear away some of the deep rooted selfishness that keeps me from laying my whole life down at His feet and taking up my cross to follow Him.

I need to raise $4,500 to be able to do ministry on two different continents.  I am asking for your help.  Would you pray that these funds would be raised?  Would you also pray about what God might lead you to give?  Your tax deductible gift will help us reach hundreds, take in many much-needed supplies and reap eternal benefits for the Kingdom of God.

I am so grateful for the doors God has opened for me.  Thank God He’s promised to walk with me through these times of awakening and stretching.  And He’s promised to walk with you through your times of awakening and stretching too.  May God bless you as much as I’ve been blessed, and even more, as you minister where He’s called you.