6 weeks until Haiti

Well all the planning is coming together for this trip to Haiti and I am getting very excited.  We are approximately 6 weeks away from leaving. I am told that the plane tickets are purchased. 

Fundraising in the past has not been my gift.  Funny how I want to support others, but I don't want to inconvenience my friends and family by asking them to support me.  I am learning though that people want to support me and are excited about this journey.  When I shared about this trip to Haiti, a few friends asked me how they could support me before I even started thinking about fundraising.  Wow, that is awesome!  First and foremost, I am asking people to support me and our team in prayer.  Then, I am asking for financial support for those who feel they want to help.  The total cost of the trip is about $1400-1600 dollars.  My goal to raise $500 of that by sending out letters to 100 people and asking for a $5.00 donation.  I know some will be called to give more and others not at all.  I am truly grateful and blessed by any gift.  So far I think I have sent out about 80 letters.  I can't wait to see what God does with those letters.  If you would like to support me please leave me a comment below or call or text me at 360.319.3191.  I would love to give you more information about how to do that. 

I have found that it is easy to share my faith in Christ and the purpose of this mission trip with people who I know are believers.  Sharing with people who I am not sure believe is much harder.  In the past I might not have taken that step, but today I am doing that a little more.  Wow, Haiti is already starting to grow me up in my faith.  I was recently buying stamps at Safeway, the checker asked me if I was buying stamps for Christmas cards.  I briefly shared with her why I was buying stamps and although she is a stranger she asked me to come back with some information about how to donate  because she wanted to support me.  Wow how awesome!

Our team had the pleasure of having dinner with Bernie Bovenkamp, founder of Starfish Ministry.  I encourage people to check out the website at starfishministry.com  I learned so much about the area of Tricotte.  I learned about the orphanage that is the home to 60 kids that we will be visiting.  I learned about limited education available to much of the population of Haiti.  And I aslo learn that there is not a lot of rules enforced on the roads of Haiti.  As most people who know me could tell you, I am not typically much of a dare devil.  I think just riding in a car in Haiti sounds like I will be pushing myself.  Not sure whether I will close my eyes and pray or laugh and throw my arms up.  I have been practicing scary car rides here as I have 16 and 15 year old sons driving me around sometimes so maybe I will be more prepared than I thought. 

Please continue to pray for a safe trip that glorifies God and blesses each member of the team and the people of Haiti we interact with.